Oh my god, the response I got to this was overwhelming! Thank you to everyone for their kind messages, even those who put me on alert but didn't leave a comment :)

Credits to frodogenic as ever. She puts my writing in the shade, betas me, makes sure I have my dates right (whoops), my plot right and my characterisation right. She is a genius. In fact, after you've read this, you will check out her work, won't you? Yes. Good. Moving on.

Chapter Two
In which we encounter forensic science, rising tension and a lot of confusion.

The Restoration, 3 ABY


"Who is going to kill you?" He must have misheard. It was impossible. There was no way that he had just said --

"My Master." He sighed, and Luke felt a small jolt of relief. "He told me to stay on the bridge, but no, I had to go and --"

"So you're a slave?"

He didn't know how it happened. One minute he was standing there on the other side of the room with the lightsabre in his hand, and the next he was being pinned against a wall by the stranger, the humming blue blade only inches from his neck.

"I should kill you for saying that." The stranger hissed, eyes flashing.

"I'm sorry, I just assumed --"

"Don't assume things. Know them." The words were strikingly familiar to ones that he had heard before, and he racked his brains for the answer.

Yoda. That was it. The man sounded like Yoda. But how could this man -- who was, by the looks of it, the same age as him -- know the only living Jedi Master in existence, who, last time he checked, was living in a filthy swamp in the middle of nowhere with no holocom connection?

"I'm sorry …" Luke said, eyeing the lightsabre inching steadily towards his jugular. "It was a mistake -- I didn't mean --"

A pause. "You better not have."

The blade deactivated.

Luke sighed, massaging his neck. "That would have been one for the records. Me, hero of Yavin, freedom fighter extraordinaire, killed by someone over an in--"

"Kriffing hell, is that what you Seps are calling yourselves now? Freedom fighters?"

"Er -- if I knew what a "Sep" was, then maybe I could answer your question."

"Have you been living under a rock the past three months?" The man stared. "You know, Separatists. Secession from the Republic. Clone Wars. Ring any bells?"

Luke stared at him, his jaw dropping. "What?"

"Oh gods, I knew that Tatooine was a backwater hole, but this really takes the credits. The galaxy," the man began slowly, "is at war."

Was he trying to be funny or something? "I know that."

"Well done. On the one side, we have the Separatists, led by the illustrious Count Dooku."

"Who?"

"The bastard who did this to me," he said shortly, glancing at his arm.

Luke's eyes widened slightly at the sight of the skeletal prosthetic, his suspicions reawakening. "How?"

"Duel. Geonosis."

A duel? No, there was no way. It was impossible.

He asked the question anyway. "With a lightsabre?"

"Of course." The man eyed him strangely. "How else?"

"Um, never mind." This was surreal. Totally surreal. "What did you say your name was again?"

The man grinned. "Nice try -- wait a second. What did you say your name was again?"

"It's not import--"

"Tell me!" The man grabbed his arm with those cold steel fingers. "Now!"

His hackles rose -- but there was no reason not to answer. It wasn't like this was an interrogation with Darth Vader or something. "Luke Skywalker."

He felt the pressure on his arm lessen. The stranger's good eye had widened to the size of a credit chip, and you could have flown an X-wing through his gaping jaws. "You what?"

Luke smirked. Having the upper hand was a feeling that he relished. "You know, Luke Skywalker? Freedom fighter? Blew up the Death Star? Ring any bells?"

"Any relation to Anakin?"

Luke glared. "That's none of your bus --"

"Oh, yes," the man snarled. "It is."

Luke took a defensive step backwards. "He was my father."

The man fainted clean away.

Medbay of the Spirit of the Republic, 22BBY.


"Do you think he saw the face of his attacker?"

Yularen shook his head. "I don't think that he was attacked at all." Anakin was lying on the bed, still showing no sign of awareness. "I think that the shock did it."

"The shock from connecting the couplings?" Obi-Wan paused. "It is a possibility … but that doesn't explain the concussion. He would have had to --" He paused.

"Go on."

Obi-Wan frowned, wondering how best to phrase his theory. "He would have had to hit his head extremely hard in order to induce a coma. The only thing capable of causing that kind of injury that I can think of is a blow to the head."

"It was a lot of energy." Yularen said. "And there's no bruising to indicate that someone attacked him."

"Hmm." Obi-Wan seemed unconvinced. "In any case, one of the clone troopers was definitely attacked. He couldn't have broken his neck just by hitting that column. Not at the distance that he was at."

"Indeed."

"And the other one was shot. That also points towards our mystery attacker."

"Does it?" Yularen asked, looking directly at Obi-Wan.

"What, you think that the other clone was responsible?"

Yularen remained silent. Obi-Wan frowned for a second, before the credit chip dropped. "You mean to suggest that Anakin --"

"I don't think that it was deliberate." Yularen hastily interjected. "It's just that ..."

"You do have a point." Obi-Wan mused. "He didn't know that the clones were following him in the first place because you sent them after he had left the bridge. Not to mention that he's quite paranoid -- he tends to lash out at a threat before evaluating it. If he heard footsteps behind him and didn't actually see who was approaching -- well, he would have thought it was the traitor."

"Exactly."

"But surely the clone wouldn't have fired on his own commander?"

"You forget -- the trooper was found a good few metres away from the cable. That means that he must have died before Skywalker restarted the power. It would have been dark in the engine room, and Skywalker wears black robes. The clone must have shot first, and all he would have been able to see was --"

"The blaster bolts." Obi-Wan finished. "It makes sense. And what about the other one?"

"The other clone …" Yularen sighed. "I don't know. The clones tend to travel in pairs … and the remaining one and Skywalker were both the same distance away from the power cable when we found them. They were working together."

"The clone could have knocked out Anakin --"

"And broken his own neck?" The Admiral rose and began to pace the tiny room. "He must have been knocked out by the explosion. The other one must have survived somehow, woken up. And then if our traitor came to check on the bodies --"

"He would have finished him off." Obi-Wan paused. "But why was Anakin left alive?"

"I thought he was dead. Our mystery man no doubt felt the same way."

"And unless we find him soon," Obi-Wan said grimly, "we'll all be dead."

The Restoration, 3 ABY.


"Get away from me, you quack!"

"Listen --"

"Clanker!"

"What the --"

"Separatist harpy!"

"Are you always so ungrateful towards your saviours?"

"Only the ones who intend to torture me!"

Roenai sighed in frustration, turning to Luke. "Was he like this when he woke up?"

Luke shrugged, barely paying attention to the conversation. "I guess."

A strange man was found in the middle of the desert, without knowing how he got there. He dressed strangely. He acted strangely. He wore a lightsabre and knew how to use it. And he kept talking about things that made no sense, about Dooku and Clone Wars and other things that he swore he'd heard in his history lessons back at school …

And how the kriff had the man gotten his father's lightsabre?

"Look, I have to treat your eye, it's quite badly damaged."

The man looked mutinous for a moment, before taking a deep breath. "If you must."

"Enough!" Luke shouted, massaging his temples. "Listen -- I need to think and here is the only place I can do it because it's the only place in the whole ship with the bloody holonet because the Techs are still fixing it everywhere else. So you" -- he pointed at the stranger -- "are going to let her" -- he pointed at Roenai -- "fix you up. And you" -- Roenai -- "are not going to let him" -- Mystery Guy -- "speak at all. Clear?"

"As transparisteel," said Roenai, sharing a glance with the stranger.

"Good."

Luke turned to his datapad in frustration, trying to drown out the death threats that the stranger was quietly hissing to Roenai as she applied bacta to his eye. He had a hunch, and he hoped that his hunch was wrong.

Welcome to the Imperial Search Engine. What is your query?

Type.

The Clone Wars was the name given to the major galactic conflict fought between the now-defunct Galactic Republic and the mutinous Confederacy of Independent Systems, lead by the villainous Count Dooku. It is the largest galactic conflict to date, ending in Year One of our benevolent Emperor's New Order.

Click.

Count Dooku was the notorious leader of the Confederacy of Independent Systems during the Clone Wars. Dooku traitorously led the Separatists against the then-Republic throughout the bloody and bitter Clone Wars until his death during the Second Battle of Coruscant in Year One by the New Calendar.

Click.

The Confederacy of Independent Systems, also known as the Separatist Movement, was a violent and illegal government that unlawfully seceded from the Galactic Republic during the Clone Wars …

Type.

Error. No such term as "Jedi".

Dead end.

Luke swallowed, sweat trickling down his back. It was impossible. There had to be some other explanation. There had to.

"You," he snapped, whirling around and pointing at the stranger. "How old are you?"

Surprisingly, he actually got a response. "Nineteen. Twenty next month, actually."

No, he was too young. Far too young. All the same …

"What flagship were you stationed on, before you, um, crashed?"

The man gave a sarcastic smile. "Let me just volunteer you some classified information, shall I? Nice try."

Luke frowned, unobtrusively waving his hand across his chest. "I think you will."

To his surprise, the man didn't comply. Instead, he began to laugh.

"Oh gods! I've heard of some lowlifes trying to impersonate Jedi down Coruscant, but to actually try that on one of us? Listen, I may be only a Padawan but I'm sure as hell not stupid!"

What the frack was a Paddly-whatever? "On Coruscant, did you say?"

"Yes."

"You mean Imperial Centre?"

The man gave him a strange look. "No, I mean Coruscant."

He was dreaming. He was totally and utterly dreaming.

"Um, Roenai, can I have a word please?" He asked, shooting what he hoped were discreet glances at the door.

"Sure."

As he escorted the startled doctor from the room, he turned back to face the stranger with a vicious glare. "If you even so much as move a micron from that bed," he hissed, "I'll chuck you out of the airlock. Head first."

The stranger smirked. "I'd like to see you try."

Bridge of the Sprit of the Republic, 22 BBY.


"The traitor is still on board."

Obi-Wan sighed, stroking his beard. "Are you sure?"

"Positive. No fighters have left the hangar, and all the escape pods are intact." Yularen explained.

"The overhead hatch --"

"Opens out into the hangar bay." The Admiral smiled. "Nobody could get in there without being seen. I have guards posted there at all times."

"Guards, Admiral, can be bribed." He paused. "Or overcome."

"Not my men," he said firmly. "Plus, all the men down there are fine. No, I'm positive that nobody's entered or exited the ship since we left hyperspace."

"Then how are we going to identify the traitor?"

Yularen swallowed. "I don't know."

"Admiral!" A lieutenant rushed up to them, panting slightly. Yularen turned to face him.

"Lieutenant Piett. What's our status?"

"Not good, sir," Piett said. "Most of our supplies were destroyed in the explosion. I estimate that we'd have about three days of food left before we'd have to start rationing, not to mention water."

"Wouldn't it be much simpler just to continue straight to Felucia, and rendezvous with the fleet there?"

"Hyperdrive's offline, sir. None of our engineers can get it back up."

"I'm sure Anakin would be able to --" Obi-Wan caught himself just in time. Yularen turned back to Piett.

"What's the nearest planet that we can reach without the hyperdrive?"

"Hoth, sir. An uninhabited planet with no sentient life, composed almost entirely of ice."

"Couldn't we melt the ice and stretch our water supply that way?" Obi-Wan suggested.

"The soil contains several metals which are highly toxic to humans. I'm positive that the water would be undrinkable."

"And our communications?"

"Still down, sir. I'll get the engineers working on it right away."

"See that you do."

"Yes, sir."

Yularen turned to Obi-Wan. "Nice lad, that," he commented as Piett sharply saluted and marched away. "Shame about the family."

"Oh?" Obi-Wan muttered disinterestedly.

"Bunch of Separatists, the lot of them. They were pretty displeased when he joined the Navy, you know, seemed to think he shouldn't have got involved with the Republic."A pause. "He's got a good sabacc face too."

"How do you know?"

Yularen grinned. "Got to know everything that goes on in my ship, don't I?"

Obi-Wan paused, thinking of how Anakin had most likely known everyone on board, their families and life histories and ambitions. He'd always been good with people in that way. "I suppose."

"In any case," the Admiral added, his expression growing sombre, "the one thing I don't know about the Spirit is who is so intent on sabotaging it. And I intend to find out."

"As do I, Admiral. As do I."

The Restoration, 3 ABY.


"What did you want to talk to me about, Commander?"

Luke paused, staring at Roenai. She really was striking up close, with long black hair held back from her face with a bootlace and slanting blue eyes --

"Well?"

"Oh. Um." Luke swallowed, remembering himself. "Listen, about that guy …" he began, unconsciously deepening his voice.

"Did you give him my number?"

I'll kill him. I'll tie his Sith-spawned braid to the back of a swoop bike and drag him through Beggar's Canyon and I'll kill him. "Er, not yet." Han would be having a field day.

Thank the Force that Han would never, ever find out about this.

"Good, because after taking half an hour of verbal abuse about some bloody "Separatists," I'm not sure if I can handle any more."

Luke hoped that his relief didn't show too obviously. "Totally." I'll make him my wingman.

Roenai smiled, and he felt his knees turn to jelly. "So, what, exactly, was so urgent that you had to drag me away from my patient and accost me in the hall?"

Images flooded into his mind, mostly centring around the word 'accost', and he reddened slightly. "Um … trauma."

"Excuse me?"

"You said the guy suffered a trauma," Luke explained, regaining the power of coherent speech. "And I was wondering … can that make someone … hallucinate? Believe things that aren't real?"

"Are you suggesting that --"

"The Confederacy of Independent Systems, also known as the Separatist Movement, was a violent and illegal government that unlawfully seceded from the Galactic Republic during the Clone Wars." He quoted.

Her eyes widened. "The Clone Wars? That's --"

"He wouldn't even have been conceived at that point."

"Luke … what, exactly, are you getting at?"

"I think he must have been involved in a ship crash of some sort," he said, trying not to dwell on her use of his first name. "And then he hit his head, and whoosh. He thinks he's a soldier and that it's, I don't know, twenty years ago."

"But how would he know everything in so much detail?" she asked. "And why was no wreckage found near the site?"

"I don't know. Maybe he's really a historian." He looked directly at her. "Can you think of an alternative?"

She frowned. "That's the thing. There isn't one."

Conference room on the Spirit of the Republic, 22 BBY.


"Alright, gentlemen," Yularen said, eyeing the assembled officers. "Here's our status."

"At precisely 0108 hours Galactic Standard Time, the hyperdrive went offline. At 0111 hours, we began to lose power to our main generator. We lost the auxiliary power at 0112, the shields at 0113 and the lighting system at 0114.

"General Skywalker went down to the engine room at 0119, to attempt to repair the generator. I myself sent two troopers after him at 0121. Following a series of explosions at 0125, the power returned at 0145.

"General Kenobi and I led three troopers to the engine room after the power returned. The engines were overheating, making the room abnormally hot. We found the first body here" -- he gestured to a point on the screen -- "a few metres away from the other two. He had been shot.

"We found the other trooper's body here, next to a column. His neck was broken." Yularen paused. "Commander Skywalker was a short distance away. We brought the bodies from the engine room to the main deck. We don't know what precise time this occured, but I estimate it to be no later than 0230 hours."

"What of Skywalker?" Someone asked.

"He is in a coma," Yularen said bluntly. "He has not yet awoken."

There was a short silence before Obi-Wan spoke.

"Admiral Yularen and I have already formed some theories about the nature of the attack," he began. "We can discount the death of the first trooper completely; we believe that he was accidentally killed by either Skywalker or his comrade."

"Clones firing on each other? Impossible!"

"It would have been dark in the engine room when Anakin was down there. They might have thought each other to be the attacker."

"And the second clone?"

"His neck could have been broken by the impact of the power surge, but that is highly unlikely. We believe that he was killed by the attacker," Yularen concluded.

"And Skywalker was not?"

"He appeared to be dead," Obi-Wan said.

"And have you deduced anything else?" Another officer asked.

"Not as of yet."

"I think that our first step should be establishing our alibis, as well as those of the crew," Lieutenant Parnell spoke up.

"But it could have been at any time!" Another man argued. "If the cable was disconnected, then --"

"It was cut." Obi-Wan interjected. "Cleanly, with shears. Think!" he snapped when everyone's faces remained blank. "We lost the systems gradually, correct? That would correspond to the wires being cut through by shears."

"So, the traitor was cutting them at the time?"

"Exactly. That, for a start, rules out everyone on the deck. They were all at their posts."

"As were Skywalker, Kenobi and I," added Yularen. There were many hasty remarks to the same effect around the table.

"Most people were." Obi-Wan said. "The only people not on the deck must have been the clones."

"Troopers, rebelling?"

"It is possible."

"As is someone impersonating one."

"Are you meaning to suggest that --"

"I think there's something we're all overlooking, sirs," Lieutenant Piett spoke up, cringing slightly as everyone turned to face him. "You said that the power returned at 0145 hours, twenty standard minutes after a series of mysterious explosions at 0125 hours, correct?"

"Yes, what of it?"

"Well, what makes you think that the two events were related?" The lieutenant asked. "Were the explosions even in the same part of the ship?"

"I don't think so," the ensign in charge of manning the com display said. "See, look. There is some superficial damage to the engine room here, which tallies with Admiral Yularen's description of the scene. But here" -- he pointed to a different part of the ship -- "there is extensive damage to the lower section of the hull in this quadrant, where the Jedi have their quarters."

"You think there were two of them?"

"It is likely."

"An astute observation, Lieutenant."

"Thank you, sir."

"So, there are potentially two traitors, working in tandem, trying to destroy the ship from the inside?" Asked Parnell.

"Why are we so focused on the ship?" Asked Lieutenant Barklai. "For all we know, the attacks might not be targeting the Spirit at all."

"Excuse me?" Yularen snapped, an angry flush coming into his face. Obi-Wan said nothing, but the other crew members still looked at him nervously.

"If the traitor had really wanted to destroy the Spirit, they could have simply planted a bomb on the deck, couldn't they?"

"Yes, but --"

"Exactly. Think about it, Admiral. The bomb was in the Jedi quarters, correct? And when the generator was attacked, the Jedi deliberately rushed down to reconnect it, and it was merely a matter of waiting until he was bent down and then --"

"But there was nothing to suggest that Skywalker would have gone at all." Yularen protested.

"He would have." Obi-Wan said quietly. "No matter what."

Yularen stared at him. "So, we're dealing with someone with a vendetta against Jedi, who wants to kill them all and who also happens to know just how their minds work?"

"And," Piett interjected, remembering the clones, "who doesn't care how many people die in the process."

The compartment was silent for a moment.

"Brilliant." Parnell said glumly. "We're doomed."

The Restoration, 3 ABY.

Luke Skywalker was not having the best of days.

"Look, I'm telling you!" he snapped. "The guy's a Jedi!"

"And I'm the king of Hoth." Wes said, the other Rogues sniggering approvingly. "So he had a lightsabre. Big deal. You can get them on the black market now. It's not cheap, but --"

"He is a Jedi! And … I think there's something fishy about this whole thing. Sabotage."

For a second, there was silence. And then, total pandemonium erupted.

"Oh, Luke, acting just like we're in a holothriller or something." Wedge grinned, slapping him approvingly. "That's a good one. First class. Priceless."

"No, I'm telling you, it's true!"

"And I'm the Queen Mother of --"

"I'm serious, Wes," he snapped. "A random guy turns up, with burns that are not induced by sand, in the middle of the desert, wearing what looks like Jedi robes and a lightsabre, and thinks that we're Separatists and that he's been captured by the enemy."

"An Imp?" Wedge asked, straightening up.

"No. That's the thing. He's not an Imperial."

"I didn't get that vibe, either." Hobbie admitted.

"I'm going to question him further." Luke said, rising. "I think I might just be onto something."

"Hey, are you okay?" Wes rushed up to him, examining him with mock-seriousness. "Hey, Med Team, come quick! I think his brains got fried in the sun!"

"Stars, Doctor Janson!" Hobbie gasped, right on cue. "I think you're right!"

"No, guys, seriously --"

"Prep the stun bolts, Trainee Klivian!"

"Wes?"

"Yes, Trainee Kliv-- er, Hobbie?"

"Why aren't I a doctor?"

"Because."

"Because what?"

"Because I say so."

"Who died and made you Emperor?"

"A doctor."

"Doctors." Wedge snorted, leaning back in his chair. "What a bunch of posers, eh?"

"Not all of them." Luke said defensively, thinking of Roenai.

The Restoration, 3 ABY.

Anakin cast a furtive glance around the medbay cabin. The strangely dressed pilot and the long-haired doctor with the attitude had been gone for over ten minutes now, and showed no signs of resurfacing. He mock-tutted. They were probably locked up in the hyperdrive cupboard already.

Obi-Wan, of course, would have said that they were probably just chatting, and that he had a filthy mind for a Jedi Padawan.

Like he could have helped it growing up in the armpit of the galaxy otherwise known as Tatooine.

Thinking of Obi-Wan made him worry, a dull ache rising in his chest. Ever since he had been captured by these people -- who he highly doubted were Separatists after all; the Republic propaganda might have been a tad exaggerated, but he had been on this ship a whole day without seeing a single droid or Dooku -- he had wondered where the Republic fleet was, and why they hadn't bothered to contact him. Or even to rescue him.

Damn that Yularen. Damn him to hell.

He rose, hissing slightly as he put weight on his injured palm, and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. His utility belt was lying neatly on top of his folded robes, and he called his comlink to him with a lazy flick of his palm, Obi-Wan's warnings about frivolous use of the Force ringing in his ears. Well, the not-quite-Separatist had ordered him not to leave the bed, hadn't he?

Grinning, he punched a code into the comlink. This was far too easy.

"Hello, Master? Is that y --"

"Error. This number is out of service."

What?

"Error. This number is out of service."

They had only been issued these comlinks last month -- there was no way that --

"Error. This number is out of --"

"Yes, I bloody well get it!" He snapped, angrily flinging the device back onto the bed, his good mood evaporating.

His Master's number wasn't working. Stars, did that mean that Obi-Wan was --

No. He swallowed, a feeling of dread enveloping him. That wouldn't happen. No.

No.

He quickly called the comlink to him again and tried a different tack.

"Imperial Networking System."

What the kreth?

"Um, is this the operator?"

"Yes."

He must have misheard. "I need some information on a number."

"Number, please."

Anakin gave it.

"Error. Encryption code is out of date."

The comlink fell out of Anakin's suddenly numb hand. That was impossible -- there was no way that --

"Error. Encryption code is out of date."

He was dreaming. This was a dream. This was a dream, this was a dream, thiswasadreamthiswasadre--

"Error. Encryption code is out of --"

"Shut the frack up!" He howled, flinging the comlink against the wall. It landed with a satisfying crack, the casing splitting unevenly in two.

This was a dream. And he knew just how to get out of it.

"Okay, Skywalker," he whispered to himself. "Let's wake up now …"

He pinched himself with his metal arm. Hard.

"Ow! Fracking kriffing piece of junk --"

Okay, maybe it wasn't a dream. Maybe there was a rational explanation. Like …

Anakin paused, twisting his braid around his finger. There had to be some way to find out, some way to ascertain that this was, in fact, not a dream and that he was, in fact, captured by Separatists -- Separatists with a bizarre sense of humor and a psychotic agenda, maybe, but nonetheless actual CIS subversives…

Aha. That, possibly, might work.

With a lazy flick of his wrist, Anakin summoned the datapad.

Horizon Galactica search engine. Go.

The Restoration, 3 ABY.

"We should arrive in the system by tomorrow morning."

"That's good." Leia smiled, something she had rarely done since Bespin. "Any luck on --?"

"We scouted out the palace, but didn't see a way in." Luke admitted. "Seems like we're going to have to count on Lando after all."

"That'll take too long!" She snapped. "And I don't trust him. Not since --"

She broke off, unable to say the words. Luke gave her a sympathetic look. "We'll get Han back, Princess. I promise."

"I know, it's just -- I --" She paused, then changed the subject. "How's things at your end anyway?"

Brilliant. We had to spend a week on krething Tatooine, I'm getting nowhere with Roenai and I happen to have picked up a neurotic punk who I think is a time traveller.

"Fine," he said, mustering a smile. "Absolutely fine."

The Restoration, 3 ABY.


Welcome to the Imperial Search Engine. What is your query?

The Imperial search engine? What happened to the cheery blue page and the small Republic logo in the corner? It was Horizon Galactica, everybody knew that.

Force, I'm out of it for a few hours and the galaxy goes crazy.

Anyway, wasn't Misinformation Day around this time of year?

No, that had been last month.

Type.

The Galactic Republic was the galactic government prior to the establishment of the Galactic Empire in Year One of our benevolent Emperor's reign. Led by a Supreme Chancellor, it had a supposedly democratic government, which was riddled with corruption and bureaucracy in reality. In its last years, it was a largely ineffectual organisation.

He swallowed, sweat trickling down his back. What the kreth was going on?

The Clone Wars was the name given to the major galactic conflict fought between the now-defunct Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, lead by the villainous Count Dooku. It is the largest galactic conflict to date, ending in Year One of the New Calendar.

New Calendar? He typed a name in frantically, terrified of the answer.

Anakin Skywalker was a Jedi Knight who fought for the Galactic Republic in its final years, perishing in the aftermath of the Clone Wars.

This was a joke. This was a krething joke. There was no way that --

The door slid open.

"Listen, you -- oh." The pilot -- Skywalker -- said, eyeing him fearfully. "Guess -- guess you found the holonet, then."

"Yeah." A pause. "I'm dead."

to be continued