"Please tell me you haven't been here the whole time we were on Coruscant." Hawke said as he walked through a cruiser's hangar, heading towards the freighter salvaged from Tatooine's desert.

"I wouldn't say the whole time." Jack responded as he was welding the bottom of the ship, wearing protective gear to avoid severe burns. "Just after I got out of the bacta tank and got some stuff from the shops available."

"And that was?" Hawke asked as he sat on a crate, watching the boy work.

"Just some clothes for when I'm off duty. Don't mind wearing the armor but it isn't something I want to be wearing during down time." Jack said as he stopped and walked to another part of the ship's underside and turned his welder back on. "And something else just for personal reasons."

"You mean this bag of sweets?" Hawke asked with a smirk as Jack frozen and stopped welding. The boy turned to the Jedi Knight and saw the bag in his hand before sighing.

"Yes."

"Any reason why?"

"I told you already." Jack said as he went back to work. "Personal reasons."

"…Can I have one?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"Thanks." Hawke said as he took a small red pellet from the bag and ate it, chuckling at the flavor. "You know how to pick a sweet."

"So what's up?" Jack asked. "Usually it's Rex or Denal that's sent to check up on me once we're in space. Something get your attention?"

"We think Master Plo Koon might require assistance."

"Isn't he tracking that new enemy ship?" Jack asked, turning off his welder and taking off his protective mask. His hair had grown out a bit, revealing the blond that was growing out while the black was now across the edges of his hair. "The one that for the past week has been destroying fleet after fleet without a single survivor?"

"Ever since we landed on Coruscant almost a month ago, yes." Hawke responded. "Communication was cut, but he was asking for assistance when we last received his transmissions."

"Doesn't the Jedi Council have to green light any reinforcements?"

"Yes, that's what Anakin and Ahsoka are attempting to do right now." Hawke said as he stood up. "Hopefully we can go to support Master before anything bad happens."

"Oh, you know Plo Koon formally?" Jack asked as he began taking off his protected suit, starting with the vest.

"Yes, actually." Hawke said. "He was my teacher during my Padawan days."

"So this is sort of personal huh? Which is why you're here instead with Anakin and Ahsoka trying to get to go on a rescue mission?" Seeing the Knight look down, Jack sighed in response. "You knew if you were there they wouldn't say yes, didn't you?"

"The downside of being a Jedi sometimes." Hawke said.

"Yeah well…" Jack started as he finished taking his gear off, revealing the blue shirt and black pants he was wearing. "Nothing's perfect." Sniffing the air, Jack recoiled when he picked up his scent. "Ah man, I was under there for too long."

"You've been almost nowhere else."

"Yeah, and it's paid off." Jack said, patting the ship's hull. "I've made a lot of progress on this baby."

"That's good to hear." Jack and Hawke turned to see Anakin and Ahsoka walk up, the Knight having been the one to speak. "Maybe soon you can actually take a break from working on it."

"I would prefer to finish all that's left if I'm being honest." Jack responded. "Besides, it's not like there's too much for me to do today anyways."

"Ugh, how about a shower." Ahsoka cringed, covering her nose. "You're managing to smell even worse than Stinky did. It's like you haven't showered in a week."

"How'd you know?"

.

.

.

"Anyways…" Anakin picked up, the group seeming disturbed by the boy's honest response. "With how long you've been working on this freighter, how space worthy would you say it is?"

"Oh, she is more than ready to start flying." Jack grinned. "Almost everything has been refitted to make this beauty fly smoother than most fighters we have. New engines that draw average fuel, an updated life-support that can run on it's own power for almost a month, energy cells that act as a backup energy supply and new shields. Nothing is getting this ship while I'm flying it. And that's not even mentioning the small additions I've made like the tow cable or support shield for the cargo hold."

"What about weapons?"

"I had to make a choice between either new shields or weapons for today." Jack responded as he picked up a cloth and began to clean the soot off his hands and arms. "It was a simple decision really."

"But without weapons you won't be able to fight back."

"Oh yeah, because the weapons really kept us up the last time you flew this thing." Jack countered, getting a chuckle from Hawke.

"He's got you there."

"Besides, the Twilight doesn't have many weapons that are compatible with her frame." Jack said, now wiping his face clean. "Plus with how old she is, I'd have to go through the process of updating the guns I have being delivered. That's a whole 'nother day of work."

"And the hyperdrive?"

"Fully operational. Had to tweak it a bit, thing's good for another three years before it needs replacing. And corners were needed to be cut." Jack finished, throwing his rag onto a box. "Now if you'll excuse me, I think it's about time I got cleaned up for the week."

"You can say that again." Ahsoka muttered.

"Well I know you have a hearing problem Shorty, but I'll pass." Jack smirked as he walked past the Jedi, yoinking the bag of sweets from Hawke's hand. Jack had then spent the next hour washing up, changing and getting something to eat, having been working for the past ten hours on the ship since he got up.

Now wearing a yellow shirt to replace his blue one, he was heading back to the hangar with a datapad when he ran into Hawke, who was on the elevator coming up. "Oh, Jack. You're here… again?" Hawke questioned, almost sounding suspicious to the boy.

"Yeah, I just have to go over some last minute checkups on the Twilight before I can let it be passed for a full flight test." Jack said as he stepped on, pressing the hangar level button. "So what's up?" Jack asked as they began to descend, the Jedi pulling on his robe's collar as he did.

"Oh, well you see we've been set to act as a defensive escort along this sector's trade route. Just to make sure nothing get's attacked by that new Separatist weapon." Hawke responded, looking away from Jack as he did.

"Oh, so they didn't pass the go ahead to look for General Plo Koon?" Jack asked, typing on his datapad. "That's unfortunate. I'm sorry, really, he is your master after all. It must be pretty hard not being able to do anything to help."

"Yeah, sort of." Hawke said as the door opened and Jack started to walk while looking at the datapad, Hawke right next to him as he headed for his ship's spot. "But you know, it isn't all that bad. I mean, who's to say he isn't just in a bad reception area? He might be well alive just not able to tell us. Sometimes focusing too much on something can be unhealthy, why not we get something to eat so you can rest a bit longer before checking the ship?"

"Already ate after cleaning up." Jack stated, rubbing his chin as he checked the system reports on his datapad. "Weird, it says the engines are currently in use, as well as the life form scanners and life support. I could have sworn I turned everything off before fixing the cut under the hull from getting the hyperdrive set."

As the boy talked, Hawke started to grow more nervous, a small bead of sweat going down his head as they approached where the ship should be. "Huh, it even says that the ship went through hyperspace, how is that possible?"

"Maybe you're just seeing things, I doubt an hour of rest is any good. Hey! Why not see what the clones are doing and see if we can-"

"Where is my ship!?" Hawke froze instantly when Jack shouted, seeing that his ship was missing. "What happened!? Where did it go!? Who took my ship while I was gone!?"

"Eh hehehe." Hawke nervously laughed, getting Jack's attention.

"Explain, now!"

"Oh, you know… Anakin and Ahsoka." Hawke answered.

"What!? Why did they take it!?"

"Because they needed to go on a recon mission and your ship was the only stealth ship already prepped." Seeing Jack's shoulders slump and his arms go to his sides, Hawke continued to try and calm him. "It's okay though, I'm certain it'll come back without a scratch, or two… a dozen at most, this is Anakin we're talking about."

Jack simply dropped his datapad, turning to the empty space on the other side of the field. "I spent… all of the credits I earned on that last mission, plus a favor from the Hutts for supplies to update everything. And they just… took it. Didn't even try and ask me if it was okay. They just, upped and left before I could even realize it. Hehe, hehehehehe."

"Jack?" Hawke questioned, worried for the boy when he started to chuckle.

"Hehehehehehehe, hehehehehehehe." He then sighed calmly, seeming to of regained himself. "Mother fu-!"

"Language!" Stopping his outburst, Hawke Force Pushed Jack into a pile of crates, keeping the boy from swearing. However, he did wince when he saw how Jack landed. "Ohhhh, that doesn't look good."

"Whhhhhhhhhhyyy?" Jack whined, his back on the ground while his body was folded forward, his feet just above his head.

"Hey, looks like they made it back." Hawke smiled as he saw the Twilight begin to touchdown after four hours of active flight. "And seeing as more than two life forms were picked up, I'd say everyone's back home safely."

"Uh, maybe not for long General." Rex said pointing behind him with his thumb to the steaming Jack that was approaching.

"The important thing Rex, is they made it home alive. Nothing can be done at this point."

"Riiiight."

"Thank you for getting us out of that mess sir." Wolffe, a clone commander said as he and Anakin walked down the Twilight's now extended ramp. "I was honestly thinking that no one was going to come for us."

"We would never abandon our allies. And Ahsoka is the one you should be thanking." Anakin responded, turning to the Togruta as she and Plo Koon soon followed. "She never gave up on you."

"Oh yeah, it was all thanks to you two. Well done." Anakin's shoulders flinched slightly at the sound of Jack's voice, surprised that the boy was even still up after 15 hours. "It clearly was all your effort, with the rescue, discovering the weapon and-oh! That's right! Stealing! My! SHIP!"

"You… stole the kid's ship?" Wolffe asked, having heard of Jack from the mission to save Jabba's son.

"We didn't steal it we… borrowed it." Anakin hesitated saying, seeing Jack cross his arms and tap his foot.

"Look, we took it to save lives okay? Why does it even matter?" Ahsoka asked. "It's just a ship, is it really that bad that we took it?"

"Is it really that bad?" Jack echoed, turning to the Togruta and walking up to her. "Is it really that bad?"

"Oh here we go again." Hawke muttered, turning a blind eye and walking away from the imminent argument.

"I'm not sure where your common sense went, but do you know what it takes to refit a ship as old as Twilight?" Jack asked, motioning his hand to the freighter. "Credits, and a lot of them! I couldn't afford most of it on my salary as a soldier, I had to call in one hell of a favor to get just about everything so I could also get the necessities when I'm off duty. And even then I could only get a handful of clothes!"

"Not to mention I put over a month's time of work into this thing's rebuilding! It's a lot of time but that means there was likely mistakes I overlooked! Mistakes that could've cost us not one!" He continued, pointing to Ahsoka. "Not two!" He then pointed to Anakin, before finishing and pointing to Plo Koon. "But three Jedi! I don't want that failure on my conscious! Even if you're infuriating, I don't want you dead, and I certainly don't want Anakin and Plo Koon dead either."

"Wait… that's why you're mad?" Anakin asked, confused at the reasons.

"Of course." Jack responded, turning back to Anakin. "It's as I said before, I don't like making mistakes. Especially when lives are on the line. This ship wasn't cleared for flying yet. I said she could, not that she should. I'm glad that you found Plo Koon, I would've even gone with you if you had asked me in the first place. Sure, I'm upset that I could've just lost a ship that's cost me a small fortune and a month of my life, but it would've been worse if people I worried about were killed. And Ahsoka."

"Hey."

"You stole my ship, that's the best you're getting."

"Ahem." Plo Koon cleared his throat getting the group's attention. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but we need to make our report to the council. I believe this could be resolved… later?"

Jack sighed and nodded. "Yeah, it can. Sorry sir, just needed to vent."

"You need not apologize young one. In fact, you have my thanks." Plo Koon responded, surprising Jack as he bowed. "Were it not for your ship, my men and I would've certainly perished."

"Ah, way to put me on the spot." Jack muttered before bowing back. "There's no need for that sir, just doing my job, and others when they don't tell me." He whispered the last part, not wanting the others to hear.

The Jedi then left to make their report, leaving Jack to deal with his ship while Wolffe and his troops were brought to the med-bay. Using his datapad, Jack synched everything and triple checked everything, not leaving a single stone unturned as he investigated his own ship.

"Really working yourself to the bone huh kid?" Denal, Rex's second in command asked as he was assigned to help Jack, checking the consoles. Aside from the captain himself, Denal was one of the few clones that currently trusted him enough to offer assistance. And certainly one of the few Jack would trust to help with his ship's repairs.

"This ship's likely going to be used more and more as the war progresses." Jack said as he started his check on the life support. "I want to absolutely make sure it's ready for future missions before doing something as risky as letting Jedi take it for a rescue mission against an ion cannon."

"Did you find anything that could've risked them?"

"Nothing yet, just a small lag time in the engine's start up but nothing out of the ordinary." Jack's datapad then beeped red, getting his attention. "Uh oh."

"What's with the uh oh? Those usually aren't good." Denal asked, walking up to Jack from behind.

"Looks like they scraped against something on their great escape." Jack commented, tapping on his pad and pulling up an outline of the ship. On it, the bottom of the ship had a large glowing yellow spot, to which he tapped and enhanced. "Looks like the life support was damaged by debris and has been venting oxygen. Luckily it had enough to get them back before it ran out and they asphyxiated."

"How did it get through?"

"Likely because I didn't finish adding the remaining hull on the bottom of the ship." Jack assumed. "That's what those crates are all carrying, enough metal to balance out the ship's belly with the rest of it's armor."

"One of those small oversights you talked about earlier?"

"Exactly." Jack groaned as he dismissed the ship's outline. "Looks like I'm going to need a new life support system now, plus some more steel to fix the new breach so that it doesn't become a chink when the rest is put on." He then sighed as he put the datapad down. "Oh well, I can do that another day. For now I think sleep's going to come very welcoming."

"Make sure to sleep in a little longer kid." Denal said, patting Jack's shoulder as he got up. "I'm pretty sure we'll have a busy week soon."

"No kidding."

That busy week went through quicker than expected, and luckily to Jack he managed to finish the ship's full repairs. Now equipped with another new life support, and the hull now balanced out, the Twilight was fully set to be space worthy, and tested to perfection as well.

And at the end of it, the report on the Separatist's ion cannon went through to the Senate, who took it as well as expected. A strike was already commissioned to take out the weapon, which gathered a handful of bombers and some of the best clone pilots the 501st had to offer. Which included Jack himself.

After the quick briefing on the mission, he was already going over the final checks with the bomber. He wanted to be sure it wouldn't stall at the worst time, especially since he'd have a gunner flying with him.

"You almost done kid?" Hex, the clone gunner that would be with him in his bomber, asked.

"Yeah, everything passes the inspection." Jack answers before moving to help the clone up. "Come on, I'll help you up."

"I'm fine, kid." Hex said, climbing up himself. Once he entered the gunner seat and the glass clasped over him, Jack sighed and slumped his shoulders.

"Guess I still have a ways to go."

"Are you serious? He get's his own ship but I don't?" Ahsoka questioned as she and her master walked up to the bomber next to Jack's.

The boy chuckled once in response, humored by the Padawan's complaint. "Too bad Shorty, looks like you haven't gotten your flying pass yet."

"I could fly circles around you any day."

"Is that a bet?"

"Alright, that's enough you two." Anakin said.

"Skywalker." Admiral Yularen spoke up as he walked to the group with Master Plo Koon and Hawke next to him. "The enemy warship has attacked our convoy of medical transports near Ryndellia."

"Medical transports?" Ahsoka questioned, hurt at the news. "Only General Grievous would go after clones who can't fight back." Although he didn't speak up, Jack was just as hurt at the news, only his hurt was able to become anger for the droid general.

"The Ryndellia system, near Naboo." Anakin spoke, thinking over the news. "Isn't that where our medical base is?"

"Our Outer Rim medical facility to be exact." Jack spoke up, turning the group's attention to him. "Over 60,000 clones are there being treated right now. If he gets there and destroys that base, we'll be losing a lot of good men."

"And with a ship that big, he'll be getting to the station in only a couple of hours at most." Hawke added. "We won't be able to make it there with the intended flight path."

"Looks like we're gonna have to take a shortcut." Anakin concluded. "Admiral, warn the station what's coming." The admiral nodded once before leaving.

"This journey will be treacherous." Plo Koon started. "If you lose any ships before you reach the target-"

"We won't lose anybody." Anakin interrupted, heading for his bomber.

"Hawke and I will come along and fly fighter escort."

"Goodie, Jedi assistance is always helpful." Jack smirked as he moved back to sit in the bomber's cockpit.

"I had a feeling you two would come along." Ahsoka smiled back at the Master and Knight. "Your ships have already been prepped."

"That a girl Ahsoka." Hawke smiled back as the two headed for the ship, with the Padawan now heading up to her gunner position.

Once everything was cleared, the top hangar was opened and the squadron of 12 bombers and two Jedi fighters took off, Anakin's ship taking the lead. "Shadow Squadron, call in." Anakin ordered.

"Shadow 2 standing by."

Shadow 3 standing by."

"Shadow 4 standing by."

One by one, each clone called their numbers out, with Jack being the last to call out. "Shadow 12 standing by."

"Fighter escort ready." Plo Koon added in, answering for himself and his former Padawan.

"Just like the good days." Hawke spoke, excited for the flight mission ahead.

"This is Admiral Yularen." The admiral spoke over comms. "You are clear for hyperspace jump. Good hunting sir."

"Thanks admiral." After the conformation, all of the pilots prepped their hyperdrives, now ready to make the jump. "All right boys, let's go." Taking off, the squad was sure that each row in front went for a solid second before going themselves. Hyperspace was tricky, and if so much as one slipup occurred, they'd lose potentially half their ships in the jump alone.

"Try to avoid making us crash kid." Hex said over the ship's comm. "I'd rather not get killed because of a bogus pilot."

"You can relax Hex." Jack said back. "Other than Anakin, I haven't met a pilot that can compare to my skill in a fighter."

"Yeah well that pride better not kill us."

"It won't."

The hyperspace jump wasn't a long one, no more than little over an hour passed before they all stopped and flew normally. A large nebula a small distance away.

"Okay, if we can just navigate through my shortcut, we'll be all right." Anakin said.

"Of course your shortcut would be through a nebula though." Hawke responded. "I mean I'm grateful for the exotic route, but these things can be pretty messed up. It's best if we all be careful during this run if you don't want to become stardust with the rest of the nebula."

"You don't have to worry about us Hawke." Jack said back. "We'll all be fine during this flight. Am I right guys?"

"Best thing I've heard out of the kid's mouth since I met him." Broadside commented over the comms, getting a slight chuckle from Jack.

"Does anyone care what the Padawan thinks?" Ahsoka asked.

"No."

"Jack, what did I say?" Anakin said to the boy's instant response. "But of course we care, Snips. But we're still going through that nebula."

The nebula's composition was thick, the amount of stardust making it difficult to see far past the squadron's front. Luckily they had scanners if there was anything big in the area. They would at least be able to avoid crashing should they be unable to see it. At least, they would if the nebula wasn't jamming them.

"Just keep your thoughts on the flight, feel your way through." Jack muttered to himself. It wasn't the first time he flied old school style, but it was still a little nerve wracking with a passenger with him this time. "So Anakin, where did you even hear about this shortcut? I haven't heard of anyone using a nebula except from smugglers."

"Well, it is an old smuggler route after all." Jack's eyes widened underneath his helmet at that.

"Wait… a smuggler's route, and you heard it while you were on Tatooine?"

"That's right."

"And these smugglers were likely working for the Hutts, right?"

"Yep."

"Oh crap we're on the Balmorra Run." Jack murmured through the comms, Plo Koon realizing what the boy sounded worried about.

"Balmorra Run?"

"Hey, there's something big on the sensors." Ahsoka commented, with Hex confirming it just shortly after.

"Skywalker, listen to me. We have to turn around."

"We can't." Anakin responded. "Not if we're gonna catch Grievous."

"Another contact." Ahsoka added. "And this one is much larger."

"Anakin, Balmorra is the nesting area of the giant neebray mantas!" Jack explained over the comms. "People stopped using this route because of the high risk to moving through these things' territory."

"Great job Anakin. Seriously, tremendous work." Hawke said as the neebray mantas came into view, their sizes dwarfing the bombers and fighters.

"Take evasive action!" Upon Anakin's orders, the squadron all split up, with Jack, Shadow 4, and Hawke going over the first mantras. Entering the heart of the nest, the whole squadron saw just how many there were, and there was far too many to count.

"Those gas-chompers are huge." Ahsoka said, shocked by the size of the neebray mantras. She's seen them before, but never larger than a fighter at most!

"Well don't shoot if you want to avoid how they act when panicked." Jack responded.

"They'll panic? I'm about to panic."

"There's so many of them." Matchstick said as he flew under one, grazing it with his ship. "I'm hit! My stabilizer's out!"

"Hold it together Matchstick!" Jack ordered. "Just give it some time and the nebula will help balance the systems."

"I'm okay. I got it." Matchstick responded as the flames on his stabilizer went out and he was able to correct it. Jack mentally blew a breath of relief at that.

"All wings, line up behind me." Anakin ordered, getting the squadron to follow in a line behind him to avoid hitting any more of the mantras.

Navigation was tight, and at every turn there was another mantra in the way. "Watch it kid!" Hex said.

"I got it."

"Watch it!"

"I'm handling it fine."

"We almost hit that one!"

"Well maybe if I didn't have someone screaming in my ear every second it'd go better!" Jack snapped, shutting the clone up. With the silence, Jack was able to now focus and keep up with the squadron, exiting the nebula and reaching the medical facility's sector without any casualties. "Oh man, that was fun."

"You said it." Hawke responded. "And now we aren't far behind Grievous, we have a pretty good chance at catching him now."

"Shadow 2, what is the damage to your ship?" Plo Koon asked, noticing the bomber's sparking hull.

"Just a scratch, sir." Matchstick responded.

"We must not take any more unnecessary risks. If we lose even a single ship, our mission is that much closer to failure."

"Understood, Master Plo." Anakin spoke. "But we didn't lose any ships, and I didn't-"

"We have something coming up." Jack said as he checked his scanner.

"I thought those things wouldn't follow us out of the nebula." Ahsoka commented.

"It isn't coming from the nebula." Jack corrected as the scanner began to show drastic sings of plasma. "It's coming out of hyperspace, a massive ship. It's the Malevolence." At the end of his sentence, the malevolence dropped out of hyperspace, revealing it's unbelievable size. "Oh man, that's the biggest cruiser-destroyer class ship I've ever seen. Why do the bad guys get all the nice stuff?"

"Begin approach." Anakin ordered, his bomber taking the lead. Due to the change in positioning, Jack was now close to the front, his awe now replaced with anger as the Malevolence started targeting the fleeing medical transports.

"Fighters incoming!' Hawke informed, spotting the squadron of incoming vulture droids. Jack didn't waste time to fire a couple of shots off at the first approaching him before doing a corkscrew to avoid getting hit, attempting to fly steady so that Hex could hit the ones that would start to trail them.

"That's it kid, keep her steady." Hex said as he was targeting the vulture behind them, firing three times before landing a hit and blowing it up. "We got more on our six! Keep this thing going the way you are."

"I'm not sure that will be possible." Jack said back, noticing the ion cannon on the Malevolence's side begin to spark and come to life. The cannon then fired, sending a circular projectile right at the squadron. "Incoming!"

"Break off, now!" Anakin ordered. "Make it towards the edge of the blast!" Pulling up, the whole squadron followed Anakin at their top speeds, racing against the clock as the blast was quickly approaching.

"Shadow 2, your speed is dropping." Ahsoka said as she noticed the bomber's decreasing acceleration. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing sir, just trying to keep it together!" Matchstick responded, trying to keep his ship from losing control.

"You can do it Matchstick, just hold on."

"Matchstick, break off to the left before your whole engine goes up in flames!" Jack ordered, seeing the status on matchstick's ship from his screen.

"But-!"

"Just do it!"

Instead of further arguing, Matchstick's soldier instincts kicked in and he followed the order. Stopping his ascension and turning hard left, he noticed just how close his engine was to going off before the sudden turn before his engines shut down, the fuel lines cut due to the damaged hull. At the same time most of the squadron made it over the ion blast, with the acceptation of four ships.

"Shadow Squadron, call in."

"Matchstick's ship is out of commission." Ahsoka informed. "Shadows 4, 6, and 10 were caught in the ray."

"Matchstick, turn off all systems except for your life support and beacon." Jack commanded over the comms, setting hi s ship to track the signal. "Once we're done here I'll come by and pick you up."

"Sure thing." Matchstick responded. "Oh, and kid? Thanks, adrenaline kicked in and I-"

"You don't have to say anything." Jack interrupted, smiling. "Just make sure you live long enough to buy those drinks you promised."

"Aren't you too young to drink?"

"Technically, I'm older than every clone. You just have accelerated growth."

"Nice try kid." Hex spoke, turning the gun back to the front. "Just focus on flying before attempting to illegally drink."

"I mean, hey, it's legal somewhere."

Focusing back on the mission, Jack would follow right to the Malevolence, now having to evade the continuous barrage of cannon fire from the Malevolence's hull. "This flak is heavy!" Broadside shouted.

"Stay on course!" Plo Koon ordered.

"Master, we need a new plan." Ahsoka said, flinching as a blast almost had struck their ship.

"We can make it, Ahsoka." Anakin responded. "Just hang in there."

Now closing in, the squadron was just flying over the Malevolence's hull, having to dodge the cannon fire from their sides now. To Jack, it was easier than flying right at the bolts, but he could tell the clone pilots were having a much harder time keeping balance than he and the Jedi were.

"We're too close, loosen up!" Broadside, said over the comms, shortly before his right engine was blasted apart and his ship crashed into the enemy frigate.

"Broadside!"

"Master, you can make it. But everyone else is getting shot down." Ahsoka tried to reason with Anakin, attempting to get him to follow a new plan instead of following with the practically suicidal run they were taking. "Master!"

"Anakin, we have to change targets now!" Hawke shouted over the comms. "The Malevolence is targeting the medical facility! Even if the bridge is destroyed we're going to lose the station! If we do, then we lose all of the wounded still on board! Change the vector you stubborn bas-"

"Shadow Squadron, new target." Anakin interrupted, setting in a new target vector. "We're taking out the starboard cannon." Ahsoka, Jack and even Hawke all breathed in relief at it, all having been worried for the remaining pilots they had.

Moving around the bridge, the squadron made a quick turn to head straight for the ion cannon, heading into the weapons less armored area between its surface and the Malevolence's hull. "Torpedoes away!" The remaining bombers then all fired their heavy armament torpedoes at the weakness, causing a chain of explosions before breaking off and flying away from the menacing frigate.

When the ship attempted to fire, both cannons completely imploded. The damage done on the starboard cannon was more than enough to implode on itself, corrupting the plasma rotors and causing them to completely blow up on themselves.

"Alright boys, let's head for the medical facility."

"I'll be there a little late, sir." Jack responded to Anakin's orders. "There's a bomber that needs towing and I sort of made a promise."

"Don't tale to long." Hawke warned. "The Malevolence may be damaged but it is still a cruiser-crusher. We don't know if it sustained enough damage."

"Understood Hawke, don't you worry about me." Jack said back, turning and heading for Matchstick and his gunner. "Hey, did you miss me?"

"Oh no, it was a blast." Matchstick responded sarcastically. "We got to take in the surrounding view, see the sights, taste the wine."

"Alright, don't push it." Firing a single cable, Jack secured the separate bomber and began to pull them towards the medical station, just in time as three Republic cruisers showed up and began to fire on the Malevolence.

"So kid, why?" Hex asked over the comms.

"Why what?"

"Why go out of the way to help Matchstick both in the middle of a mission and after? It was a pretty big risk for a bunch of clones."

"What do you mean by a bunch of clones?"

"We're expendable kid, meant to be used as just soldiers."

"Clones are anything but expendable." Jack responded, rubbing the three tally marks on his chest plate. "You may all be clones, but you're still people. I don't care what you or anyone else says, I'll do anything to bring as many men back home as I can." The rest of the flight went in silence, with them landing in the medical facilities hangar.

Teams of medic clones were waiting to take Matchstick and his gunner for examination from the exposure in space, but the pilot asked them to wait as Jack climbed out of the cockpit. "Kid."

Jack stopped halfway down the ladder as he heard the clones' usual go to for his identification, looking down to see the pilot. "Yeah?"

"You helped keep me and my brothers alive today, and for that you have my thanks. I'm sorry me and the boys were hard on you at the start of the mission, it's just difficult-"

"Working with a kid?"

"Um… yeah."

"Don't worry about it, I knew getting respect would take time, and I'm more than willing to prove myself to each and every one of you when the time comes."

"Well to the Shadow Squadron, you already have." Matchstick said before saluting, surprising Jack. "The boys and I will be excited for the next time we fly together, Jack."

Jack stared at the clone for almost a minute before responding, giving his own salute from the ladder. "The pleasure will be all mine Matchstick." It was a step, but Jack knew that a step is always needed before taking a jump. And no matter the risk, he'll be willing to take that jump if it means earning the Republic's respect.