No trigger warnings

"Rex!"

Rex stops with one hand on the doorframe to his quarters and one foot lifted over the threshold. He's glad his helmet is on; that way, Skywalker can't see him press his eyes closed.

Too slow.

"Sir," Rex says at last, turning to face him; He tugs his bucket off and tucks it under his arm.

Anakin waves a hand like he can bat away the title. "I've been looking all over for you," he says. His brow furrows. "Why aren't you answering your comm?"

Dodging Anakin Skywalker has become something of a challenge. At first, it was easy: on a ship this size and with as many casualties as they sustained, there's no shortage of work to go around. Over the last two weeks, however, it's become gradually harder and harder; the work hasn't run out – but Anakin's patience has. Rex suspects he's resorted to following him through the Force.

Every time he turns a corner, Skywalker is somewhere nearby.

"Rex?"

"Forgot it," Rex says. He hesitates. "In my quarters, sir. Just…came to get it."

"At twenty-one-hundred."

"Yes, sir."

"Obi-Wan told me he saw you at zero-five-hundred directing repair crews in the bomber bay."

Shab. "He…did?" Rex says.

Anakin folds his arms across his chest. "Yeah, Rex," he says. "He did. And he told me. You know, I'm starting to think you're avoiding me. Actually, scratch that: I know you're avoiding me."

"No," Rex says. "I've just been. Busy. Sir."

Skywalker holds up a commlink. It takes Rex a second too long to realize Anakin plucked it off his gauntlet. "Found your communicator," his General says. "I think it was attached to your arm. You know, like it always is."

"Ah." Rex gingerly takes the comm back. He doesn't meet Skywalker's eyes. "Thank you, General."

Anakin's gaze doesn't waver.

"Was there, uh, something else, sir?"

"What's going on?"

"We're down a lot of men. There's work to be done."

"That's not what I mean."

Rex sighs. "Look, General, I'm all right. Just as tired as the next man. I'll be fine once I've had some sleep."

"You know, Commander Cody's a much better liar than you are."

Rex makes a face. Cody also works with Kenobi. Cody also has a Force bond with Kenobi. Of course he's learned to be better at hiding things. "Is that all?" he asks dryly.

"You know you can talk to me," Anakin says. His voice is softer. He rests a hand on Rex's shoulder. "If something's wrong, you can tell me. I'll do whatever I can to help."

If he tells Skywalker, he'll shut it down. Damn the Chancellor: Rex has been turning it over with Cody in the late hours when they can't sleep and it's safer to talk freely. Palpatine has to be a mastermind to have orchestrated this war; he wouldn't keep someone close because he cared about them; he'd keep them close because they were important for him to succeed.

And he keeps Skywalker very close indeed.

Rex wonders at what role Anakin's being manipulated into filling and feels the fury surge in his chest. He can't tell him. But he can protect him.

"I know," Rex says. He manages a small smile. "Thank you."

Anakin squeezes his shoulder and holds for a moment, searching his face. Maybe he's waiting for Rex to explain what's going on, why he's been distant, why he's been dodging him, but Rex just shrugs helplessly.

"If there's nothing else, General?"

Anakin flinches. Rex desperately hopes he hasn't heard his thoughts.

Shabla Force: it's a massive inconvenience when you're trying to commit high treason.

"General?"

"Nothing, Rex," Anakin says. His eyes are suddenly distant. So it is the Force, then. Maybe it has something to do with some other problem somewhere else, completely unrelated to this exchange.

Skywalker rubs at his temples. "Just – when you're ready to talk, you know where to find me. I mean, you have to know, right? You're never in the same place at the same time."

Anakin's gone then, speeding down the corridor. Rex briefly considers going after him and decides against it. If there's an issue with Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan will hear about it, which means Cody will know about it, which means that Rex will inevitably find himself in possession of the same information.

It'll have to be enough for now.

Echo's not due to call for another forty-five standard minutes. Rex makes himself review reports over a cup of stale caf until then. They're Cody's; he's been putting off reading through them because of their length.

Cody is nothing if not thorough but sometimes Rex wonders if he crosses over into excessive.

When his datapad finally buzzes, it's a relief.

"Echo," Rex says with a wide smile. He drops it almost immediately. "What's wrong?"

"There's nothing…wrong," Echo says.

"Don't be cryptic with me," Rex shoots back sternly. Anxiety ticks up in his chest. "What is it? What happened? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Echo says quickly. "I'm fine, Rex. Don't worry. Nothing's wrong. Something's actually gone right for once."

"Just spit it out."

"Fives is alive," Echo blurts. Someone groans Really? in the background; Rex barely hears it. Don't go. Don't go. Stay with me, Fives. Don't go.

"No," Rex manages. "No, Echo, that's not – that's not possible. Fives is gone."

Fives died in his arms.

Echo reaches a hand out of the frame and yanks another person in. At first, Rex thinks he fell asleep reading one of Cody's reports, that he's having some sort of nightmare delusion. Fives is gone. Fives is gone. Fives is gone.

"Hey, Rex," Fives says.

"Fives," Rex whispers. His heart is in his throat. "Fives."

"Yeah," Fives says. He grins. His hair's grown back. He looks tired, but he's there, he's breathing, he's alive. Rex manages a disbelieving chuckle.

"You're gonna have to give me a minute," he says. There's something like bubbling glee in his chest, a hysterical kind of joyful relief. He can't stop smiling. His vision is blurring. Fives is alive.

"Take your time," Fives says.

"You don't want the story?" Echo asks.

"No," Rex says, dimly conscious of the tears streaming down his face. He can't stop smiling. "No, Echo, not really."

"It's relevant," Fives says, and shoves Echo. "Just give him a minute, Ey'ika. He's emotional."

"Kriff off," Rex chokes. "You died in my arms."

That sobers them both. "Sorry," Fives says, almost sheepishly. Rex coughs a laugh.

"It's all right, vod'ika," he says and Fives gives a pleased little smile at the nickname.

Rex swipes at his face and clears his throat. All at once he wants to drag him close and hold him like he held Echo his first night home. All at once he wants to apologize, wants to whisper I'm sorry I didn't save you. Not on Umbara. Not in that warehouse on Coruscant. Too late. Always too late.

But for the moment, Fives is lightyears away.

"It's all right," Rex says again, once he's more composed. "You're both okay?"

"Yeah," Fives says. Echo frowns skeptically before he realizes what he's doing.

"What is it?" Rex asks.

"Nothing we need to deal with right now," Fives says shortly. He cuts Echo a look. "We've got bigger problems."

Rex can't think of anything he cares about more than keeping them safe – keeping them all safe. "Right," he says slowly.

"Palpatine's a Sith," Fives says.

"You can't just say that," Echo grumbles. "Can you try to be a little more tactful about it?"

"What, like you? 'Fives is alive.' You almost gave him a heart attack, Echo!"

If it's true, if Fives is right, Cody's not going to like it at all. So much for the Council sensing it.

"You know I'm going to need more than that," Rex says. "So let's hear it."

Cody is sure of one thing and one thing only and that is that Obi-Wan Kenobi is going to be the death of him.

The Force bond is a comfort, most of the time, but right now, it's the biggest inconvenience in the entire shabla galaxy.

Kenobi doesn't ask him what's going. Kenobi doesn't ask him if he's all right. No, he's too smart for that. He knows Cody will deny everything and he knows that that'll leave him at a dead end, so he very deliberately does not ask questions for which there are answers that Cody could use to stonewall him. Can't very well say I'm fine, I'm tired, I'll be okay after I've slept if Kenobi never asks him Are you okay? And if he says he's fine without any prompting, then Obi-Wan will just quirk a brow at him and go Is there a reason I should think you're not, Cody? – and then he'll be trapped.

So it's business as usual

Except that it's not.

Kenobi carries on as if everything is perfectly normal while Cody does his best to pretend that it is, that he's not hiding anything, that he hasn't been practicing shielding the bond from his emotions, which of course leaves cold and empty space that Kenobi notices immediately – and doesn't mention. Cody knows he knows. Obi-Wan acts perfectly oblivious. It's a persistent push-and-pull: too much, too little; a flood, a void.

They've been doing this little song and dance for the better part of the last two weeks. Cody's three seconds from swinging at his superior officer and getting tossed into the brig just to get away from him.

But then, that would really be suspicious.

Obi-Wan always eats in the mess with the rest of the troops, but it's usually later in the morning after he's meditated and gotten some work done, not at 0400 when Cody's hunched over a cup of caf while Rex picks at his food and mumbles about something or other across from him.

"Good morning, Commander," Obi-Wan says. Rex jumps. Cody looks up wearily. "Do you mind if I join you?"

Can't very well refuse. "Of course not, General," Cody says, seething inside. "Have a seat."

Rex stops mid-chew and raises an eyebrow at him like Kenobi's not right there, studying them with a kind smile.

"Thank you," Obi-Wan says, settling in beside Rex. Rex glances at him; the man looks like death when he gets up in the morning and today is no exception. At least Obi-Wan has the decency to appear briefly unsettled by the zombie staring at him before that pleasant smile settles back into place. "Captain."

"G'nral," Rex says, and seems to realize he still has a mouthful of food. He swallows and clears his throat. Cody makes a face. "Um, good morning."

"Anakin tells me you've had some issues locating your communicator of late," Obi-Wan says. Rex chokes. "I'm glad to see that you have it with you this morning. Apparently, he's under the impression you're avoiding him."

"I'm not," Rex says. Cody wants to reach across the table and smack him. Watching Rex lie is painful on a good day; today, it's excruciating. "I've just been very busy."

"So have we all," Obi-Wan says, patiently cutting up the block on his plate like it's a prime slab of steak and not a tasteless blob of nutrient-fortified gelatin. "The repair crews report that the breach in the hyperdrive chamber has been sealed. We should be underway in a few hours and arrive at Coruscant before the end of the day."

"That's good news," Cody says neutrally. They won't be dead weight floating in empty space. And he'll finally be able to stay more than a ship-length away from Kenobi.

"I should think so," Obi-Wan says. "I, for one, will certainly be relieved when we've resupplied. Sol tells me we're running low on or have run out of nearly everything."

"Kix says that too," Rex mutters. He stabs the blob on his plate until a corner of it deflates, then pushes it away.

"I have a ration bar left if you'd prefer that," Kenobi says, procuring one from his pocket. "It's been crushed, I'm afraid, but it's still a sight better than…that."

"No, thank you," Rex says. "That's your lunch, General."

Kenobi sets it on the table and slides it toward him. "I'll be all right," he says gently. "You need to eat."

"I'm fine," Rex repeats stubbornly. "Keep it."

"Just take the shabla bar, Rex," Cody says. "He's not going to let it go until you do."

"He's right," Kenobi says.

"No," Rex repeats. He pulls his plate back toward him slowly. "I'll eat the osik."

Cody rolls his eyes. He knows the reason for the brooding, of course, as unlike Rex as it may be: Fives is alive, Rex wants to see him, and he can't.

Cody knows the feeling, even if he can't afford the attitude. Getting called to Rex's quarters in the middle of the night to learn that Fives was alive and then hear the explanation from their ARCs did nothing for the dark circles under his eyes, which means it did nothing to dissuade Kenobi. He can't imagine the sudden surge of complicated emotion clouding the bond helped, either. Maybe Obi-Wan put it down to a nightmare.

Cody hopes he'll just put it down to a nightmare.

Kenobi sighs and taps the bar. "I'll just leave this here, then," he says. "Do remember to take it with you."

"No, General—"

Kenobi pats him on the shoulder and pushes his chair out to stand. "Oh, Commander," he says, "If you're not too busy this afternoon, I'd like to run over a few things with you."

There's instant concern in Rex's otherwise dead expression. Cody wants to swear at him. If he can't manage a good pazaak face, the least he can do is look somewhere else so Kenobi can't see it. "I'll clear a block in my schedule," Cody says mildly.

"I'll assume eighteen-hundred unless you tell me otherwise," Obi-Wan says, and then is gone.

"Guess that's your block," Rex says.

Cody smacks his arm. "You can't lie for osik," he says.

Rex makes a face and shoves the ration bar at him. "Oh, no," Cody says, "I'm sure Kenobi's going to ask you about it later."

Rex sighs. "I'll take it down to Kix," he says. "Jesse'll appreciate it."

"Eat your nutrition cube."

Rex scowls.

"Rex. The General was right about one thing: you need to eat." Cody stares at him. "Rex."

"I know, Codes," Rex mumbles miserably, staring at the sludge. "I know."

"We'll see him as soon as we can," Cody says quietly. He clasps Rex's wrist and squeezes. "I promise."

It gets him half a smile, at least. That's better than nothing.

The technicians try to turn the Resolute's hyperdrive back on and almost end up blowing out lifesupport. Cody spends most of the day in his armor or attached to a respirator, rushing from one station to the next, directing crews and putting out fires. The Resolute is in bad enough shape that, between heaving breaths of stale oxygen and barking at shinies that got too close to a clearly-marked hazard, he wonders how she's still flying at all.

The Negotiator, meanwhile, took so much damage that most of her crew has been assigned to the Resolute; they're housed in storage bays that were hastily repurposed as short-term living quarters. A skeleton crew eats, sleeps, and lives on the Negotiator's bridge; it's the only part of the craft that isn't actively venting atmosphere.

They have just enough power and integrity to limp home.

The chrono hits 1750. Cody stumbles to his quarters, shrug out of his scorched armor (nice work, Boil), and throws on his fatigues. He almost sinks down onto his bunk and then thinks better of it; if he closes his eyes, he'll pass out and miss his meeting with Kenobi.

Shabla meeting with Kenobi.

It takes him longer than he thinks it should to make it to Kenobi's quarters. Cody raps on the door twice and waits.

"You can come in, Commander."

Cody palms the door open and steps inside. The lights are dimmer here; it takes his eyes a second to adjust.

Kenobi's wearing his tunic instead of his armor, sitting cross-legged on the floor. He looks calmer than Cody's seen him in months, more like a peacekeeper than a war-weary soldier. It strikes him that Obi-Wan must have been meditating before he knocked and shattered the silence.

"My apologies, General," Cody says. "I didn't mean to disturb you."

"Quite all right, Cody," Obi-Wan says. "I did say eighteen-hundred."

Cody stares at him. Kenobi waves at the floor and Cody eases down across from him. The door hisses shut.

"You look tired," Obi-Wan says.

"No more than anyone else, sir."

"I'm sure." Kenobi tilts his head at him. "How's Rex? I'm told he had something of a close call."

"One of the airlocks started venting while he was repairing a console in the compartment," Cody says. "He almost got spaced."

It'll be a funny story later, weeks down the line, but for now Cody still feels a cold grip around his heart when he thinks about it – still feels a surge of fear at Rex's panic-blown eyes and the way he pounded on the glass and screamed for someone to hit the emergency shield. Can still feel the way Rex trembled after they got the shield up and Cody pulled him out of the compartment and didn't let go.

"I'm sorry," Obi-Wan says, and Cody notices he's flinching at the same time he realizes he's been broadcasting his emotions, not subduing them. "I didn't mean to—"

"Rex is fine," Cody says shortly. "Skywalker made him go to the medbay and Kix cleared him. He was just a little lightheaded. No hard vacuum exposure."

"I'm glad to hear it."

There's a long beat of silence.

"What is it exactly that you wanted to discuss, General?" Cody asks tensely.

Obi-Wan sighs. "I'm not going to ask you about whatever it is that has you so anxious and upset all of the time, if that's what you think," he says. "I do respect your privacy, Cody."

"Logistics, then?" Cody asks briskly. "You're already well aware of our supplies situation. Most of the more critically injured men are in the medbay, but the overflow has been allocated to an adjacent supplies bay. Sol and Kix are coordinating their care. As far as repairs go, we're back on schedule and should be departing—"

"Cody."

"—for Coruscant in the next three hours. The hyperdrive is testy at best, so it'll take us a full day instead of six hours. The Negotiator reports—"

"Cody."

Cody snaps his mouth shut. "General."

"First of all, you can drop the 'General,'" Obi-Wan says dryly, and Cody doesn't even have to strain to hear the note of annoyance he usually reserves for Anakin. Kenobi must have noticed too; his voice softens. "This meeting is not for logistics or for demanding to know what's going on with you."

All this talk about the chips has made him paranoid. Cody presses his eyes shut briefly. He should have seen this coming; Kenobi has never been one to pry into personal matters. Gently inquire, maybe, but never pry. "Sorry," he says, without opening his eyes. "It's…been a hell of a few months."

"You don't have to apologize," Obi-Wan says. Cody stares at him. There's understanding in his gaze, open empathy and the shadow of old grief. Too many dead. "These last few campaigns have been hard on everyone. Your rank does not exempt you from that."

"I'm sorry," Cody says again. Obi-Wan opens his mouth to contradict him; Cody holds up a hand. "About…the bond. Shielding it – it's difficult."

"It just takes practice," Kenobi says. "I think you've improved markedly these last few weeks, though you do tend to go all-in or share nothing at all."

A flood. A void. Cody winces. "You're sure there's no way to sever it?" he asks.

"There are two ways to sever it," Obi-Wan says, frowning. "One: one of us dies. Two: one of us shatters it. And that's really not a viable option. It's certainly not the healthiest."

"Then what was it I felt when you—" Cody cuts himself off abruptly.

"When I what?"

"When you faked your death," Cody says haltingly. "To go undercover as Rako Hardeen."

"Ah." Kenobi hesitates. There's a flicker of guilt in his eyes. Cody remembers knowing the second it happened, collapsing to his knees in the middle of a fighter bay and clutching at his chest and trying to breathe while Waxer held him up and Boil went running for Sol. Remembers pain and fear and loss and an emptiness he could never really explain to Rex no matter how hard he tried. Remembers feeling like a part of him had died too.

Remembers an ache deeper than grief.

"That was unintentional result of my distancing myself," Obi-Wan says. "I did the same thing to the bond I have with Anakin, but he's been trained in the Force, so he was better able to process the loss." He flinches. "I am sorry, Cody. I never meant for that to happen."

"You've already apologized for this," Cody reminds mildly. Waxer and Boil wasted no time in telling Kenobi about Cody's collapse. They and Sol hadn't understood the reason behind it and put it down to exhaustion and overwork, but Obi-Wan heard half their rambling explanation, immediately knew the real cause, and became a constant presence at Cody's side until he was satisfied he was all right.

It was comforting – for the first few days, at least.

"I know." Kenobi scrubs at his eyes. "I just wish I had done a lot of things differently on that operation."

"You did what you had to."

"I should have told Anakin and I should have better prepared you." Obi-Wan grimaces and then sighs. "Nothing to be done about it now, I suppose."

Short of tearing himself up over it for the next ten years, no. Cody drums his fingers on the floor. "There is no point to this 'meeting', is there?" he asks at last.

"In a manner of speaking," Obi-Wan says. "There's no formal purpose, no. Given that, I suppose it's not really even a meeting."

"Then why am I here?"

"Because you are one of my dearest friends," Obi-Wan says, "and while I can't take this pain from you, I was hoping that you would let me ease it for a while."

Cody manages a shadow of a smile. If there was less at stake, he'd be tempted to take the gamble and tell Obi-Wan about the chips. Confronting a Sith would certainly be easier with a Jedi at their side, much easier than trying to puzzle out how to do it alone or if it's even possible to take Palpatine by surprise. He and Rex and Echo and Fives spent most of the night going over it.

No one had a good solution. The only thing anyone could say with any certainty was that they have to act first and explain later. None of the Jedi ever believed Fives, after all, and there are too many lives on the line to make the same mistake twice.

"Cody?"

Cody jolts. Broadcasting again. Shab. There's worry written across Obi-Wan's face.

"You're very anxious," he says gently.

Cody sighs. "Sorry. I was just thinking."

Obi-Wan tilts his head to the side.

Well, he's already here. "What do I do," Cody hedges, "if we encounter a Sith again?"

Kenobi frowns. "You mean Count Dooku."

"Dooku. Oppress. Maul. Ventress. Take your pick," Cody shrugs. "The Jedi can handle it all right, but the troopers can't – and I'm tired of watching my men die."

Obi-Wan takes a measured breath. "There's only so much you can do."

"That's not good enough. I need to know how to protect them."

"Cody—"

"Everyone has to have a weakness," Cody says, sharper than he means to. "What's theirs?"

"It's variable," Obi-Wan says. "Fighting with a lightsaber and the Force is not all that different from using a blaster and grenades. It's a matter of skill, timing, precision, and sometimes, luck. You make the best of what you have."

Cody nods mutely.

"I'm sorry," Kenobi says. "I wish there was more I could teach you. A better answer."

Cody takes a steadying breath. "There might be," he says.

"How do you mean?"

Cody reaches into his pocket and closes his hand around a medallion. It's old, Mandalorian, and engraved with a mythosaur skull. Rex got it for him a long time ago; he never asked how. Wordlessly, Cody holds it in his outstretched palm, then reaches out into the webs and the waves and wills it to rise. It was loud and wobbly and uncontrolled the first time he tried it. Now it's barely a whisper.

The medallion lifts, twirling between them. Kenobi doesn't say anything. It takes Cody a moment to muster the courage to meet his eyes.

"I need to know how to use this to keep them safe," Cody says. "Please."

Obi-Wan doesn't answer him, and for one terrifying irrational electric beat Cody's sure he's made the most fatal mistake of his life.

"That's…more of a revelation to me than it should be," Kenobi manages at last, and Cody remembers how to breathe. He lets the medallion drop and replaces it in his pocket.

"How long have you been able to do that?" Kenobi asks.

"Long enough," Cody says. Since before the bond solidified. Since the battle meditation started. Years. He clears his throat.

"I'm sorry," Obi-Wan says. "I suddenly feel as if my guidance has been severely lacking."

"I learned from you," Cody says. Through watching and listening and feeling; through the battle meditation: There is no passion: there is only serenity. There is no death; there is only the Force. He repeated it to himself, sitting alone in his quarters with his eyes squeezed shut and his hand outstretched, willing the same focus, willing the medallion to rise.

Kenobi looks impressed, proud, but still guilty. "I'm sorry," he says again. "You shouldn't have had to struggle through alone."

"I was never alone," Cody says. "I had you."

Obi-Wan smiles. There's a pulse of genuine joy through the bond, a wave of soothing calm and gratitude and pride.

"Who else knows?" Kenobi asks. "Rex?"

"No." He told Rex that Kenobi said he wasn't Force-sensitive; that was true enough. He told Rex that if he started hiding things, Kenobi would know something was off; that was more incomplete than untrue.

He can only conceal one reality-altering secret at a time.

"So it's just me, then," Kenobi says wryly.

"I didn't say that," Cody says. Obi-Wan cocks his head at him. Cody sighs. "Waxer," he says. "Waxer knows, so if I'm honest, that means Boil probably knows too."

"And how, pray tell, did this come to pass?"

"Umbara," Cody says. Obi-Wan sobers. "When Krell pitted our forces against one another, Waxer got caught in the crossfire. He was barely alive when they brought him back to the Negotiator. He was going to die. I couldn't let him go."

"You healed him," Obi-Wan surmises.

"When you healed me, you said all you did was think of the tissues knitting back together and the body repairing the damage done to it." Cody shrugs. "So that's what I did for Waxer."

"I did wonder at his somewhat miraculous recovery."

"Yeah, so did Boil. And Waxer, I guess, was more awake when I fixed him up than I first thought." Cody twists his face, annoyed. "So those two know. And you. But that's it."

Obi-Wan makes a contemplative face. "What is it that you want me to teach you?" he asks at last. "You're already well-versed in multiple forms of combat."

"How to defeat a Sith. Up here." Cody taps his temple. "Wolffe told me that Ventress played mind games. Distorted his reality. He couldn't get a read on her. That's how he lost his eye and most of his squad."

Obi-Wan waves a hand to summon his datapad. He taps a few keys and flips it around to hand it over. "I don't have the same texts available to the Temple library, but I do have these," he says. "It might be a good place to start if you're set on this."

"I am," Cody says, already transferring the files to his own 'pad. As soon as it finishes, he eases to his feet. "Thank you."

"It is I who should be thanking you, my friend."

Cody stops in the doorway and looks back. "For what?" he asks.

Kenobi's smile is kind. Cody gets a rush of warmth and care.

"For trusting me."

"Just…don't tell anyone else, General."

"Oh, I wouldn't dream of it."

Cody locks his door as soon as he makes it back to his quarters. He spends the rest of the night propped against the wall his bunk backs up to, reading through the texts. A few are purely historical, but a greater majority of them are first-hand accounts made by Jedi that survived their encounters with Sith. Some are holographic recordings; others are written statements.

One of them is by Kenobi.

Cody hesitates and then taps it before he can make himself reconsider. It's a recording. Kenobi's younger; he still has the padawan braid. His face is solemn. Stoic.

And he's recounting the story of his master's death.

Cody knows only the vaguest details: that there was a Trade Federation blockade of Naboo, that Maul was responsible for Qui-Gon's death, that Kenobi bisected Maul (which apparently didn't kill the hut'uun). The recording fills in the blanks in the most painfully controlled way.

"Ultimately, the Council knows that Maul was apprenticed to a Sith but has no way of identifying or otherwise locating his master. I can only surmise that he must be incredibly powerful and incredibly well-versed in the art of concealment. I've launched some inquiries of my own, but so far, none of them has turned up anything of use. Honestly, I doubt they will. Until this individual makes a mistake or chooses to reveal themselves, they will remain only a phantom menace."

The recording ends. Cody's chest aches. It doesn't take a genius to conclude that Maul's former master has to be Palpatine. The chakaar has been manipulating the galaxy behind the scenes for the entire war.

Kenobi deserves to know.

Cody blows out a breath and rubs at his eyes. His chrono says it's 0230. He's been absorbing those things for hours. He should sleep. He needs to sleep. He has to be up soon.

He sets the datapad aside, turns over, and closes his eyes. Tosses to the other side. And back. And over. And back.

Thank you for trusting me.

Cody flops onto his back and stares miserably at the ceiling. Kenobi deserves to know. Kenobi can't know.

He promised Rex he wouldn't say anything.

Cody closes his eyes.

He never gets to sleep.