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Chapter 3 – A Desperate Warning

"A Jedi master?" Ezra said in awe confirming that in his own mind they had indeed travelled backwards in time. Master Billaba looked every inch the way that Jedi had been described in the legends that had evolved around them despite all the attempts of the Empire to suppress it. She had an almost glow about her looking so strong and proud. In the force he could feel the hidden strength in her that was incredible.

"Yes I 'am." Depa said feeling somewhat bemused at the awe the teenage boy in front of her had in her presence. She felt the boy's curiosity which made her wonder if he had been raised by people who worship or lived in complete awe of the Jedi. Despite the order never actively encouraging it such things had been known to happen. People seeing their powers as some kind of god like ability that should be worshiped, the Sith of course did encourage such things as it made people bow down to them but shaking her head at those thoughts she returned to the matter at hand. Stepping into the cell she turned and nodded to the trooper behind her who closed the force field. She then turned back to face him and looked down straight into his eyes and Ezra felt her gaze probing his eyes looking for something before she asked. "Now will you explain just who you are and what you are doing here?"

Ezra found himself loss for words as her intense gaze threatened to tear any lie to shreds. So he tried something that was unknown to him in these situations before now. He told the truth.

"My friends and I were going on a mission against the Empire." His response only seemed to puzzle the Jedi master.

"What Empire?" She asked remembering the stark message she had discovered in the holocron.

"The Galactic Empire that rules the galaxy. That…killed my parents." He said feeling a stab of grief at the recent discovery of his parents' fate. Although he had expected it for years, the truth had still cut deep leaving an emptiness that seemed to almost swallow him up at times. Depa sensed his grief and felt pity for the deep scar that had been left on this young man's life far too soon but had to say.

"There is no such empire that I know of. Where to they rule?" She wondered if maybe this was something from the Unknown Regions that had decided to move into the large galaxy. But then Ezra said something that shocked her.

"It will rule all the known galaxy in…in the future."

Depa remained silent at first absorbing what he had just said. She looked like she was about to respond when suddenly a series of explosions rocked the ship. The impacts were very strong knocking all but a few of them to the floor. Knowing she was needed on the bridge she gave Ezra a backwards glance before moving towards the exit of the cell where the trooper opened the cell and feeling a sudden tremble in the force Ezra knew that if he did not convince her now then it would be too late. So he recalled something Kanan had told him about the clones and what had made them attack the Jedi, perhaps his only worthwhile card left to play.

"Check the chips in the clones' heads." He cried out to her, she suddenly stopped and turned to face him again before asking with a look of confusion on her face.

"What chips?" She asked feeling that given the desperation in his voice that this was something important.

"There are control chips in the clones' heads, every clone. They make them act against their free will, please just check it!" He implored her. Depa hesitated feeling the force calling her with a sense of urgency that she had never felt before in her entire life to do as this young man had asked of her. The intensity of the feeling was enough to unbalance even her emotional balance giving her an intense feeling of anxiety before she suppressed it.

She gazed into Ezra's eyes before telling him.

"Alright but I expect some more answers if I do this." She told him sternly and he nodded suddenly nervous before turning to the clone trooper at her side and told him. "Follow me."

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On the bridge of the Star Destroyer Commander Grey and Caleb Dume the apprentice to Depa Billaba stood at the forward window as a Separatist frigate had ambushed them. Both wondered where Depa was but that would have to wait till later until the enemy ship had been dealt with.

"Bring all port side cannons to bare and launch Nightmare Squadron." Grey ordered being every bit the disciplined soldier while Caleb just looked out bewildered by the whole experience having spent little time out of the Jedi Temple before now. Grey shook his head with a smile, liking the optimistic boy even if he was very wet behind the ears.

"Nightmare squadron launched." One of the bridge officers said and sure enough a group of ARC-170 heavy Starfighters could be seen flying out of the main forward hanger bay. Caleb then jumped in with a question.

"Why launch only one squadron?" He asked Grey who told him with patience as the gunners took aim and fired on the frigate as the fighters with their attack foils deployed did the same.

"To conserve resources for the invasion of Kaller. If we waste too many here then the invasion will be harder." Caleb nodded understanding his point but then another question came to him.

"Why only send one ship to intercept us?" Grey suddenly realised the kid had a point, the Separatists should have sent more ships. This type of frigate usually operated with at least two other ships of the same class to try and overwhelm an enemy ship.

"Maybe they are just trying to delay us?" Caleb suggested and Grey groaned as he realised that the kid was probably right. The Main Separatist fleet was still recovering after the battle at Coruscant recently and the reserve units were stretched very thin in this sector which was why the Republic was trying to invade now and whoever was in charge on Kaller must have sent the ship that was attacking them just so while they were delayed the Separatists would have more time to prepare their defences. The shields of the frigate buckled under the blaster fire from the star destroyer while the fighters hit the other side with blasters and proton torpedoes. The ship erupted into a fireball as the Republic's fire tore into the hull of the frigate and started detonating both fuel and ordinance. Seeing the threat neutralised Grey turned to one of the junior officers on duty and asked.

"Damage report?" The junior lieutenant then told him as best as he could.

"Given the initial attack was before we raised our shields they inflicted damage to the hyperdrive, long range communications array and there are several hull breaches, repair teams are already on it and repairs should be complete within a few hours. But until they fix it we can't go to light speed or contact anyone beyond the next few star systems." Grey then gave a sigh before telling them all.

"Get on it, we are cut off from the Republic without that communications array and stuck here without the hyperdrive just waiting for the Separatists to pounce." He said grimly, at his side the Jedi Padawan thought to himself.

'Guess we're not going to Kaller just yet."

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Back in the cells Ezra, Sabine and Zeb were all sitting on the bare bunks of their individual cells all looking very uneasy. The explosions had stopped but their minds were on other things.

"Do you think she really will look into it?" Ezra asked feeling anxious as they remained trapped in these cells. There was still no news of Hera or Chopper and he wasn't sure that the Jedi master was going to do as she had told him she would. His colleagues felt much the same.

"We can only hope." Sabine said before speculating. "Maybe if she finds about Order 66 then maybe the Jedi can avoid it?"

"Maybe they could even stop the Empire from rising?" Zeb suggested hopefully although he could not believe that he was even suggesting such a thing. This time travel stuff was so weird to him that he still could not believe it completely. Sabine shrugged before replying.

"Maybe but there is no guarantee of that the rise of the Empire started a long time ago, or it could make things even worse in some way who knows? It all depends on whether Master Billaba listened to what Ezra had to say."

Ezra nodded as he lent his head back as he worried that the woman had ignored them. Then a thought leapt into his head.

"If we did change the timeline do you think we would remember?" Ezra asked. Sabine thought about it for a moment before answering.

"Perhaps or maybe our memories would change to reflect the new timeline. Then again we could just fade out of existence."

"That's a cheery thought." Zeb said and Ezra winced at the idea of simply being wiped from existence. Perhaps just by being here they had already changed things for better or for worse. His mind began to spin with all the implications their presence could cause just by being here. Maybe if Master Depa Billaba survived she could make a difference, one for the better.

Then something struck him that name…Depa Billaba he had heard it before somewhere! Thinking back as hard as he could. He knew he had heard that name somewhere before. Then he remembered the first time they had met the Inquisitor on Stygeon Prime. He had said that Kanan had trained with her and she had taught him some lightsaber combat. And Kanan had referred to his former master as being a woman that the clones had killed. If she was here, then maybe the Kanan from this time frame was here too! But Ezra realized even if he was here, he would be the same age perhaps younger than Ezra was now.

He wouldn't know him, not yet maybe not ever if they changed history. That was a thought had really did make Ezra feel upset, Kanan had become so important to him, not just a mentor or even a friend but as almost a surrogate father helping him discover the better side of himself and refusing to let him deal with his parent's death alone, just being there for him to talk too. He pushed Ezra sometimes but only when he really had to for Ezra's own benefit.

"I hope if we do get back, that you are still there master." Ezra said quietly to himself.

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Meanwhile in the ship's infirmary Depa Billaba was going against her better judgement and listening to the words of the strange boy currently in the cells a few decks above her. She had one of the clones under an internal body scanner looking closely at the head area for a chip that the boy swore would be there. She was prepared to believe that the boy had been making it all up.

Until they found it.

"There it is." The clone medic said showing her the image of the small chip that was embedded next to the brain of the clone just inside the skull. It was only small and would easily have been missed if you weren't looking for it. Depa stared at the image for the moment and felt that uneasy tremor in the force again, she turned to the medic and asked.

"Can you safely remove it?"

"Certainly." The medic said and pulled out a laser scalpel and after applying a slight sedative to the clone in question, the medic carefully cut into the head of his fellow clone. Opening a small gap in the skull he swapped the scalpel for another instrument and carefully pulled the tiny chip out of his brother's brain, placing it into a small dish before applying a solution that would speed up healing the small wound in the skull and a small plaster to the area in question to seal it up. Picking up the chip up carefully in her hand, Depa walked out of the room and down the corridor into the computer analysis room. She turned and sealed the door behind her not wanting to be disturbed before placing the small chip onto the computer table and activated the display. Her fingers danced across the interactive surface as she ordered an analysis of the chip and what programming it contained. All Jedi were trained in basic data analysis and she had taken some time to brush up on her skills at the temple while recovering from her coma. There was no real encryption on the chip, whoever had put it in there had obviously little concern as to being discovered so she easily broke the security on the chip.

The answers came quickly after that, apparently the chip was capable of at least for a time feeding commands directly into the brains of the clones, ones that they would be powerless to resist. It was disconcerting enough to think that someone would do this to sentient beings but when she accessed the chip's directory and looked at the commands it was designed to implant there was only one and what it said chilled her to the bone.

Order 66 - Execute all Jedi

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