Disclaimer: Everything recognizable belongs to George Lucas and the Star Wars Universe, or CBS and NCIS. Invented characters you meet down the line belong to me, and I am very proud of them.

Time Frame: The Clone Wars in chronological order, kind of. I will likely include references to whatever episode I am working my characters into, but the episodes will be slightly out of order, like Ambush may by after Rising Malevolence for example. I won't break up episodes with continuing plot lines though, like Bombad Jedi, Cloak of Darkness, and Lair of Grievous. Also, I am stretching the Clone Wars out to five years instead of three, and will likely not even make it to the 6th season. I guess we will all see how it goes.

Dedication: This story is for a great dog named Annie, who inspired me to be brave and more outgoing. She would have been fourteen in March, which is pretty old for a greyhound. We lost her on December 28, 2021, at 1:35 pm, and it will always hurt. But I have hope I will see her, and our other dogs and pets again, and that helps with the pain. But until then, here is a story for a scared little dog that grew and matured into a dog that was fearless in her own way and won us over so many times. Love you, Annie, and I'm glad that I was able to love you for so long.

A/N: So here is my first Star Wars story, and I hope you like it. I have never written anything outside the world of Tolkien, and decided it was time to stretch my wings a bit. This story has been cooking in my brain for a while, and I have it mostly hashed out. I thought I would write the prologue and see if there is any interest, and then go from there. Please let me know what you think, and I hope you like it. I don't know when it will actually start being my full-time writing project, but I will do my best to have a chapter or two written in the coming months. But….everyone knows how terrible I am about keeping updating promises, so definitely don't hold me to that. Until next time, let me know what you think!

The lights of Coruscant flashed and twinkled as she stared at them, the many air speeders and air taxis whizzing past the tower she stood inside. The balcony was familiar, the lights of the Senate nearby and the Jedi Temple barely visible to her large eyes just beyond that. Her lips curled in a small sardonic smile. She had been here before, had seen the Temple closer than she would have liked and knew the Senate like the back of her hand. She would be going there, to both those places, soon.

Very soon.

Reaching out she sensed the Force. Felt it, played with it, teased it. She wanted to see if what she had felt on her journey was true, and it was.

The Force was out of balance. And it was because of a menace that none were aware existed. Not even the Jedi, in their high and lofty Temple, were aware of this threat. A threat that could spell disaster for the entire galaxy, as well as the end of the Jedi.

She didn't care, she realized a moment later. She didn't care about the Jedi, their lofty ideals of right and wrong had never sat well with her. They were too simplistic, too naive. They were afraid of the power beyond their grasp and what it entailed for all if they were to exercise their strengths. She wasn't afraid though, she knew what she was capable of.

She just wished the Jedi could see it too, and that they survived to realize that power.

The door swished open behind her and she turned to see who it was as they descended the stairs to join her on the balcony. It was the owner of this apartment, recently returned from her trip to find and arrest Ziro the Hutt when he conspired to kidnap his nephew's son with the Separatists. The droid wasn't there, thankfully, otherwise his memory would need to be wiped and he would complain the entire time. Behind her came one of the few Jedi she had learned to trust over the years, followed by another she trusted even more.

Why that was had to stay a secret for a while longer.

She didn't smile, didn't react, only waited. After a few moments of quiet words the senator and the first Jedi left, leaving her alone with the second. He stared at her a moment, his large eyes taking in her appearance and the way she was too pale and thin. A smile graced his features a moment, a sad smile that said all that needed to be said. He approached her, drawing alongside her on the balcony, and reached out a hand to push her hair away from her temple, revealing a circular scar there. His lips pressed together in a frown, unhappy at the sight before him.

He only said, "I imagine that was painful, in more ways than one," when she only nodded his frown deepened, "And you no longer speak in Basic, do you?" when she shook her head and looked down at the ground he smiled slightly and said, "Then we will have to start over," compassion and warmth in his words and his eyes. He had always known how to calm her and ease her fears, and that would never change.

She looked at him and he smiled again, resting his hand on her cheek and leaving it there for a few moments in a gesture that had always meant safety and security to one that had never truly felt either.

At that moment a door behind them opened and he turned. Seeing who it was caused him to smile, a smile that only one being in the entire galaxy had been able to witness directed at them. Turning back to the one before him he saw that she was also smiling slightly, and then she nodded in the direction of the other. He nodded as well; the lessons they had stopped for a time could wait one more day.

He started to turn and walk away, but then a hand on his wrist stopped him and he turned back. The woman was there, staring at him dead in the eye before her eyes traveled slowly down to his belt, and his lightsaber. He smiled slightly, nothing had ever escaped her notice and he knew he would regret the day that something did. He gave her his lightsaber, a sign of completely trust for a Jedi, then left her and his lightsaber behind as he went to greet one that had been waiting for him. That one greeted him with open arms and an open door, and they both disappeared through that door a moment later.

Behind them the woman returned to watching the people of Coruscant go about their lives, wondering if they knew what was about to happen.

Everything was about to change, and nothing would ever be the same again.

For anyone.

Once the door closed behind them he was led to a bed and quickly undressed, feeling the weight of responsibility leave him as his robes fell away. The pain stayed, but that was something he was more than used to after over thirty years, and outside he could sense the woman there feel the pain in him and block it, block it so he could function and none would notice the agony that was killing him bit by bit everyday. Clad in nothing he joined the one in bed, feeling her press her back against his stomach, her reaching around to bring his arm around her body, his hand resting on her swollen stomach. He smiled then, feeling the life within her, the life he had created with her.

He had violated and broken his Oath to the Jedi, but that had been broken so long ago that there was nothing for it now. If the Jedi found out before it was time oh well….he would not turn his back on those that relied on him now. He had always struggled with attachment, because of all that he was, and now there was nothing he could do now. His path was set before him and he would walk it even if it led to his ruin. At least then he would die with his honor intact.

It was silent in the darkness for a few moments, but then she said quietly, "Ziro the Hutt kidnapped Jabba's son and the Jedi rescued him?" he nodded and even though she couldn't see it she could feel it as he rubbed against her hair, "So she was telling the truth, events are set in place and now the only way is forward, for better or worse?" again he nodded and this time she sighed, "And here I thought this was going to be hard enough without everything already going against us," this time she looked over her shoulder and asked, "What do we do?"

He didn't answer for many long moments, but finally said, "For now, we sleep and rest. In the morning, the real work begins. Hopefully we are all ready for it. This Conspiracy must not fail, not if we want freedom to have a chance in this galaxy."

She nodded before facing forward again, knowing that this task they had set for themselves had gone from the difficult to the impossible in just a few short days. Things were spiraling out of control, and it would take a firm hand to bring things back to order.

'Hopefully, we are all ready for this,' was her last thought before she drifted off to sleep, her heart behind her staying awake a few minutes longer before also drifting off to sleep as well.

In that same city, hidden in the deepest of shadows, he plotted and meditated. Before he had had to hide in the Force otherwise the Jedi would have found him, but now that the Force was out of balance and the Dark Side was stronger he no longer feared hiding in the shadows. He focused on the Force, feeling that, just for a moment, he felt something he hadn't felt in such a long time. But it eluded him, and he dismissed it after that, dismissed it as a fleeting memory that he couldn't quite catch no matter how hard he tried to grab it. It couldn't be true, it just couldn't be, not after so many years of silence. Instead he focused on what he would do next, feeling young Skywalker return to the Jedi Temple.

Soon, Skywalker would belong to the Sith.

Soon the Jedi would fall, and his revenge would be complete.

His pawns were set, the pieces in place. Now all he had to do was manipulate the board from both ends, and the galaxy would be his.

Just as it should always be.

Soon, very soon. He just needed to be patient a little longer.