"Soketh, Portland, you have the day off so that you can do whatever it is that's needed but I need you back by tonight so that I can give you your assignment's for tomorrow"

"Understood Captain"

So the two go down to the planet and then Ashland leads Soketh to the lower levels which he had never been to before

"Where are we headed Portland?"

"Sorry Soketh, but I can't tell you yet, though I can tell you we're almost there"

"Okay, but why do we have to be in the lower levels?"

"Easy, because no one would suspect something like what I'm going to show you in the lower levels"

Finally they get to an ordinary door but when Soketh tried to enter it he got a surprise, the door not only stayed closed but he felt a small shock, kind of like touching a force field

"And this is why you needed me with you because of the fact that the building, mainly the door has a bio-lock so that intruders can't gain access to what's inside, you can add bio-signatures once inside but a person who's allowed has to be there to allow someone without access in"

"Bio-lock? Why would you have a bio-lock?"

"Come inside and you'll find out"

As soon as they enter the building Soketh understood why there was a bio-lock on the door

"This is a resistance building"

"Exactly, there's food, water, weapons, anything you could need to fight back against an invasion. There are several places like this on multiple planets and there are very few people allowed into these buildings as far as I know. This is the master building which means as soon as your bio-signature is added to this building you have access to all the buildings like this in the galaxy, now come over here so that your bio-signature can be added"

As soon as that's done Soketh speaks up again

"You know when you're going to die don't you? That's why you've added my bio-signature"

"Exactly, not to mention the fact that you'll be with the crew when I die"

"Can I know exactly when it will happen?"

"I'm sorry Soketh but that's not possible, I will tell you though that when I'm gone you will have your own troubles and will have to make sure that the crew disappears and is thought dead. I can't tell you fully why though you already know most of the story already"

"Okay I understand"

"Good, now then we have a ship to get back to but first I want to take you to a diner so that we can have some good non synthesized food, plus I have to make sure my lightsaber is in the Senate building as do you I believe"

"Good point"

The next day Soketh and Portland were actually assigned to the Senate and things were calm for the most part when all of a sudden Ashland tensed up at seeing someone in white armor, armor that looked like it had back in the days of the Clone Wars and then during the Empire

"Sentinel Portland is something wrong?"

"Sorry, I forgot that the Clones would have been made and some would be here by now"

"You're remembering your history aren't you?"

"Yes I am"

"Don't worry this time what happened to the Jedi won't happen again, we've made sure of it"

"Okay, it's fine it's okay it just surprised me is all, how many are there?"

"Two hundred, more are being made but limited for now and we make sure there's nothing like order 66 this time so that no one is in danger"

"So, I think I'll be outside doing perimeter checks, Soketh stay inside and let the other officers know where I am, if I don't check in after half an hour consider me out of commission and take charge here, also alert the ship to find my communicator and beam me back to the ship because I will either be unconscious or dead"

"Understood Portland, guess that makes me the next highest ranking officer in the Republic"

"For the moment yes, but don't count on it lasting for very long because of procedures established back when I was reunited with the Republic after the Texas came here by complete accident"

"Just how many can there be?"

"Trust me considering the situation at the time a lot of procedures were created both in the Republic after I returned and in the Federation when I first arrived and then over the years a few more on both sides have been created as a new situation arises that requires a new procedure to be made"

"Okay, so you check in every half hour then?"

"No, half hour for the first time and then every hour on the hour afterwords, and that goes for the whole team, however there are certain dead zones in the Senate building which makes communication impossible via radio but there are vid phones in those areas use those to call someone if you're in a dead zone and then that person is to let the rest of the team know that you're safe"

That's when a clone spoke up

"Maybe we should also help and be put into teams of two at the very least"

"No, if you're joining then it will be teams of three, two clones for every officer including Soketh and I because while we're Jedi we might not be able to sense something or react fast enough. Plus that ways if one clone goes down there's still one left to back up the officer if needed. Those not teamed up with a Starfleet officer will stay near the Senators but not in the meeting room, you'll be posted outside every possible entrance/exit where there's only one way onto a platform"

"Sentinel Portland, we know our history with the Jedi, are you sure you trust us with you life?, because if you don't then we won't go with you"

"Yes I'm sure, I can already tell that things are different this time, don't ask me how but I can sense it through the Force"

"Okay if you're sure about this, however we don't expect the rest of the Jedi to cooperate so willingly so we'll keep away from the temple unless called for"

"Don't worry I think you can gain the trust of the Jedi soon enough, but for now your idea has merit"

All of a sudden Ashland got a vision of Jedi and clones fighting side by side against a hidden enemy and the clones were taking orders from the Jedi while the Jedi were giving the orders without hesitation and while she didn't see any other identifying factors just seeing those two things proved that she was correct in saying that the Jedi and clones would work together again with ease soon enough, though she wasn't sure what would allow the Jedi to trust the clones to that degree

"Portland are you okay?"

"I'm fine Soketh, just a Force vision"

"Anything I need to know?"

"No not at the moment, but if it becomes relevant I'm sure that the Force will reveal what it showed me to you but if it's not it won't happen you know that as well as I do" (thinks) "though to be honest I think part of the reason why the Force showed me this was to give me hope before I disappear"

The two groups talk out a few more details and then went their separate ways. While Ashland was patrolling the outer perimeter though she suddenly went down with her hand holding her head, so she quickly got out the Force inhibitor bracelet and put it on only to pass out soon after

"This is Sharpshooter we have a Starfleet officer down, seems like they were in pain right before she passed out"

"This is Seven, we also have a Starfleet officer down he too was in pain before he passed out"

"Did he put on a bracelet right before he lost consciousness?"

"Yes, same to you?"

"Same to us, looks like they sensed something that caused them so much pain they passed out right after they relieved it"

"Better get them to safety then"

"Agreed, and make sure everyone else is extra vigilant until further notice"

Before they could do that though they heard a groan and saw Ashland get up and she then taps her commbadge

"Portland to Soketh did you just sense what I sensed?"

"Well that depends on what you sensed Portland, because if you sensed two planets being destroyed at once then yeah I sensed that as well"

"Two planets? I sensed three, fortunately the third one didn't have any life other than indigenous species and even then they weren't exactly what we called intelligent on it but the other two..."

"Yeah, the two that had people on it were what I sensed, Death Star?"

"Impossible, it's something else but what I have no clue"

"Get the Captain to check?"

"Nope, not until we find out more about what just happened"

"We don't even know which planets were just destroyed"

"I know that but do you really have any better ideas Soketh?"

"Guess not"

"I thought so, now then about the inhibitors I suggest standard procedure for something this massive"

"Agreed, I do not want to be feeling the after affects for a bit considering the headache I have"

"Okay, and make sure you get in contact with the temple to see if they sensed anything as well you never know with the Force"

"Right Portland, Soketh out"

The two cut communication and then Ashland realized that the two clones were still pretty confused

"There's going to be a lot of discussions happening soon, especially once we figure out just what Soketh and I sensed through the Force, now then we still have a perimeter sweep to finish and then we'll go inside, but I will be counting on you guys even more then before because I now no longer have access to the Force"

"Just how limited are you now?"

"Not as much as one would think seeing as how I am still a trained Starfleet officer but I won't be able to sense trouble nearly as soon as before if I even manage that"

"I think we clones missed something in training because we have no clue about how Starfleet works or how their officers are trained"

They see Ashland scowl and realize that she's not happy about hearing that

"Yeah that was missed alright, I'll be having a talk with your trainers on Kamino after this so that they understand that clones need to know and understand how Starfleet officers are trained seeing as how you'll be working by our side pretty closely, especially after we get more officers and refugees for the rest of the year not to mention Starfleet Academy, well the Republic branch anyways"

"Why would that be needed?"

"Because we're going to be preparing for six years at least, it's part of a plan the Admiralty made up back when I first joined"

"Um the Admiralty?"

(Sighs) "I have a lot to explain don't I? I think the first thing you should know is that I abbreviate things whenever possible when it comes to who I report to and the chain of command. For me when I say the Admiralty I mean the highest ranking Starfleet officers ultimately in charge of Starfleet, when I say the Council I am talking about the Jedi Council who can give me missions at a moments notice even when I was in the Federation and when I say the Senate I am talking about the Republic Senate. Now then about Starfleet there are several other ranks but you'll be hearing them often so you'll pick that up quickly. However a quick rundown from lowest rank to highest is Ensign, Lt. junior grade, Lt., Lt. Commander, Commander, Captain, and finally Admiral which has it's own ranking system after that, now then some time's when you hear someone being called a Lt. they are talking about a Lt. junior grade and sometimes when someone is called a Commander they are actually a Lt. Commander, the way you'll be able to tell if that happens is through the rank pips on their necks, though most people will say the full rank if it's a Lt. Commander, not so much if it's a Lt. junior grade"

"I understand, at least the ranking system is easy enough to understand"

"Not quite, Soketh and I go by a different ranking system that's equivalent to the normal ranking system"

"Oh boy, we're going to be confused a lot aren't we?"

"No not really because often times you'll just hear another officer call us Sentinel, it's only when ranks are important that you'll hear our full rank"

"How about we wait until another time, after all we have other things to worry about then the ranking system that Starfleet uses"

"True, now then every Starfleet officer is trained to be observant, able to defend ourselves even when blind, and we can use multiple weapons if our primary weapon is unavailable"

"All good things to know"

They continue the outer perimeter check and once that was done they patrolled inside the Senate building and for that day at least things remained calm and Ashland even managed to find out just what she and Soketh sensed. One of the two planets had been experimenting with energy that involved their planet's core unfortunately all they managed to do was destabilize the core and blow their planet up, the other two planets were too close not to be destroyed as well