FYI: This chapter features a (canon) character that had an appearance in Warriors of Shadow.

Chapter Twenty-Two: The Advantages of Anonymity

1091 days ABG

Galaris was an unassuming world with nothing to offer but its location along a prominent hyperlane. Stonewall watched the small, gray planet grow larger in the viewport of the Stark Raven and again wondered if this was the best idea. So much can go wrong. But if we pull it off, we'll be able to breathe a bit easier. We're planning our own deaths, in a strange way. Figuratively, of course.

I hope.

This was enough to sober him up as he looked back at his brothers, all of whom were dressed in their armor and looking like their old selves. Crest was still limping pretty badly, but that was fine.

It was all part of the plan.

He moved away from the helm to stand before them. "One more time: Weave and Traxis will infiltrate the base and make their way to the information hub while Crest and myself keep any officers occupied. Once we're done, we'll meet back at the entrance, where Ares will provide us with a timely extraction." He glanced back at the Twi'lek. "Are you sure about this? If they catch your transponder codes..."

"This won't be the first time I've used the Raven for, ah, illicit purposes, Captain," Ares replied in a dry tone. "You just worry about getting in there and getting out; I'll take care of the escaping bit. I've got a few tricks up my lekku, anyway."

Stonewall exhaled and nodded. "I don't know if I can ever thank you enough."

Ares shrugged and lifted his eyes to the clones, to one clone in particular and Stone wondered that he could pick Traxis out among his brothers when they were suited up. "Glad I can be of use."

"Our armor's re-coded," Weave said, nodding to each of them. "For all intents and purposes, we're now members of Flash Company, of the 212th. They were in this sector and experienced heavy casualties at their most recent skirmish, so it's conceivable that we're making it back in bits and pieces. Unlikely, but not out of the realm of possibility."

"I'll take it; I'm not a picky man right now," Stonewall said. "Crest, you ready?"

"Creating a distraction is one of my many talents," the bald clone added from his seat. "Do you think they like knock-knock jokes?"

"What about us?" Drake and the others were seated together, watching the older clones.

Weave and Stonewall exchanged glances but it was the captain who spoke. "You are to remain here and keep a discreet eye out around the area for Ares while he remains at the helm. If there's even a whiff of trouble, you are to leave at once. Is that clear?" As much as he disliked letting them tag along in the first place, he'd be damned if he let the lads infiltrate the station along with the adults. Not that we'd be able to offer any kind of explanation for them, anyway.

Drake frowned. "With respect, wouldn't it be better to have a few more pairs of eyes with Traxis and Weave? They'll both be busy with the intel hub."

"We didn't go through fire and death to have you run this crazy errand with us, adi'ke," Trax replied, shaking his head. They were dropping through the clouds, headed for a small spaceport near the base where any random ship could stop and resupply before continuing on its journey.

After a glance at his brothers, Risky scowled. "We want to help." Keo and Finn nodded in agreement, while Levy looked back and forth between the adults and the younger clones. Drake watched Stonewall.

"You agreed to do as we said," Stonewall replied, his voice leaving no room for argument. "Now we're saying for you to remain here." I can't allow them to come. It's just too dangerous for a bunch of kids. "And that's an order."

Surprisingly, Drake spoke up next. "He's right, guys. We did promise. Let's follow his orders." He met their eyes and after a moment, each one nodded, though Stonewall disliked something about the exchange.

That was too easy. I wish we could spare someone to keep an eye on them, but Weave's skills and Traxis' backup are needed for the hub, and I'll have to use the Force to help Crest's distraction along. And Ares needs to have both eyes on the ship. He fixed his gaze on Drake, who looked back at him with a blank expression, the closest approximation of innocence that most clones could muster. But Ares was already starting the landing sequence, so Stone turned his attention to the task at hand.

After the Stark Raven touched down in the hangar, the Twi'lek looked back at the adult clones. "Good luck, my friends. I have a feeling you'll need it."

Stonewall nodded to him and the clones slipped out of the ship. Before they parted ways at the edge of the ramp, the medic looked at the clone captain. "Our comlinks should keep us in contact, but I don't want to risk anyone overhearing what they shouldn't, so keep conversation to a minimum."

"It's the best we can do," Stonewall replied. "Stay safe." He slipped on his helmet and helped Crest as they began to make their way to the Republic base, situated well on the outskirts of the spaceport's location. As they approached the area, the deck officer approached them, his manner inquisitive.

"Who are you?" His voice was sharp as he lifted a device and scanned their armor. Without waiting for them to reply he tilted his head. "Flash Company? Thought you guys all got wiped out."

Lifting his hand to his helmet in a motion that he hoped looked enough like a salute, Stone sent a mild bit of Force energy towards the other clone, nodding to Crest as he did so. "We nearly did. As it was my brother here got beat up pretty bad." He kept his voice clipped and neutral. "But we have some valuable intel...we should speak with your commander at once."

Crest let out a pained whimper. "It hurts...it really, really hurts...everything's growing dim, except...do you see that light up ahead?"

The other clone paused. "You should speak with my commander, then we'll get you patched up." He indicated the doorway. "I'll send word for them to let you in."

"Thank you, sir," Crest replied, his voice a trembling whisper. For good measure, he gave a raspy cough as they started to walk towards the base.

"Tone it down," Stone muttered to his brother as they moved. "You're not as good as an actor as you'd like to think." In response, Crest groaned again and his limp became more pronounced, though he said nothing as they entered the station.

Stonewall had expected it to be a flurry of activity, so it was startling to realize that there were almost no others around. However, there was no time to worry about it as a clone in yellow-striped armor approached them. "The deck officer said you have valuable intel for me?"

Stonewall nodded and took a deep breath, allowing the Force to gather around him, to strengthen his credibility and encourage the other man to believe; a small part of his mind noted that such a thing would not have been possible without Altis' instruction on the praxeum ship. "Well, you see, sir, it's like this..."

The attack came several hours into their journey back to the Chu'unthor, as they were nearing the Hapes Cluster. Kalinda had been attempting to sleep when she felt the beginnings of it through the Force: a sharp, acrid greed inlaid with a keen sense of opportunism. Pirates. Her eyes snapped open and she lifted her head to look out the viewport just as the ship's proximity alarm started shrieking. "Honi..."

"Blast! They came out of nowhere!" The red-haired Jedi spoke through gritted teeth as she jabbed at the navacomputer. "They've got some kind of tractor beam on us." The Wayfarer had begun jerking and shaking, and it seemed like the ship was coming apart at the seams. Beyond the viewport, a massive, saucer-shaped ship rotated in the thickness of space, the point to which they were being pulled.

All the Jedi could do was watch as the ship grew closer and closer. Honi's hand went to her hip but she only found one of the smaller pistols that Traxis had kept stored aboard the Wayfarer; she glared at Kali, who ignored the look as she studied her companions. We don't look like Jedi, at least. We don't have lightsabers or proper robes – just the civilian clothes that Master Altis gave us after Sethos. Perhaps we can pretend to be simple travelers. "Just stay calm and follow my lead," she said as they were pulled into the gaping maw of the ship. "They don't know we're Jedi...we have nothing of value, but we do have the Force. We can get out of this."

Darkness encased them as the Wayfarer was brought into the pirate vessel; there was a resounding slam as the hangar doors closed and for several moments they were surrounded by silence. Finally, they could make out a small door directly in front of them when it opened, slicing the area with a streak of light. Several figures entered the room and suddenly the three Jedi were blinking as the hangar was awash in blinding brightness. Kalinda took a deep breath as she heard an inquisitive rapping on the outside of their transport, followed by an all-too-familiar voice that made her hopes turn to ashes.

"Hello there, my friends! May I please request that you kindly lower your ramp so that we may free you of this troubling vessel and any valuables that you possess? I realize that you may feel that this is not beneficial to you, but you will agree that it is vastly preferable to losing any appendages – or worse."

Honi frowned at the expression that had appeared on the dark-haired Jedi's face. "What is it?"

"I know him." Kalinda's eyes closed as she swore inwardly. It was the Weequay pirate captain, Hondo Ohnaka.

The red-haired Jedi let out a snort of derision. "Of course you know him. Out of all the pirates in the entire shabla galaxy, we get captured by one you know. The only thing I don't understand is why I'm so surprised."

Though a part of Kalinda want to chuckle at Honi's use of the Mando'a slang, the rest of her was desperately trying to figure out how to turn this situation into something positive and not at all life-threatening. "We're not enemies," she said, her voice hushed. "I mean, we're not exactly friends, but..."

"So he won't turn us in to the Empire?"

Zara shifted in her seat as the pirates rapped on the door again. "Um...are we going to let them in?"

At that moment, the question was rendered moot as the distinctive noise of det tape being laid met their ears; the explosion that followed was loud, but not too damaging to the Wayfarer's hull. Kalinda twisted in her chair as the Weequay pirates filed in; when their gazes fell on the women they smiled in a way that made her jaw tighten. Hondo entered the ship last, looking around with an appraising eye and speaking the entire time. "Not a bad ship. She's a little damaged now, but that can be fixed easily enough. Smaller transports such as these are fetching quite a tidy sum on the..." He trailed off as his gaze fell on Kalinda and for a split-second they stared at one another.

Kalinda managed to speak first, giving him a wide smile that she hoped concealed the thudding agitation of her heart. "Lovely to see you again, Hondo."

"And you as well, Kali," he said as he sauntered over. Behind his green goggles she could see his eyes flick to Honi and Zara, though he fixed most of his gaze onto her. "My dear woman, what has happened to you?" He motioned towards her bandaged knee and she shook her head.

"I don't really want to talk about it."

Nodding, the Weequay continued to regard the dark-haired Jedi, a smile spreading across his scaled face. After a moment he turned to his men and muttered an order. One of them slipped off the ship, the others lifted their blasters. Honi and Zara tensed in their seats, and Kali could feel them gathering the Force to them in preparation.

So she held the pirate's gaze. "I may be injured, but I won't let you harm them." She indicated Honi and Zara, both of whom were staring at the pirate. "Please let us go...we have nothing for you."

He leaned down until he was a breath away from her and lifted his goggles, as he did so she felt the cool press of something metallic on her throat. "I wish that were true, Kali, I really do. However, unfortunately for you, there is a rather hefty price on the heads of all Jedi at the moment, and I have still not recovered financially from our last encounter. So," he said as he lifted his free hand to his men, who began approaching even as the one who'd left returned, armed with a stun-pistol. "It seems I have no other option but to take you into my custody. And don't try any funny tricks, Red," he said to Honi, who had lifted her hand to call on the Force. He nodded down; he was holding a vibro at Kali's neck, the blade almost hidden by the cuff of his coat.

"For now, you are my guests..." Even as he uttered the words, Kali felt the bite of the stun-pistol and her world went black.

It was easy enough to get into the base on Galaris without attracting too much attention, though Weave would have preferred a busier station to infiltrate. As they walked as quickly as they could without drawing too much attention, Trax echoed his thoughts, and Weave took a moment to consider the matter. "I suppose now that the war's over, they're going to be 're-structuring' the GAR like the HoloNet was saying. Perhaps everyone's being shipped out somewhere else."

Traxis shook his head, his voice quiet. "There's no GAR anymore, vod. There's no more Republic."

It was the truth and Weave knew that it would take more than a little adjustment before he became used to it. However, his mind turned back to the task at hand once he and Traxis were deep inside the base; there were only a few moments of confusion before they found their way to the central room where all of the computers were located. From there, I just need a few minutes to sort everything out and then we can get out of here. Simple, really. The thought made him shudder and he checked himself. Nothing is ever simple. I just hope that this isn't as complicated as our last mission.

"Here." Traxis indicated a door with security and clearance warnings plastered all over it, which Weave ignored as he bent before the panel. While his brother watched the corridor around them, he managed to get the door open without incident.

"Let's go."

They entered the room. It was smaller than he'd imagined, brightly lit with a large, humming console at the center of the room, circled by various workstations. While Traxis stood by the door, Weave moved to the nearest station and studied it for a moment as he set down his deece.

Traxis looked at him. "I don't hear any beeping. Beeping means you're doing your thing."

"Patience is a virtue," Weave replied, frowning at the screen.

A sigh. "Yeah, well...I'm not feeling very virtuous right now."

Ignoring him, Weave began to search through the database until he pulled up the list of Jedi collaborators and nodded when he saw Shadow Squad's designations among them, along with the clone cadets; it was easy enough to mark them all 'KIA,' though he felt odd seeing the crimson slash through his own designation. But that's odd. Where's Mi? He frowned beneath his bucket for an instant, until the realization struck him and his eyes closed. No. Milo...

Another moment passed before he found his brother's number, already marked with red. Weave's throat tightened and he took a deep breath to try and calm himself. I have to get a grip. I can grieve later, but now I have a job to do. Despite all this, he very nearly said something to Traxis, but couldn't bring himself to form the words. He took another breath and focused back on the screen, searching for the list of living Jedi. However, he frowned when he couldn't find Kalinda's name among the – much shorter now – roster. "That's not good..."

"What?" Trax was crouched by the door, blasters out and ready to spring into action.

Weave frowned and shook his head as he pulled up the list of deceased Jedi and felt his heart stop. There she is. Kalinda Halcyon: Ambria. General Tallis and her Padawan's names followed and he felt his breath grow short again.

How am I going to tell Stonewall?

For a moment he was stricken and immobile, though gradually he felt a fierce anger rising within him at the realization that she was dead, and Milo along with her. Someone – a brother, I suppose – murdered her in cold blood; out of everyone in this galaxy she would have stood by the clones until her last breath. She would have gladly given her life for any of us – for any clone – and they killed her and the others like animals. And Mi just wanted to help the Republic and his brothers. There wasn't a malicious bone in his body.

"What's with the silence over there, vod?" There was a soft scuffle of boots as Traxis adjusted his position.

Weave gave a sharp inhale. Crink this. I'm done playing around. He pulled out a particular datastick from his belt and inserted it into the nearest jack, nodding to himself as he began to upload the virus that would disable their entire system.

But.

"No..." He frowned as he watched the readout. It's an updated program from the last one I worked with...this isn't going to cut it. Weave made a noise of frustration and slammed his fist onto the console, which caused Traxis to look over.

"That doesn't..."

The sound of light steps outside the door made them both start; turning to the entrance, Weave picked up his blaster and both clones readied themselves. Weave crouched behind the computer while Traxis held his position by the door. After an instant, Weave called up the heat-signature readout on his implant to get an idea of how many brothers he'd have to take out. I didn't want it to come to this, but I'm not sure we have a choice.

Then the door opened.

"Levy? Drake? What the kriff are you lads doing here?" Traxis sounded both horrified and furious, which made both boys quell for a moment before Drake thumbed the corridor behind them.

"Saving your shebse, apparently. There was a squad headed right for you...neither of you noticed them follow you inside the base, but we did. Crest isn't the only one who can create a distraction." Drake grinned at Levy, who had strolled up to Weave and the console, studying the screen with interest.

Traxis snorted. "Are the others with you? The captain gave you specific orders, which you disobeyed..."

"They're fine, they're with Ares. But you said that some orders aren't to be followed," Drake shot back. "How are we supposed to know the difference?"

But Weave missed his brother's reply as he watched Levy, who was still looking at the screen. He pointed to the datastick and then the console, glancing at Weave with a wry expression as he shook his head.

Weave sighed. "No, it didn't work. It doesn't matter anyway." He couldn't bring himself to say the words: Milo and their Jedi were dead.

However, Levy only nodded. He lifted his arm – the one with the strange implant – and pulled out the datastick, after which he connected the implant into the port.

"What's he doing?" Traxis' voice sounded as bewildered as Weave felt, though the medic only raised his hand to silence his brother while Levy regarded the screen with mild curiosity.

As Weave watched, he realized what the boy was doing, and his jaw dropped. "He's...he's scrambling their data...all of it..." Even if it doesn't last, it'll set them back a good chunk of time while they try to sort out the damage.

Indeed, the screen began to flicker, filling with gibberish after a few moments, which was when Levy lowered his arm and looked at Weave, his face beaming as if he was asking, did I do a good job?

Weave grabbed the young clone and gave him a hug. "You did, son. You really did."

Drake grinned. "Good thing we came along."

"Great, great," Traxis said, lifting his blasters. "Now can we please get the kriff out of here? I'm not getting any younger."

With a sigh, Weave nodded and activated his comm. "Stonewall? We're done."

Thanks to sachariah for helping me with the tech stuff in this chapter...if you haven't checked out his ongoing saga, When Night Falls, I highly recommend it!

Also want to give a "shout-out" to my lovely beta-reader, SerendipityAEY, who's valiantly plugging away on Alchemy as we speak. Her epic story, Fallen has just been finished, and if you haven't already, you should definitely take a look!

Again, thank you to all my reviewers! It means so much to me to know that you're enjoying this!