Author's Notes

New chapter, you know the drill. Fives is here, and we finally know the name of the MC [Which is only coming up now because I couldn't think of one before (and I didn't know how to casually include it)].

The arc (if you can call it that) on Coruscant will probably go on for another couple of chapters before I move to the next destination of the story, cause we still have some stuff to do. Gale still has to convince Fives to join him, and get off Coruscant without getting shot by one of the MANY Shock Troopers looking for Fives, and Fives being in his current state doesn't help (If anybody is confused as to why Fives is in his current state, I will reveal it later). I will also be including at least one other character appearance before Gale and Fives leave.

I'm not very good at writing 3rd person views I find so I hope you guys enjoyed anyways.

Another dream and more info on Gale's past, this time it's on Illum.

I wanted to ask you readers something as well, about Echo. Gale knows that Echo is still alive and I'm debating whether or not I should have Gale reveal this fact to Fives, I can see pros and cons for both telling and not telling. Pros to telling would be that it would help build trust among Gale and Fives, and it would add at least one more member to the team. Cons to telling is that it would take time, and finding Echo is easier said than done considering they only found out about his survival when he was being used as an algorithm, and it's implied they only started doing that during a battle later on in the timeline. I will say that it is possible though, just difficult to justify. Let me know what you guys think, tell Fives about Echo or don't.

Anyways, I don't own Star Wars.

Feedback is always welcome.

Please enjoy.

Chapter 3

Ilum. Fifth planet from its parent blue dwarf star in the Ilum system, a freezing planet covered almost completely in snow.

The planet holds a particular significance to the Jedi, being the source of almost all of the kyber crystals used by the Jedi Order, which were harvested by Younglings in the rite of passage, The Gathering.

"Once you have located your crystal, you mustn't stay inside."

My group stood at the already reforming entrance to the Crystal Cave, all of us the top of the class, me and one other especially so.

"Once the sun sets you will be trapped inside," the padawan in charge of our group continued. He was covered in a heavy coat, much like the rest of us. Well, all except Grandmaster Yoda, standing a little ways behind the padawan, he seemed to not be bothered by the cold in the slightest despite only wearing standard Jedi attire.

My fellow younglings seemed to tense at his words. One of them spoke up, a light blue skinned Twi'lek, "For how long?"

"For one rotation," he said simply. What he neglected to mention was that a single rotation on Ilum is 66 hours, plenty long enough for one to die from any number of reasons.

"Well no need to worry about me!" a togruta youngling, Ahsoka, brashly announced. This was the same Ahsoka Tano who I knew would one day become Anakin Skywalker's padawan, and face down armies and sith lords, but for now she was simply Ahsoka, a youngling, youngest in the class in fact, and fellow overachiever. She's also my self-proclaimed rival, due to me being the only one in the class with a higher grade than her. "I'll get my crystal way before any of you, especially you Gale."

My only response to Ahsoka's declaration was a raised eyebrow in her direction. Ahsoka was the closest thing I had to a friend right now, both of us were outcasts in the class due to our grades, and age for Ahsoka, but we were outcasts together.

Ahsoka still didn't trust me as far as she could throw me though, which wasn't very far even with assistance from the force. I understood why, her entrance to the Order wasn't the best, another thing we shared in common.

"Remember," the padawan spoke up, tearing me away from my thoughts, "only you can know which crystal is yours. Now go."

And off we went, into the icy caverns of the Temple. Ahsoka quickly split off from the rest of the group, while I stayed behind with the group, if only momentarily, we'd probably have to split off soon as well.

I knew how this place worked. The crystals wouldn't simply give themselves to us, they test us first, to see if we can overcome our flaws when faced with a seemingly hopeless situation. I could guess the tests for a few of my fellow younglings, for example: Ahsoka needed to learn trust and would likely involve something like trusting a teacher's advice, or getting help from another student.

I wasn't sure how the crystals would test me, which I suppose is the point. I'm in no way claiming I'm flawless, quite the opposite really, if anything I have too many flaws to choose from. But I knew pondering my flaws wouldn't help me, I'd need to wait for my crystal to seek me out.

Instead I decided to ponder simpler things, like what color my lightsaber would be. The most likely was blue and green, the standard colors. Personally I preferred blue, although purple would be even better, it's my favorite color after all, but what are the chances of that? Mace Windu is the only Jedi in the Order with a Purple lightsaber right now, and I don't share much in common with the man. How does one get a yellow lightsaber? I know the Temple Guards have them but I've never seen one outside of that. Could it have something to do with-

"Come here."

I froze where I stood, as my thoughts similarly halted. The other younglings didn't seem to notice, or care, they simply kept walking forward.

I was a logical thinker most of the time. The moment I heard that voice I should have known it was a part of my test, that the voice I was hearing, that I recognized, wasn't actually real. I should have known, but the moment I heard that voice I could only think of one thing as my mind latched onto even the slightest possibility that the voice was real.

I couldn't help but ask out in question, though my voice came out as little more than a shaky whisper.

"Mom?"

"Gale," the static filled voice of a droid called my name pulling me from my sleep, I ignored it for now. Maybe if I pretended to sleep long enough it'd go away.

"Gale."

Or not. Sighing I opened my eyes and got up. Since the trip from Kamino to Coruscant was going to take a few hours I had decided to get some sleep, for all the good it did me.

"That's my name, don't wear it out," I tiredly responded.

"I am confused, how does one wear out a name?"

"Just an expression AZ," I sighed again, "What is it?"

"Oh right. R6 D8 says we'll be out of hyperspace soon."

I gave a quick nod and started heading to the cockpit and tried to keep my mind off the dream I just had.

AZ had been more cooperative than I expected, considering how I basically kidnapped him from Tipoca. I have few ideas why. He could just not be programmed to be suspicious. Maybe he just didn't want to get his mind wiped, but it doesn't really matter in the end as long as he cooperates. I doubt Fives will be nearly as easy to recruit, all things considered.

I sat down in the pilot seat of my ship and began the necessary procedures to exit hyperspace.

Normally, flying a HWK-290 is a two person job, needing a pilot and a copilot, thankfully for me I had Ardy and a large number of modifications to allow me to pilot the ship practically solo. It was a bit more complicated than a standard single pilot ship but I managed, and having the Force does help.

I grabbed the necessary lever, pulled it back, and watched as the familiar sight of Coruscant stretched back into place. I let out another sigh at the sight, and at the release of the pressure caused by entering and exiting hyperspace.

I recapped the steps to the mission I was about to embark on. Step one, find Fives after his talk with Palpatine, step two, get him off Coruscant before he gets killed.

A sardonic laugh escaped my body. Not much of a plan compared to the one I made for Kamino, but beggars can't be choosers and I'm running on a short timeline. And while Jedi memory techniques are helpful, they aren't omnipotent.

Now how do I convince an ARC Trooper to trust me when he's just been told his whole world is a lie?

Fives was slipping. He didn't know why, but things weren't going as he'd planned, or well, not planned per say, he'd been out most of the trip to Coruscant so he hadn't had time to plan, but things weren't going as he'd hoped.

Ever since he'd arrived at the Head Medical Facility on Coruscant his head had been pounding, and he couldn't think straight. He was a soldier, known for keeping a level head no matter the situation, and yet he couldn't keep his emotions in check. Even he realized he was sounding crazy, and every second his emotions got more out of control, it took everything he had to not do something stupid infront of the Supreme Chancellor.

He knew what he found was right, even without the evidence he felt it, a gut feeling, and he had worked with enough Jedi to know not to easily dismiss those. So he had to tell the Chancellor and get those damn chips removed, for the Republic, for the Jedi, for his brothers, for Tup.

Fives had his chance now though, now it was just him, the Chancellor, and the Chancellor's guards, two Red Guards by the door, and a clone in red accented armor shadowing the Chancellor. With Nala Se gone he can convince the Chancellor of his findings and end this conspiracy once and for all.

"Now," the Chancellor spoke, snapping Five's from his thoughts. That was another thing that had been off since he landed, he kept getting caught up in his thoughts, he was almost surprised he wasn't speaking them aloud in some crazy incoherent rambling. "Where were we?"

Something felt off, more off than before, like the room just got darker, colder. It set Fives on edge.

"Ah yes," the Chancellor continued, not waiting for a response from the ARC Trooper, "the Seperatist conspiracy you were speaking of. Please, do go on."

Fives hesitated, the sudden shift in the room had thrown him off, but he spoke anyways, this was his chance, "Yes sir. I believe that the Separatists are behind the malfunction in Tup's inhibitor chip. The Separatists somehow got control and forced him to kill Master Tiplar. If I am correct, the entire Republic army is at risk! We need to remove these chips before something like this can happen again!"

The Chancellor stood in silence near Fives as the ARC Trooper spoke, merely listening, and when Fives finished he began slowly pacing around the room, face betraying nothing but simple contemplation.

"I do believe you are correct," the Chancellor finally said. Fives could hardly believe his ears and he quickly got a firm grasp on his emotions before he did something foolish in his triumph. "But it is not a Seperatist plot."

Triumph quickly transitioned to confusion, and this time he couldn't keep quiet.

"But then… whose plot is it"

The Chancellor moved back over to Fives, now only a foot away, and looked Fives dead in the eyes with a grin that could only be described as malicious. The feeling of unease in the room intensified, and the tension continued to build in Fives.

"Mine."

The world seemed to come to a halt as Fives' emotions failed to catch up to his thoughts. He merely glanced at the only other clone in the room.

"Quite impressive isn't it," the Chancellor said, noticing Fives' gaze, "all it takes is a single command and the clone is robbed of all free will and forced to do whatever I so choose, even killing a Jedi."

Five slowly moved his sight back to Palpatine, his emotions and thoughts finally catching up.

"You," the ARC Trooper spoke, barely a whisper.

Fives' hands slowly rose up before grabbing onto Palpatine with a vice-like grip.

"You!"

The ARC Trooper noticed the other clone in the room start to move, raising his blaster to shoot. Fives reacted quickly, throwing Palpatine to the ground and crossing the short distance to the other clone.

The clone pulled the trigger and Fives diverted the barrel, sending the blaster bolt into one of the Red Guards. Fives didn't stop there though, quickly getting a better hold of the other clone's gun and shooting the second Red Guard. They would live, their armor was too tough to die with just that, but they were down for now.

The other clone tried to reclaim his blaster, only to have it torn from his hands and used by Fives to deliver a blow to the side of the trooper's head, sending him to the ground with a loud thump.

Fives returned his attention back to the Chancellor, still on the floor calling for help. Fives didn't know what to think, didn't know what to feel, emotions flowing through faster than he can keep track of, and showing on his face plain as day.

"No!" Betrayal, "You!" Rage. So overwhelmed by these feelings he couldn't even form proper sentences.

Fives aimed the blaster in his hands at Palpatine, not noticing the hiss from the entrance door or the warning rush of air before he was thrown backwards, hitting something before falling to his hands and knees.

He didn't stay there, the moment he landed he rushed for the only other door in the room, leading to a stairwell. He needed to get out of there or else he'd be killed, what he knew… he needed to tell somebody, the Chancellor has betrayed the Republic and every single clone has been compromised.

"He tried to kill me," Fives heard Palpatine say, his earlier dark tone gone, "It was so sudden."

Fives looked back to Palpatine as if to confirm what he was hearing. Palpatine was painting him as the bad guy! The 'unstable' clone who suddenly attacked the considerate Chancellor, and it was working!

Fives felt something impact his ribs, a staff, he noticed as he turned. Without wasting time for thought he grabbed the staff and quickly overpowered the clone wielding it, throwing him to the ground before running out to the stairwell.

The ARC Trooper ran down the stairs as fast as he could, skipping steps and even jumping over entire sections until he reached the ground floor. Ignoring the shouts from Master Shaak Ti, He made his way to the lobby, shoving people out of his way, fully aware of her following only a few meters behind him and gaining fast.

Even through the sound of alarms roaring through the air Fives could hear Master Shaak Ti call to close the blast doors.

Fives vaulted over a stretcher in his way and tripped as he tried to increase his pace, whatever was happening to him was getting worse, it was getting harder to focus and he could tell his movements were getting sloppy.

He couldn't stay on the floor though, so he got up and kept moving, quickly approaching the closing blast doors and jumping through just in time. The doors closed behind him with a loud groan, preventing anyone from following.

Fives had to get out of here, get to somewhere safe, then he could figure out his next move, so he kept running.

By the time he stopped his sprint, he was deep into the city, surrounded by a crowd full of humans, droids, and many other races that populated Coruscant. He was safe for now, but a lone clone stands out, even in a crowd, so he needed to go somewhere safer, somewhere he could blend in.

Making his way through the crowd, Fives noticed an air taxi just ahead and began moving towards it, a destination already in mind.

"To 79's," he said to the driver as he got in. The driver didn't say anything and began to drive off.

Fives used this brief moment of peace to decide his next actions. At 79's he could blend in, it was a bar full of clones after all. But how was he going to alert the Republic of the Chancellor's betrayal? Maybe if he could tell somebody he trusted, and who trusted him, they might believe him, but how does he contact them? He might be able to find someone at 79's to do it for him. Fives knew a lot of clones who would go there in between missions.

"That won't work, you know."

Fives quickly turned to the voice, reaching for a blaster that wasn't there. The ARC Trooper analyzed the person beside him, brown hair, green eyes, similar build and height to that of a clone trooper, light armor, a jacket that could be used to conceal weapons, and a relaxed posture.

Fives mentally berated himself, even in his current state he should have noticed him.

"Who are you?" Fives questioned harshly. The man raised his hands, palms facing Fives in a gesture of peace.

"My name is Gale, and I'm just someone very interested in what you just learned."