Good day all,

May the Fourth be with you all. I welcome you to the fifth installment of The Making of Grey – this is more than likely the last short chapter of the series and things pick up from here. I wish you all the best and hope that this finds you well.

I thank those of you who are reading for your support – I am having an honestly fun time with this.

Happy Writing,

Eliana

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Anakin couldn't really decide what was the most amusing thing to him at this exact moment as his group meandered quietly through the darkened trees. It was a very hard tear between watching his "not a youngling anymore, Anakin" padawan make goo-goo eyes at the infant strapped to Eddy's back, his old Togruta friend absorbing Ahsoka's doting and Kachina's quiet coos in his montrals while also casting weary looks to the treeline, and Rex choosing to hover around the three like an overprotective living satellite that would never admit to altering its orbit – this entire trip was turning into quite the drama show. He was already dreading the talking-to he would get from his old master for breaking regulation and moving his entire fleet to Shili immediately after Ahsoka's call…but he also smugly reminded himself that he had been right.

The call he had made to the two Jedi who were tracking them through the trees was more of an act of impulse than anything else. He knew that they would be passing this way after the unfortunate slaying of his friend's master, his padawan's grandmaster, and it wounded him to do it… but there were very few that he trusted in instances like this where his instincts told him that there was something bad in the works. With Ahsoka caught in the middle of innocents, especially a toddler, he couldn't leave a lot to chance and his friend was very good at keeping loose ends tied. It had been only a hunch that this behavior had been given to his padawan as well, and thankfully he had been right.

The situation could be better, honestly. The plan had been to simply get Ahsoka and get out, but his friend had made the call to land his legion a few miles from here… more for them to be able to get boots on the ground and mourn the loss of one of their generals, if nothing else. When the time came to go get Ahsoka his friend had chosen to go alone and leave his padawan with his men, but that plan of course was turned on its head when his scouts informed of the immediate development of those skugs stalking around civilians.

They made the call to send his apprentice instead with a sharp order of speed and anonymity – for his sake – and Anakin knew well that he wouldn't have to wonder whether or not he would be successful. He trusted his fellow knight and so trusted his padawan, watching with prideful eyes as he came lightly loping back into the meet point with the toddler (surprisingly happily) clinging to his neck and lekku. He was turning out to be just like his master, and Anakin wouldn't have had it any other way.

A quick glance to the sky showed the firefight still going.

That had been a surprise too, but it was also probably the nagging feeling that Anakin had all that time as he debated moving his men to the planet. Something had told him a shadow was coming and no sooner had they entered the system did these ships appear. They were an odd combination of pirate bands, bounty hunters, slavers, bandits – a true menagerie of groups that usually couldn't stand the existence of one another that came all at once and continued to grow in number by the moment. He had decided to land enough of his men for an evac team, counting on his fellow Jedi's support, and sent the rest into battle. It was his fortune that Obi-Wan was quick to appear behind him and had taken over before their communications went down completely.

He hadn't needed to worry about finding the other legion because they had found him and his men first, establishing their basecamp at Point Purpose. The hardest part now was getting back off of the planet…after making sure that the worst case scenario didn't happen first. This wasn't all being orchestrated for one kid – or even two, if Ahsoka was a target. There was a much bigger picture here that he couldn't see. Obi-Wan was the planner, he was the doer. And right now, what he wanted to do was get into a ship and destroy these kriffin fools.

They had no clue how many were on the ground or what they wanted. Their best choice was to lay low.

"Campion?"

Ahsoka's voice was a low-tone whisper that broke the near-silence of their march, drawing both his and the trooper's attention.

"Yes, Commander?"

"What's that for?"

She pointed to the blinking light on his wrist control. Anakin didn't hold back his smile. She was really growing quite perceptive.

"It's a frequency emitter, sir."

"I figured out that much, rumble box," Ahsoka snipped back lightly, two fingers of her right hand currently captured in Kachina's tiny fist, "What is it for?"

"For our Commander, sir," the clone informed her, holding his wrist up so she could see the blinking light that matched the tone of the fuzzy waves that tickled her montrals, "He and the general are following from a distance. This allows him to distinguish us from any potential hostiles, also lets him follow us if he strays a good way out."

'He' – Ahsoka almost smirked. Okay, she was starting to get information now. She pointed to the tiny antennae that were mounted on the heads of Rabbit's troops for her next question.

"And I'm gonna guess those are for the opposite. For you to hear him."

"Correct, Commander. Our Commander can communicate further from a distance with low-frequency wavelengths. They won't gain the attention of hostiles but also bypass communicators. We clones can't hear these wavelengths, but our equipment can."

She was getting some good info now! Anakin sent her a warning look from where he hiked in front of her.

"Sniiiips," he drug out her name to catch her attention, "We talked about this already."

It was hard to resist stomping her feet in a tantrum, so she settled for lightly twitching her lips over her teeth in irritation as she glowered at him. He would let her have that one.

"Look, if we're gonna work with them it's kind of important that I know who they are."

"In time, Ahsoka. There's a very good reason they are keeping a low profile, so we need to respect that. They are allies, and that's all that's important right now."

"But you know who they are?"

"I do."

"Does Rex know?"

The captain shook his head to her.

"No sir."

Anakin sought to settle the matter.

"I'm the only one who knows outside of their legion, and right now isn't the best time for a game of 'Guess Who?'. We're leaving it at that for –"

His voice and his body halted when Campion held up one hand in a gesture of halt. All the bodies in the group became still, Ahsoka not missing that Eddy perked a bit as though he felt something she did not. A few seconds later the sensation hit her faintly, a soft yet sharp pitch of sound raising bumps and alarmed nerves through her neck and shoulders. That must have been what the trooper was reacting to because a moment later he hurried the crew into a well-covered crevasse a few feet from where they had been prior and motioned them to crouch – and be silent.

Ahsoka spared a quick glance to the toddler who clutched her friend's shoulder, reaching over to tap one small cheek to keep the exhausted infant's attention in hopes that she would be silent. Whatever that alarm call had been over was drawing closer. She could hear and feel it plainly, as could all her companions that stole looks at one another as the sounds of hollering, shouting, and pounding boots against gravel ground rolled over them like thunder.

She barely stopped her surprised squeak when suddenly Fox was dropping down on them, dodging the rocks and coverings of the crevasse with a practiced ease so that he could crouch among them. His head stayed focused above their hiding place and Ahsoka soon identified why, watching the seven rather quick – yet overly aggressive – Twi'leks jump straight over their refuge and charge forward where they thought their prey had gone.

Fox let out a soft huffing growl, poking his head out of their hiding space before he was up and after them… and Ahsoka had to peek up after him to see what he did. Somehow the pursuers didn't notice him behind them as they quickly split in different paths of pursuit, hollering amongst each other to find the Jedi that was in their own shadow. That's just what he had wanted them to do, Ahsoka realized after they were a fair distance away and crossing onto an opposing ridge.

One group of three was taken care of rather swiftly and tossed head-first with a well-aimed Force push off of the ridge, drawing the attention of the other two. They hardly had time to turn and draw their blasters before Fox sprinted right between them, grabbing each by a strap of their harnesses and yanking them straight off their feet – before he let go and allowed momentum send them careening down over the steep ridge on the edge of the mountain.

The Jedi gave what she could only describe as a laughing trill as the final two began to fire off shots and chase after him, and he was happy to bolt away from them and out of sight of the hiding group. There was a long, heavy silence before Ahsoka turned to Anakin.

"We should help them," she hissed to him, "They can get hurt."

"Don't engage," Anakin whispered back to her without tearing his eyes from observing their surroundings, "They've got it covered. We have to lay low."

"This isn't a wise –"

"Commander Tano, I assure you there is no need," Campion suddenly addressed her. She shot him a look and he held two hands palm-up in a gesture of peace, "I am simply saying that the situation is contained. The Commander is there."

Ahsoka followed his pointing finger to a jutting ridge in the distance, finding that he was right: Fox came happily sauntering out of the shadows on the other side of one of the boulders, no sign of his pursuers that had just been with him moments prior.

"And the General is just there, sir."

Sure to his word Rabbit appeared not far away, both Jedi seemingly laughing at their little game of tag. It let her catch her breath. Her own master was observing his allies from a distance for what she presumed was an all-clear… one that didn't come quite yet.

They all watched Fox snap to attention and then whip his head around, focusing on some sound he heard in the distance behind him. The warning pitch cut through the air again prompting Rabbit's troops to gesture around to stay down and stay silent – Ahsoka quickly reached over to distract Kachina who was beginning to sense the anxiety around her and was making her displeasure known. Above them, Fox turned back to Rabbit and quickly signed out a message that Anakin was able to just catch through the night vision goggles raised to his eyes.

Four.

Machines.

East.

Rabbit signed something back too quickly for him to catch and gave two short-burst whistles before they were off again, Fox quickly scaling the ridge behind him and slipping out of sight. Rabbit leapt down from his perch and instead charged straight to the four on speeders who just topped the ridge and slid to a sudden halt when they saw him heading right at them. They managed a startled:

"What the-?!"

Before they were hurled off their machines and a droid popper rendered them useless. They regained their senses rather quickly at Rabbit's teasing whistle, yelling and screaming angrily amongst themselves as they tracked him down as quickly as they could. It was a tense half minute or so before Rabbit's men sounded the all-clear, apparently having heard their commander through their headsets, and ushered them onward.

She had never seen anything like this before, Ahsoka mused silently… but, then again, she had also never had so many random events correspond together so tightly in a neat line before either.

It was driving her insane slowly. She knew who these people were. She had to know who these people were because Anakin knew who these people were, and she had made it a pertinent goal of hers to ensure that she knew the ins and outs of her master's war contacts. She was acting in his stead should he ever not be around, after all, and it was beginning to irritate her that their allies felt the need to hide their identities.

Being honest she was sure that herself, Master Kenobi, and Master Skywalker had racked up enough potential war crime and "I recognize that the Council has made a decision, but considering that it's a kriffin stupid decision I've elected to ignore it" points that every other Jedi in the Order might as well be viewed as a saint in comparison. Anakin had told her that they were hiding their identities for their sakes, and that's what had her intrigued.

If their identities were that important, then she had to wonder exactly why that was. Anakin was the Chosen One, she was the Chosen One's padawan – when it came to high profile, it didn't really get more intense than that. They were certainly different from any Jedi she had met or worked with until that point but that honestly wasn't saying much. The one thing she had learned well from this war was that strength and ability presented itself in ways that not everyone could understand… and while she was pretty sure she had never before, or would again after, see people that could move with the speed and purpose these two did, she could outfly them any day.

She was surprised when they reached their destination without further incident, but she was admittedly relived when they passed through the final alcove of trees and could spot the gunships that were settled down in the midst of a valley. They were so unnatural here but their presence was a welcome, familiar sight to the padawan.

Even coated in just the lights of the moons she could feel her heart sing in love at the look of this place; a small collection of abandoned buildings seemed to be where the camp was centered around, the largest being a two-story structure in the middle. All around those buildings were erected tents, small camp fires, clusters of clones all chatting amongst themselves – and beyond those were the gunships, and a newly-erected wall of repurposed logs and durasteel scraps that they had welded together. A rocky river rolled from between the mountains to outline the eastern border of their temporary camp, the entire area surrounded by beautifully lit mountainsides and rustling trees that sang to the tickling wind.

Ahsoka was sure that when the sun rose again she could see much more, but judging by the way Eddy trudged along and how her own legs grew heavy that observation would only be made after a long bit of rest. They were greeted by many faces she was glad to see and so many more she didn't recognize, and after ensuring their charges were well taken care of and resting she found her place atop one of the gunships. Her eyes stared straight into the inky dark in the direction they had all come from with an impatience that she was well known for.

Anakin found her there after a half standard hour and rested back against the gunship with a groan, crossing his arms in front of him and closing his eyes. He was simply going to wait her out of her perch. Knowing her, it wouldn't be long…and it certainly wasn't.

"Where are they?"

"They'll be here, Snips," he told her without opening his eyes, almost hearing her scowl at him, "They're not going to let any stragglers follow us back to camp so I'm sure they're just tying up loose ends."

She slid down the gunship to stare him down with her arms crossed, and he met her glare with a half-smile.

"I wanna know who they are."

"You will, when they get back. You should probably just turn in for the night, they should be here by sunrise."

"I'm not tired."

His shrug surprised her and she watched him saunter toward one of the buildings that had been repurposed by the clones. It sat adjacent to the largest one that seemed empty, its windows giving off a warm glow that indicated a fire burning inside.

"Suit yourself. I'm going to sleep, you hang out here with the bugs and the moons if you want."

He didn't catch her pout as she followed him back, cursing his arrogant chuckle of victory.

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I have high hopes for coming chapters all…. This is turning to quite the adventure. Please leave a note if you are so inclined.

May the Fourth be with you,

Eliana