Santo: Here's chapter two. Glad to see some people deciding to follow this, it brings the warm fuzzies to the cold, hardened, frozen lump of grit, lipids, and callous I call a heart.

Also, please comment, that's always nice.

Hero: Chapter two. We've actually got quite a few of these in the backlog. We will probably eat up rapidly, but hey, I can dream that we'll keep ahead of the grind.

Santo: We won't. We're already behind. TT-TT


Chapter 2 - Star Wars: The Clone Wars 2

Hero P.O.V.

There was something gratifying about being able to talk my way out of a situation. My powers tended to lean more in the direction of hitting things since my power basically attempted to magic-ify martial arts according to the rules of whatever world I was thrown into, so I didn't exactly practice de-escalation as much as I should. Either way, it was good to have further proof that dialogue could solve some problems rather than violence.

Though to be fair, our current situation was dialogue under the threat of violence.

Baby steps.

"Is this really necessary?" I looked at the two clones that Santo had shot with stunbolts a bit ago. I guess they were feeling rather sore about the whole affair since they had taken post right behind me with their blasters trained on my back like we were a danger to them. Not that they would be entirely wrong, since Santo was still sitting behind the corner with his own weapons trained on the clones and Ahsoka.

"Take it as offering us insurance of good behavior," Ahsoka said acerbically.

"Worry not, General," Santo called out from his corner. "I will endeavor to properly avenge you, after their sudden but inevitable betrayal!"

I resisted the urge to palm my face. Damnit, Santo. Really?

"I really hope that won't be necessary,." I called back, "considering our entire goal is to take Ahsoka Tano to safety. Remember."

"Who exactly are you?" Ahsoka asked, eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Who even sent you?"

"Well, now that we've begun talking rather than fighting, I can tell you," I said, still trying to de-escalate the tension in the room. "My name is Hero and that is Santo." I would have gestured backwards towards him, but I heard both the clones raise their blasters at the smallest tilt of my shoulders and decided it wasn't worth the effort.

"As for sent, well that's a bit more complicated." This would probably be where I was supposed to recall Santo's elaborate backstory that he came up with for the both of us. Unfortunately, all I recall is my own half assed version. Oh well, I can probably sell that well enough. "I was part of the rearguard when the retreat was called. I unfortunately got cut off from the rest of my men and had them take off before the AA guns could shoot them down. The last bit of information they were able to give me before our comms were cut off was about any other Republic forces still on the ground."

I heard Santo choke on his indignation at how I was butchering our backstory. Well, if he was so worried about me breaking our cover, maybe he should come out here and actually help me tell it.

Ahsoka didn't exactly look completely sold on the story just yet, so I had to keep going and add more bullshit and small truths to the pile.

"Unfortunately, holding back the droids long enough for the ships to safely take off cost the lives of most of my troopers. Leaving well…"

I saw Ahsoka's eyes flicker in Santo's direction. "He…doesn't look like any Trooper I've ever seen before."

I turned enough so I could catch Santo in the corner of my eye and took a moment to really look at him. His grey armor with cobalt bluish accents were contrasted against the white with sparse decorations of the trio of Clone Troopers. While his helmet had the single glowing slit visor, it quickly differentiated itself from theirs with a snarling grill for the mouthpiece. Heck, his armor was even bulkier than their armor, though it was a bit hard to tell since he was covered in weapons.

In total, Santo stood out like a custom pickup truck in a garage full of ordinary sedans.

My mind immediately began to race. There was probably no way to completely sell the Clone Trooper angle at this point and admitting to my own false identity as a Jedi would only further raise suspicion. I needed to improvise.

"Yeah, well…" I had a choice between demoting Santo from trooper to mercenary or quickly making up more bullshit about special forces. The mercenary angle would probably make our partnership look more suspicious, but it would be an easier sell in the long run. Yeah…we could also avoid the whole, Santo doesn't look like Jango Fett issue as well. Right, let's go with the mercenary angl—

"That's because I'm a Clone Commando, in special dispensation to General Hero for the fulfillment of non-standard high-risk operations," Santo quickly cut me off, adding a sneer to his tone that I knew had to physically hurt him to use. "I'm afraid that if you would like more details, I will need to hear your passphrase indicating you are cleared to access that level of information."

Ahsoka's eyes widened momentarily before narrowing. The clones however, all glanced at each other before their barrels dipped down a little lower.

Wait, was this working? Shit. I guess we're going with this angle now.

"We managed to infiltrate a droid command and hack into their mainframe. We gained a large amount of enemy intel before their reinforcements forced us to retreat. I was able to use what we learned and a bit of guidance from The Force to track you from there," I continued before anyone could start prodding at our story made of a pile of sticks covered in gasoline. Heck, I was even able to tell the truth, mostly.

From a particular perspective.

I could see the tension start to ease out of Ahsoka's body. I could tell that she wasn't completely convinced by our story, by the way she eyed me and Santo, but I had the beginnings of trust here.

I could work with that.

They finally put their weapons away, Ahsoka holding out my lightsaber to me, hilt first with a slight grimace. "Sorry about the whole…you know…shooting you, thing."

I accepted the weapon back and allowed myself a single moment of relief at having the odd deadly weapon back in my hands. "No problem, I'm sorry about the whole, well, shooting you back thing."

"I'm not, they shot first!" Santo added helpfully.

I sighed deeply, trying to let out all my frustration and annoyance with the exhalation. "Santo, do you have a medkit somewhere in all that arsenal? This Trooper needs help."

The speed with which Santo abandoned his cover, and something about his walk gave me a bad feeling in my gut. I just couldn't place exactly why.

"Santo?"

He strutted confidently to the wounded Trooper and took a knee next to him. He didn't take his helmet off, thank God, but I could literally feel the intensity of his stare. "I am going to blow my load all over your insides."

I immediately felt mortified by Santo's words.

"What?!" Both Ahsoka and I yelled in unison. The Troopers, thankfully, didn't seem to get it.

Santo reverently pulled a syringe out of one of the pouches hanging off his person, it had a big blue cross painted on its side, before stage whispering with a flourish. "Bacta."

Ahsoka's face turned a concerningly dark orange, and I slapped a hand to my face and just let Santo apply the first aid injection to the Trooper.

At least he's helping.


Santo P.O.V.

Clone Troopers were simple people.

Not to say they were stupid, or anything along those lines, simple and stupid are two very different things. Perhaps it would be better to say that they were uncomplicated.

I wore Clone Commando armor, used Clone Commando gear, and acted with the eccentricities both expected and allowed of a Clone Commando, ergo, I must be a Clone Commando. Furthermore, I'd freely shared my own medical supplies with them, healing their brother by penetrating him deeply and pumping him full of my viscous healing juice, before letting them fondle my DC-17m so they could get a feel for its heft and girth, while chatting about the specific modifications made to it to fit it to my preferences.

In short, even though I'd shot two of them then threatened them with further violence, we were now buddies. I just happened to be the rich kid with all the shiny toys.

"Yeah, the DMR attachment fires a more compressed bolt of Tibanna gas, it only moderately increases stopping power at a cost of double the gas expended, but the beauty in it is in the speed of the Blaster Bolt. Now this one is my favorite," I said, holding up the Sniper attachment. "It's less a Blaster and more a Blaster/Railgun hybrid, accelerating a durasteel bolt encased in hyper excited Tibanna gas tha-"

"Santo," Hero called to me, drawing the attention of the three clones and myself. He waved for me to come over. I shrugged, took all my toys back, and gave the clones a lazy salute as I made my way over.

I made sure to stand at attention. "Sir?"

Hero raised an eyebrow, suspicious of my politeness. "My apologies for interrupting your… socializing, but Ahsoka and I finally began to talk about escape plans. Would you mind displaying all the nearest ports?"

I could tell by the set of his lips that he was not enjoying being in charge. Serves him right, dumping that on me all the damn time. I tossed the holographic doodad on the floor, a display of the district's map coming to low-res life in front of us.

"Keep in mind that this intel is, by now, a few hours old," I began, then gave a quick rundown of enemy deployment and numbers, in short, everywhere and a lot. The map was bathed in red with very few grey zones denoting the fog of war on the Separatist's side, with not a single pocket of friendly blue.

"Well, wonderful," Hero hissed at the clear image of how deep of shit we were in.

"Now, as grim as that all sounds, we do have a plan. Somewhat risky, but it is as simple as I was able to make it." I pointed to the nearest Space Port. "This thankfully isn't the biggest Space Port in the district, the files I glanced over show it to be mainly for ore import. The Seps have secured it and are, as far as I am aware, planning to use it for that exact same function." I pointed to the two main entrances. "It connects to two different arterials, so it is sizable, but it's not all that important, so it should only have a few hundred to a couple thousand droids protecting it." I pointed to the fuel depot a quarter of a click away. "The idea is to plant charges in a couple of the fuel tanks in this depot, make our way to the Space Port, detonate the charges to cause a distraction, sneak in during the confusion, steal their command codes, hop on a ship, and fly out, using said command codes to be granted clearance to leave. We'll have to split into two teams and work in conjunction to make it happen, and it'll be tight, but it's doable, it's simple, and it's bold."

I looked up at the Jedi in training and the Jedi knockoff. "Questions?"

"Do we have any other options that aren't in direct Separatist control?" Hero was quick to, as usual, try to find a path without resistance rather than pushing through. "While I do love the confidence, there are five of us and quite literally thousands of them."

I scrolled on the map to a different district. "This is the nearest Space Port that was not in direct Separatist control when I downloaded this information, a reminder, this intel could be outdated. It's forty-two clicks out, so we'd need to steal transportation." I set a nav point at that location and another at ours, and had the computer in my suit come up with a route for us to follow. "This is the shortest path there, with the right vehicle we could be there in as little as thirty minutes. However…" I pointed along the route.

Ahsoka was the first to see it. "That goes through Separatist controlled areas."

I nodded. "As they were several hours ago, they'd have expanded by now. We would not exactly look inconspicuous, if we are stopped or hailed for any reason, we'd be made. And, saving the worst for last, assuming that Space Port isn't in Separatist hands, which admittedly, it would not be high priority, so it likely isn't, we'd still need to get our hands on clearance codes to be able to leave the atmosphere without getting shot down. I can fly a shuttle, but I doubt even L—" I coughed. "Erm, General Skywalker could fly through that much Flak without getting shot to pieces."

I mentally high fived myself for managing to not blurt out Luke Skywalker's name.

"So, what you're telling me is that our best bet is to infiltrate a heavily defended space port, set off a dangerous amount of explosives, causing millions in property damage, and hope we get away with it inconspicuously as they scramble to wade through the resulting sea of fire?"

I raised my hand, index finger extended. "Technically it's lightly defended, General." At his confused frown I elaborated. "It's only thousands of droids. The district's main Space Port is garrisoned by tens of thousands of droids."

"Wonderful." Hero sighed as he deflated, resigning himself to letting me have my way and causing as much chaos as humanly possible. "Then let's plan some arson and grand theft shuttle."

It's the small victories.


Hero P.O.V.

The worst part about combat, you know other than the grievous harm that you both dealt and received, is probably the calm before the storm. I'm a thinker, so give me time to run my head into circles and I will do so.

So obviously, while I'm waiting for Santo to call us that they're ready with the explosives, my mind just starts to go through all the worst case scenarios. Because why wouldn't my brain self-sabotage in the middle of enemy territory in a life or death situation with all the worst ways the plan could go wrong? That's what it's built for!

"Master Hero?" Ahsoka's voice broke me out of imagining Santo somehow losing his helmet in the middle of pitched combat and blowing our already paper-thin cover. I opened my eyes, and looked over at the alien padawan.

There wasn't much room in the small storage unit for pacing, but Ahsoka was using every bit of it with vigor.

"What's up?" I asked as I let my rampant thoughts settle in the back of my mind.

"Are… I mean…" The young padawan (Jesus, I just realized that I was sitting next to a child soldier) started to speak up before hesitating. She hemmed and hawed about it for a few moments before finally gathering her composure. "Are you unwell?"

I had a brief moment of confusion and even looked down at my body for any wounds or injuries I had somehow missed. I resisted the urge to shake my limbs to test them out since I had just snuck into a guarded facility and knew that they all worked fine.

"Yes?" I paused for a moment and did the math on that answer, the result was negative. "Wait, I mean no. No, I'm not unwell."

"It's just… you seem worried?" Ahsoka asked, which by the tone of her voice wasn't what she was planning on saying.

Wait, shit. Jedi are empaths, right? It's why I kept experiencing the final moments of all the dead clones and Jedi I walked by. There's no real reason why Ahsoka wouldn't be able to feel my feelings.

I think? I wasn't really getting anything off of Ahsoka other than my intuition just giving me the impression she was nervous and worried, but we were about to explode half a space port, so that was normal. It was also, you know, body language, not weird Space Wizard Magic.

Stupid ass Force Powers. Why didn't they come with a freaking manual?

"We're in enemy territory, separated from our troopers, and our only way out is hoping that the enemy is too busy trying to put out all the fires to look too close at the one ship that is flying out of the system." I once again gave voice to the sheer audacity of Santo's plan. "I'm just, seeing all the possible routes this can go and many of them are bad."

Ahsoka's eyes widened for a moment. Did she feel something off about that statement? She seemed to get something from my answer since she dropped the topic and started to pace again, this time seemingly really determined to dig a trench with her feet.

I sighed and looked up at the ceiling and wondered if Santo was having a better time than being stuck in a closet with a moody teenager.

I was about to let my mind wander back into all the ways that this could end up pear shaped when I snapped to attention. For a brief moment, all the hairs on my body stood straight and I could feel that something was about to go very, very wrong.

I was about to question what could happen in a freaking closet when I felt more than heard a very large boom that shook the ground and the building both.

"What was that?!" Ahsoka yelped.

"That… and I'm speaking from experience here, was probably Santo and your troopers." I scowled and let my mind make the switch from wool gathering into deliberate focus. "Probably mostly Santo."

"What!? But that wasn't part of the plan!" Ahsoka whipped out the commlink and tried to contact her troopers. She got nothing but static and oddly enough, a dialup tone. Did Star Wars use AOL?

I walked towards the door and kicked it off its mounting and ignited my lightsaber. I looked back at the wide-eyed frozen girl. "Come on, you work with General Skywalker, right? This can't be the first time you've had to improvise."

That seemed to snap her out of her stupor. The sound of an igniting lightsaber and rapid footsteps behind me told me that she'd be fine.

Probably.

Now. A lightsaber is an amazing weapon. Amazingly powerful, and amazingly destructive. It was basically a giant melting stick that could deflect blaster fire. It was a weapon whose use reflected its user's skill and dedication, truly a more elegant weapon from a more civilized age. It was also very amazingly good at attracting attention since it was a bright laser sword that hummed really loudly whenever it moved.

So the one Jedi Padawan and one 'Jedi' Knight got maybe fifteen feet before the droids noticed and started shooting and calling for backup.

"And this was the lightly guarded space port?!" I yelped as I deflected another blaster bolt into a droid next to the one that shot me. Totally on purpose. Totally wasn't aiming back at the droid who shot me. It's okay, I cut that particular droid in half while also deflecting another bolt that was coming at Ahsoka.

"This is pretty lightly guarded," Ahsoka agreed as she carved through her own share of droids. "I guess most of them are moving towards—" Another explosion in the distance cut her off. "—that."

Santo, I swear to God. If you blew up all the ships in this space port and made this entire operation a wash, I will cut you in half.

We reached the hallway Santo pointed out during the 'planning phase' and stopped at the junction.

"Well, they clearly don't like Jedi so let's expect many more droids to come our way." I rummaged through the many pockets in my robes before finally finding the data thingie that Santo gave me. I tossed said data thingie at Ahsoka. "I'll stay here and keep them out. You take that and get the command codes."

"So I get the safe job, huh?" I could actually feel the teenaged petulance here. It felt just as annoying as hearing it. So double the annoying.

"Yes, but get it done fast so you can help keep me from getting overrun by the endless amount of droids coming to kill us," I answered flatly. "I'm just delaying the danger here. It'll still be here when you get back."

Thankfully that seemed to chastise the girl, who took the data thingie into the computer room to hopefully get the command codes we needed. Now, I had a nigh endless amount of droids coming to kill me, I was armed with a dinky laser sword and some half assed Space Magic, while they all had guns, and my only backup was a petulant teenager that barely took orders from me in the other room. This operation sucked.

"I hope Santo is having a better time than I am."


Santo P.O.V.

I tried and failed to hold in my laughter as I held down the trigger, the SAW rotary autocannon attachment roaring incandescent death at my enemies as I swept it through their ranks.

I grunted as an errant blaster bolt slammed into my left shoulder, sparking off my armor's shields and momentarily throwing my aim. I still hit most of those shots thanks to the target-rich environment.

At least until I ran out of ammo.

I ducked behind the ever more pockmarked wall, the two healthy clones cowering next to me. "Sir! There's too many of them!" Random said, flinching away from the crater a blaster bolt smashed next to his head.

"Be not afraid, Trooper!" I called back as I swiftly exchanged the four spent charge packs that powered the weapon attachment. "That just means they can't get away from us!"

"I…but…that!" Locket sputtered.

"Now use the grenades!" I ordered.

"Which ones!?"

"ALL OF THEM!"

As the troopers began chucking my eclectic mix of thermal detonators, fragmentation grenades, ten-bangers, sonics, and EMP grenades, I once more set the bipod at the edge of my cover and unleashed hell.

I focused the torrent of Tibanna gas on a B2-HA that was making its plodding way toward my position, its reinforced chassis soaking up my fire like the desert sands drink water. I could see its armor turning a cherry red before its systems started to fail, and I finally began blasting fist-sized chunks through its ablative armor. It fell to its knees, still pulling itself forward as it tried to crawl to optimal firing range, before finally succumbing after it had lost forty five percent of its core's surface area. "CRY SOME MORE YOU WORTHLESS RUSTBUCKETS!" I roared in victory.

I had a near limitless number of enemies, an almost-appropriate amount of dakka, and men that knew how to properly follow orders whenever I needed someone to cover my reload.

Man, this operation was turning out great!


Hero P.O.V.

Was that… glee I was feeling in the distance? No, I was probably imagining things.

I shook my head, almost trying to will the distracting thoughts out of my head. I had to focus.

The first wave of droids came marching into the hallway and I felt my brain finally shift into a proper fighting gear.

I liked to think I was a cerebral fighter. That I could think and plan around my enemies, but the truth was that when the blood started pumping, my head became alarmingly clear of any rational thought other than objective observation and immediate follow up.

The droids walked in, and I launched myself forward, lightsaber ignited. My blade came up, deflecting the shots that the front droids fired. I retreated slowly, luring the droids deeper into the hallway before finding my moment.

There was a small lull in the fire as they tried to reposition in the wider hallway and I exploded forward, running up along one of the walls to get around the waves of blaster fire and leaping into the midst of the droids and carving through their metal bodies effortlessly. I dipped low as the other droids attempted to draw a bead and twisted my blade into a spiral, rending the feet of every droid in range. I ducked around droids, using them as cover as I carved through the rest of them, each as easy as the last.

The whine of the blaster bolts flying through the air and the brief supernatural flash of warning was all I needed to track the second wave that had just arrived through a side door. I grabbed one of the fallen feetless droids crawling at my ankles and threw it at the bulky grey droid in the lead.

So, what I expected was for the droid to knock into the lead droid and maybe knock it and a couple other droids down. What I witnessed was the droid going through the lead droid and three more behind it before exploding.

I looked down at my left hand and replayed that moment. I recalled what I had been feeling when I had thrown the droid. My intent was to throw it through the lead droid, I didn't expect it to work, but that had been my intent. I then felt the energy flowing around me take that intent and make it a reality.

I physically felt an epiphany arise in my mind. "Oh right. The Force."

I felt an almost vicious amount of glee as I finally felt something click. The mood swings, the empathy, the sudden fits of speed and strength all coalesced into a system that had some rhyme and reason to it rather than a confusing mess of instinct and guesswork.

"Alright. Let's see how this works." I reached out and let out my intent and felt the Force demand the world fall into line.

And the world decided, sure, why not.

I was pretty sure the grin on my face was a bit too gleeful about the sheer amount of power rolling through my body, but I was about to beat a bunch of droids with the bodies of other droids with telekinesis, so I allowed myself just a brief moment of childlike glee.

"Alright." I raised my free hand palm up and willed all of the fallen droid bodies up into the air in front of me to block the incoming blaster fire. "Let's redecorate."

I threw my arm forward and the next droid to march through the door was met with a wall of metal as every droid I cut down attempted to enter the door, all at the same time. The result, a giant ball of droid parts that clogged the doorway like a modern art piece.

"Ha!" I allowed myself a brief cackle since I was alone in the hallway. That door was probably unpassable unless they used a Santo amount of explosives. Now, all I had to do was—

"There's the Jedi. Get him!"

Cut through the third, larger, wave of grey droids that came out of the main door at the other side of the hallway. Because in my powertrip, I forgot that the hallway had two doors. Also let's not forget the sudden gut punch as my body protested loudly that I was not, in fact, an actual Jedi and that gratuitous uses of The Force should be done sparingly. I was not the Chosen One, and thus had bodily limits.

"Stupid ass limited Force powers," I grumbled as I started to slowly backpedal while deflecting as many blaster bolts as I could back at the droids.

Ahsoka had better hurry up with that data thingie and Santo had better have a ship ready for us.


Santo P.O.V.

Taking advantage of a sudden confusion in the ranks of the droid legions, the troopers and I had managed to punch through their lines, clear out a hangar bay, and were currently defending it against the milling mass of droids.

"Sevens, hurry up with refueling those shuttles!" I shouted as I put a durasteel bolt through the head of a B2 Super battle droid. "Try for five, but at least three!"

"Yes, sir!" Sevens called as he limped his way through the numerous tools needed for the task I'd set him on.

I took a deep breath and used the opportunity to put three more bolts through the head of the same B2, to really hammer in the fact that it should have gone down.

"Random, suppressive fire on the left flank!" I called out as I ducked to swap the empty clip in my sniper attachment for a fresh one.

"Yes, sir!" The Trooper peeked out of cover and unleashed a fusillade of blaster bolts in the general direction I'd asked him to.

"Locket, how are we looking on grenades!?" I asked as I looked for another priority target, and blew the head off a B1-grenadier droid.

"What grenades!?" The clone called out. "You said use all of them!"

"There are barrels of fuel all around us! Improvise!"

"Yes, sir!"

The defense was going well.


Interlude: The Pondering Padawan.

Ahsoka Tano was fulfilling her utterly vital duty in this operation.

Sitting in an uncomfortable chair, watching a data spike spin as the progress bar on the screen slowly filled up.

Her Commlink crackled, a voice valiantly fighting through the static. "Major!"

She sighed for the upteenth time, trying to tune out the screams of dying droids, the rumble of explosions in the distance, and the inconsistent flow of the Force outside that drove spikes of sensation behind her eyes.

It really was…weird.

"This is Sevens! The Com—ed to secure Hangar Bay 5!"

Not strange, but weird. After all, the feeling was a familiar one. She had felt it a lot growing up. It was the fumbling displays of power of one unaccustomed to letting the Force flow through them. Using too much energy for a given task, or bottling it up inside them before releasing it in erratic bursts. Not at all unusual.

For an initiate or a fresh Padawan.

Not at all for a Jedi Knight, in particular one who could seamlessly flow through the Forms with the liquid grace of a Master.

"I repe—ar Bay 5!"

Master Obi-Wan had told her about the importance of fundamentals so many times that Ahsoka could swear she'd gone cross eyed at least…a number of times. She knew the fundamentals, she'd been practicing them all her life!

Watching Master Hero in battle had been an eye-opening experience. In battle his movements had the unthinking grace that could only be achieved through relentless repetition. Moving from Shii-Cho to Soresu to Ataru and back in mere instants. Even starting a movement in Ataru only to transition seamlessly into Shii-Cho as if the two forms were one. She had only ever seen such grace from Master Drallig, the Jedi Order's Battlemaster and lightsaber instructor, a man who had been practicing the art several times longer than Ahsoka had been alive.

A Jedi Knight who had achieved that level of proficiency should not have such a lack of control over the Force. Anyone with that lack of control would never have been made into a Knight, no matter their level of mastery over the Forms.

So she was left wondering, was Master Hero really a Jedi Knight?

"—tive secured! I repeat ob—"

He was certainly trained as a Jedi, but he did not have the emotional control…the serenity expected of a Jedi Knight. He had a Jedi's weapon and a Jedi's robes. But things certainly did not add up. Ahsoka should know of him, he was old enough that his mastery over the forms would have made him a person of interest at the Temple.

Then there was that Trooper. Santo did not speak like a Trooper. He acted with the deference expected of a Trooper to his General. But the emotions within him did not at all match his words or deeds. There was playfulness, disdain, amusement, worry, defiance, and many other things all rolled into a confusing melange any time Santo interacted with Hero, something the Jedi reciprocated freely.

Something no Jedi would reciprocate.

Well…except maybe Master Anakin.

Which was the crux of the issue. Ahsoka had seen such a…lackadaisical approach to a Jedi's discipline. But Master Anakin had superb control in all aspects demanded of a Jedi Knight. Something quite frankly lacking in Master Hero.

Demanded…

Master Anakin once told her that he had never actually undergone the trials, that the Council had decided that the early stages of the War had tested him far further than any of the Trials ever could have.

Could that be it?

Master Hero was too old to have been a Padawan Apprentice at the start of the Clone Wars. Could he have failed the Trials due to his lack of control over the Force? To fail one of them was to fail all of them, and anyone who showed Master Hero's lack of control over the Force would never pass the Trial of Spirit let alone the Trial of Insight.

Could…could Hero have failed to achieve the rank of Knight and abandoned the order? But if that were the case…why was he putting himself in such danger for her? He specifically said that he and his Trooper had sought her out just to help her escape the Separatist trap she landed herself in. If he was no longer in the Order…

Ahsoka sighed again and brought her hands up to massage her temples. None of it made any sense! Master Obi-Wan said that there was always a story that would link everything together so it made sense! There had to be a way to make it all make sense, but if there was, Ahsoka simply couldn't see it!

She could feel it. There was one piece of the puzzle that would make it all come together. She didn't have the piece but…maybe, just maybe, she could figure it out.

"—ow on ammo! We'll hold out as lo—aves of droi—east hallway! I repeat the—st hallw-!" Another explosion rumbled through the building. "Disregard the east hallway! I rep—disregard the east hallway!"

It would be in something he said. She hadn't sensed any mistruths in his words, but there had been some deception. He hadn't been telling her the whole truth when he explained himself, and neither had his Trooper. But then again, the Trooper had stated that, unless she gave the proper passphrase, he couldn't tell her the whole truth.

He said they came to the planet because they were following orders, and that had not been a lie. Nobody that showed such a lack of control over the Force would be able to use it to mask their deceptions. And the only Force Sensitives that would be taking orders from the Grand Army of the Republic would be Jedi Knights, or Padawans under a Jedi Knight.

The Trooper had said he was with his General under a special dispensation, and while his armor only had, at best, a resemblance to the armor she'd come to know, it was obvious he was some kind of Trooper. And the only Force Sensitives a Trooper of the Grand Army of the Republic would listen to…would be a Jedi.

So Hero was a Jedi Knight, but he didn't act like it. Santo was a Trooper, but didn't act like it. But at the same time, both of them were doing the things a Knight and a Trooper would do. And while they didn't carry themselves like a Jedi Knight or a Trooper, they were doing what a Jedi Knight or a Trooper would.

Wait…Trooper.

All Troopers were clones.

All Troopers were unique in the Force, but so was every snowflake in a frozen world. Clone Troopers had a uniformity to them. They were each unique, but loath as some of them were to admit it, they were far more similar to each other than they were different, particularly the Shinies.

And Santo didn't feel like he had that uniformity. He was the round peg whereas all the troopers were a square peg. Then again, he claimed to be a Commando, and Random, Locket, and Sevens all seemed to think that this made Santo special. It could be that the way Commandos were raised resulted in a wildly different Trooper.

But if it didn't, then that would mean…

She jumped with a shriek at the very loud and resonant PTING of the Computer Spike finishing its work. She blinked at it, and, double checking the screen to make sure that the progress bar was indeed full, she extracted the Computer Spike.

Her commlink gave one last fitful whine and fell back into the static screech of comms jamming.

Wait…hadn't Sevens been trying to tell her something? It sounded pretty important…

Hallway East Bay Five?

That didn't sound right.

Oh well, she'd just do as Master Anakin was wont to do, and run towards where the sounds of fighting were loudest. That would probably bring her to wherever the Force dictated she was needed.