When Anakin went back to see Obi-wan the next day to plan (because the knight would want a plan, even if Anakin knew it would likely never survive first contact – so maybe a couple of back-ups, too, because it's Obi-wan), he found the red-head with a hand to his mouth looking into the distance… away from the window, so lost in thought he didn't even notice Anakin come in.

Once he managed to startle the man out of his obvious mental spiral, it took Anakin both far longer and far shorter than he thought he would need to get Obi-wan to admit that he was worried about the mission – about leaving Ferus to come back to no master at the temple, since they were going to face a Sith. (Also about Ferus, period.)

It both reminded Anakin of how warmhearted the man was, and how much jealousy he still harbored towards Ferus – as ridiculous as it was because he wasn't going to be Obi-wan's padawan, even if (Force forbid) Ferus never came back.

At that point, Anakin reminded the knight that Siri would make sure Ferus was taken care of. He even passed on the message Siri had sent him about them being so close to finding and rescuing Ferus.

Of course, Obi-wan had to ask who 'them' was.

The following conversation about Jango Fett had been… awkward, but in the end Obi-wan realized that his padawan would be coming back one way or another with those two on the case. Siri was a force of nature and Jango Fett was literally the best non-sensitive in the bounty hunting business, and it did seem to help him feel better about the situation. Even if he still had his reservations.

Fair.

After that, coming up with a plan and a couple of contingencies for the gala wasn't very difficult. What was difficult boiled down to coming up with reasons for the plans and contingencies that didn't show their hand to Palpatine. He couldn't know any of the Jedi knew about him now. It would give him far too much insight and potential leverage, not to mention a chance to screw with them and their future plans. That was their worst case scenario – if Palpatine figured out what they knew in nearly any capacity. Even if they managed to get the info to the senators, it would be damage control at best. This was delicate and the actions they took would ultimately be less scrutinized than the reasons they took said actions.

Anakin hated those kinds of missions. They never had been his strong point.

Eventually, though, the two of them came up with some decent reasons for any happenstances. Well, most happenstances. When the two of them were involved, no one knew when it would go KUBAR. Anakin left Obi-wan feeling far better about the entire mission in general.

He went racing that night and slept deeply once he got back.

The next day, everyone was talking about how the Jedi Ambassadors had been given permission to bring a friend with them, but anyone going would have to attend mandatory training sessions. Anakin hadn't seen the children so excited since their lesson on the Agricorps and Exploracorps. That excitement only expanded when the younglings assembled in one of the larger rooms later that day and Mace Windu walked through the door.

The room immediately fell into silence as the children stared in awe. Instead of simply accepting this as the Windu Anakin remembered would have, he seemed annoyed by it. The time-traveler had to hide his snicker at that. Had Anakin's comment during their conversation been that much of a surprise? It almost didn't compute that the Windu from his timeline had truly not noticed the children's fear of him. Or perhaps he had he just brushed that fear off as respect?

In any case, while the Korun Master began to lecture the class on their mission, currently proposed as a training exercise for their own safety, Master Yoda took Anakin aside and began to ask him questions about Qui-gon and the Whills. Anakin explained what he could but in the end, he didn't know much. Yoda still seemed to appreciate his answers anyway and vowed that he would look into the matter himself.

Anakin got back to the lesson just in time to hear Windu tell the children that they would only be allowed to go to the gala if they passed the test they'd set up. Someone (Anakin, though they didn't know it) would be watching a drop-off point from a distance and the younglings had two days during certain hours to pass off said test. They could take the test multiple times and Anakin would even interact with some of them to make sure they could handle some extra pressure. He'd promised to take extensive notes and give them to Master Windu and Master Yoda, who would both go over them and have notes of their own.

"And one last thing," Master Windu said. "You are only allowed to tell one of the Senators about the training exercise if they specifically ask about it. Even if the Chancellor himself speaks to you – which he shouldn't," he shot a pointed look at Anakin, who mentally sighed, "you cannot say anything. If you are asked why you have given anything to your specific Senator, tell them that you are giving them thank-you gifts for your time in their service or some assistance they have provided you."

Ah, yes, that had been a rather brilliant idea from Master Yoda as well. Each of the children would be giving a gift to two or three senators as discreetly as possible. The thing was, if they were caught and interrogated – by whatever means, be they kind and in front of the guests at the gala, or, in the worst case scenario, behind closed doors with Sith torture (and Anakin would do anything he possibly could to prevent that) – the children wouldn't know anything. They would have a plausible story for deniability and a reason for keeping a 'secret'.

Anakin was rather pleased with that, actually.

"You will all be graded on this at the end of the gala as well. Now, if you have any questions, you may approach Master Yoda or myself. You may pick up your 'test gift' at the door. Dismissed."

He stood there stoically as the children rose to their feet and looked quietly around, nervously glancing between each other before slowly making their way over to Master Yoda. Anakin almost cackled outright at the micro-expression on his face. At least until a couple of brave children worked up their courage to approach the Kourn Master. He answered them as kindly and patiently as he possibly could and honestly, his demeanor surprised Anakin. He sent his approval through the Force. Windu glanced at him dryly and rolled his eyes before returning to the children with a warm smile.

Anakin spent the next two days perched in just the right place to be invisible from the 'drop off' point while he watched for pairs of young initiates trying to pass the first iteration of their 'test'. Three pairs, at most, would have passed it off if Anakin hadn't thoroughly believed they all needed to be more subtle. After three hours, all the children had come by and Anakin turned in the notes.

He was informed that everyone wanted to try again that afternoon. This time, he saw notable improvement from each pair, so someone (Master Windu?) had spoken to them privately and worked with them. Even when he ventured from his hiding spot and would 'run into' them or even call them away and talk with them about some random topic (most often, the gala itself), they surprisingly kept their cool.

Anakin still believed that they needed more practice, though. He made sure to give both positive and negative points about each pair and fully expected they would try again the next morning. They did and while the improvement wasn't as noticeable of a leap for most pairs, it was still there and he found that he had to pass off some of them at least. The remainder tried their final time that afternoon and to Anakin's relief, they all succeeded. Oh, none of them would likely be shadow or black ops material, but they were adequate enough not to be too obvious, and in this instance, that was all they needed.

It still made Anakin nervous, but even he knew that he couldn't hold these children to his exacting standards with the short amount of time they had. They were Jedi, true, but they weren't Obi-wan, Anakin, Ahsoka, Starkiller or Luke. They weren't prodigies. Master Yoda had gone over that point with him many times.

(He was kind of relieved they had gone over it because he doubted he would have remembered otherwise.)

Then it was the day before the gala and Anakin had all day to talk about it with his friends (them, excitedly, him, not so much), and one final session with Girth, who seemed to be feeling much better and was livid that the healers hadn't let Anakin speak with him. He'd given them an earful from what Anakin had heard. Part of him felt sorry for the healers. Part of him nurtured a little warmth that someone would stand up for him, not just against the Jedi Council, but the entire Jedi Healer Wing (arguably more terrifying than the Jedi Council).

They spent nearly the entire session going through what could happen during the gala – which actually helped Anakin calm down immensely. Towards the end, though, he brought up something that surprised Anakin.

"One more thing before you go," Girth said with a soft smile. "About the other day, when no one was available, from what I understand, you almost had a panic attack. Is that correct?"

Anakin withheld a sigh and nodded. "Almost relapsed too," he muttered, still upset at himself.

Then Girth shook his head and his smile grew wider, eyes never leaving Anakin. "Then I am so proud of you for calming yourself down. That isn't easy with a support system, let alone without one. You have come so far in such a short amount of time and it is truly astounding. Well done, Anakin."

The time-traveler didn't quite know what to say to that because that had been such a small thing… although, thinking back, it hadn't felt small at the time.

Still, he found it difficult to really accept Girth's praise.

He was working on it.

After a moment, he took a deep breath and nodded his head. This was Girth's opinion and it was valid, and he could accept it, even if he didn't necessarily agree with it. So he nodded and smiled. "Thank you."

"You are welcome," the drall replied. "Although, I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it."

The initiate chuckled once, amused. "I know."

"Then how about you head out for today? Get some good sleep tonight. Remember you have people here for you if something goes wrong tomorrow, okay?"

Anakin nodded again, feeling himself relax, even as he stood from his seat. "Good night, Healer Girth."

"Goodnight, Initiate Skywalker," the drall said generously, nodding.

The time-traveler didn't dare believe that the next day would go smoothly, but he could hope.

It felt so good to hope again.

xXx

Siri sat in the co-pilot seat on the Slave I, waiting for a message from their contact. If all went well today, they would be extracting Ferus in as soon as two days. Even waiting that long killed her, but… they had to get Ferus out and cover their tracks. She wouldn't do this half-way.

Meanwhile, she was going over the laws of the region they'd tracked Ferus to, in case they had to talk themselves out of this. She absently twirled her much shorter hair around her finger, not noticing the red color anymore. The first few days after she'd dyed it, she'd almost surprised herself every time she'd seen it out of the corner of her eye or looked in a mirror. That hadn't been the first time she'd regretted going with the Zora costume, but now she was used enough to it. It wasn't that well known to this galaxy, but she knew it well.

Jango had actually been impressed with her acting skills the first time they'd gone into seedier areas for information. Their relationship had improved quite a bit after that. Now they only wanted to shoot each other once a day instead of every second of every day.

(Seriously, why had Anakin thought this was a good idea?

Eh… probably because it had worked… or would work. She'd make it work.)

And as if her wandering thoughts had called him, the man himself walked into the cockpit, pausing when he saw her and leaning against the door instead of coming in all the way. That was… unusual. Siri raised an eyebrow at him. That would be the only question he'd get from her.

He seemed to gather himself if the tenseness in his jaw was anything to go by.

"I took your advice," he finally said.

That surprised Siri. He didn't often take her advice and had never acknowledged even when he had before. "Oh?"

Jango rolled his eyes at her tone. "Don't," he warned, obviously not wanting to put up with any gloating. She wasn't entirely sure he wouldn't shoot her still, so she didn't press it, even if she did smirk a little. "In any case, I… contacted Mandalore."

Okay, she really hadn't expected that. She perked up in her seat, interested. "Oh?!"

Jango glared, obviously still nursing his wounded pride at taking advice from a Jetii. Siri just shot him an innocent smile he immediately saw right through, just as she'd predicted.

He huffed and mumbled under his breath as if asking why, "Jetii."

Siri snickered.

The bounty hunter decided to take the high road and forced himself to keep speaking, even if it were through gritted teeth. "In any case… You were right. There… there are still clans that will support me if I make a bid for Mand'alor. More if I found and won the darksaber."

The Jedi let the amusement fall from her lips as she spoke seriously. "They're stuck between a rock and a hard place, Jango. Either they go with the New Mandalorians who want to practically erase everything in Mandalore's history and only keep records around to show people how 'bad' things used to be… or Death Watch. They need a third option."

Jango let out a long sigh. "I know that. I'm… just surprised that anyone would be willing to let me be that third option."

Honestly, Siri was kind of surprised he'd opened up to her about this at all. She needed to pick her words very carefully. "Why not?" she finally decided on, speaking the phrase slowly. "People remember Jastor. For good reason. Is it so hard to want to believe in that again? To believe you – who was raised by him – can give them that?"

The Mandalorian shook his head and snorted. "Can't believe I'm hearing that from a Jetii." He said the word a little angrily, but with nowhere near as much venom as Siri would have expected. Still…

She slumped a little and looked out the window at the planet they were orbiting around. "Jedi or not, we're only sapient, we made mistakes. Bad ones. I'm not excusing them. If I could, I would apologize for the entire Order, and I'm willing to try and make up for those mistakes."

Another snort, but this one sounded bitter. "You can't," Jango muttered.

Siri could understand that, so she nodded. "Maybe not. But I will try."

Jango stayed quiet for several seconds, not looking at her – or anything, really – before speaking again. "In any case," he held up the datapad in his hand. "I have a list of as many as 25,000 families from two hundred clans who are willing to foster or adopt multiple children. That's from Mandalore alone. I'm still waiting back to hear from some of the colonies and outposts. If we're lucky, that's around 300,000 kids."

The blond-turned-red-head brightened. "That's great, Jango!"

Instead of looking happy or pleased, the bounty hunter just looked tired. "Problem is, we're dealing with numbers in the millions right now. This doesn't even cover one complete batch." He tossed the pad away angrily. It landed on the control panel, but nothing happened, thankfully.

Siri winced. "We've gotten hits from interested parties on more than a hundred planets," she said slowly.

"I know," Jango replied, "But vetting anything with those kinds of numbers…" was a monumental task at best. At least they were only dealing with a fraction of the clones than what existed in the initial timeline. She even said as much. He let out another long sigh.

"I know," he said again.

The Jedi went on anyway, knowing if she outlined their plan, it would help him focus at the very least. "Once we have the proof that Palpatine was involved – that he ordered the clones under false pretenses, I think we'll get the numbers we need."

The Mandalorian nodded again, gaze fixed on the data pad. "I'll get 'em out no matter what." His eyes found hers after a moment. "I hate that we have to pay for them."

Siri raised an eyebrow in challenge. "You know as well as I do that it's better for them this way. Besides, if you're looking to get rid of numbers, I'd be willing to bet the Jedi Temple on Coruscant alone would be willing to take a couple hundred. They would be put to work and help upkeep the temple, but they would be given good homes."

Jango snorted. "Like I trust the Jedi."

Well, fair, but the red-head still rolled her eyes. "Think about it, Fett. Look, I'll talk to some people and make sure they answer to me. I can promise you they would be treated well. And that's not even talking about the corps. The Agricorps can most definitely use the help. Just ask who wants to become a medic or a farmer or an explorer."

He still looked a little unsure. "Maybe."

That was probably as good as she'd get right now. Still, she wasn't entirely finished and wanted him to make an informed decision. "I know other temples that would likely take some – not all of them are Jedi, even."

From the look he sent her, she'd pushed her luck far enough, so she backed off and moved on. "When it comes to the rest, there are millions of couples waiting for children on the planets I've been researching in my down time. Many of them would be willing to take in a child. At that point, we'll have to do our best to follow up, but we have to accept that we can only do so much." Because he was right, dealing with those kinds of numbers…

Jango shook his head. "No. This is my fault, I will right it."

Siri frowned. "It's Palpatine's fault. He's the one who set up Galidraan." And set off this entire chain of events.

The bounty hunter narrowed his eyes at her. "You still have no proof for that."

"I'm pretty sure Anakin does have that proof," she responded almost absently, looking back at her datapad, "but we'll see."

She could tell the bounty hunter still wasn't appeased and decided to offer him an olive branch. He wasn't entirely at fault for his situation.

"Jango, I promised you I'd help you with this, and I plan to follow up on that. I will do everything I can to find a good home for each and every one of your clones. And that's just for them growing up. I still like the idea of establishing a planetary colony they can relocate to on the Temple's credit, if they so wish when they come of age. I know Anakin and Master Yoda will help there, too."

He believed her… but at the same time, he didn't. And really, she understood.

"We'll see… Jedi," he finally said.

She rolled her eyes again and went back to her data pad. "Yeah, we will, bounty hunter."

They sat like that in a slightly tense but otherwise amicable silence for several minutes, until finally Jango got a ping indicating he'd gotten a message. He checked his comm then glanced over at her.

"It's him. He has the information. Get ready."

Siri nodded solemnly and sat up as Jango maneuvered the ship towards the planet and then the correct port.

Because they were out getting the information they'd searched so long for, they missed the text several hours later informing them about the start of the gala and how Anakin would be on his way, as they'd asked him to.

They wouldn't get that until they got back well after the gala finished.

xXx

AN: One of my betas brought up the difference between Mandalore and Mand'alor. For those who don't know, Mandalore is the planet and the culture. Mand'alor is the position of leader over the Mandalorian people. There are different cultural implications, but I'll leave that for you to look up if you're interested.

Thank you to Hidden50, Khalthar and Quathis for their help on this!

Discord: discord. gg/xDDz3gqWfy (no spaces)