Good day all,

Welcome to the next installment of The Makings of Grey. This is among one of the shorter installments that will exists from here on out, but it contains some vital points that had to be made to push the story forward. I hope everyone is well, and I am to get the next installment out rather soon.

Happy Writing,

Eliana

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"Obi-Wan was so mad," Anakin laughed as he and his fellow knight strode back through the camp at three in the morning, surprisingly awake and fulfilled after having lost a few bouts of hand-to-hand with the Echani.

"Yes, and if memory serves you let ME take the fall for it," Tombur returned back to him with a good-humored huff, "I remember that, my fair-weather friend."

"Of course I did, do you not realize how many times I was at the receiving end of that kind of Obi-Wan punishment?"

It had only been a handful of hours since they had both retired in pursuit of rest – that path hadn't led either of them to anything fruitful, so they had been content to take their excess energy out on one another. Neither had emerged physically worse for wear, and in all truthfulness it had loosened the tension that had hung thickly in the air since the prior evening. Now they were carelessly poking at one another, making obvious efforts to dance around the heavy wall that had wedged between them in the last few minutes. Anakin, as one could always count on, had found that he was less than enthusiastic about his fellow knight's plan for the day – he hoped to dodge the subject and meld into the current conversation he was in.

Their playful banter continued as they made their way to the long entrance road that led to the gates, and it didn't take Anakin long to spot the hustle of activity that lit up the normally-dark stretch of camp. A dozen or so of Tombur's men were busily loading the two large hover carts with empty crates and bags while four of Anakin's were excitedly chittering away to each other in the mix. They had rigged two of their small speeder bikes to the front of the carts.

What had come more of a momentary surprise to Skywalker was Djibourdi, who was mulling about at the front of the group, eyes flicking excitedly over information that he found in the book he had brought down with him from the rooftop. He had retrieved his robe and lightsabers, resting his weight back on one of the carts as he read on, guided by one of the lights of Rex's helmet that the clone had set up for him on the edge of the small caravan. It seemed that sleep hadn't found him well either.

Together the two knights paused a few yards away and observed the scene… and then Anakin turned to his old friend with a long look. That hesitation was back again. It wasn't that he didn't have faith in Tombur's knowledge, or that he had any viable doubt that the white-haired man had thought the situation fully through… it was more that, had the roles been in the opposite direction, he would have chosen a different path.

"Tom, are you sure this is a good idea?"

He hadn't intended the question to sound the way that it did, and he visibly winced when two steely eyes moved to stare him down. Although his face didn't betray him, the tone of Tombur's voice did. It was a soft-spoken question, but the undercurrent of venom that leaked into it was enough to form an instant regret on the part of the one who brought them on.

"Tell me, Skywalker: is it my men, myself, or my padawan whose abilities you doubt?"

To his credit, Anakin only mildly floundered before finding his words.

"I – That's – Tom, that's not what I meant, and you know it."

"Then make yourself clear, Anakin."

The Chosen One had to take a cleansing breath to steady himself before hissing back to his friend:

"Really? We're gonna do this now?"

Seeing his companion wasn't ready to back down he took a short stock of the bustle around them, ensured they weren't garnering any attention, and then gestured his friend into one of the thick-tarped supply tents to their right. The flap was hastily shut behind them, and Anakin turned back to Tombur with a scowl.

"Cool it with the ego trip, Rabbit. It doesn't suit you."

"When in my camp under the watch of my men it would be wise of you to mind the honor of my legions," the words came calmly, yet guided by a sharp tongue and equally witted set of eyes, "You know well I don't condone cross words about my columns, nor will I take them on the abilities of my padawan."

"And I meant no offense," the human conceded patting down the air with his hands in a gesture of peace and remorse, "I'm sorry if it seemed that way. I just…. Listen, the last time that anyone saw Kailem was three years ago – and as far as any of us knew until yesterday he was dead. Now we're chasing a ghost that's been existing in the Shilian wilderness for however many long rotations and who wasn't exactly stable before being out here…"

He closed his eyes with a breath, then looked back to Tombur who stood, arms crossed and silent, only a couple feet away.

"He isn't an amateur opponent."

"Neither is Djibourdi."

It was a simple statement that didn't need to be explained in detail – simple in words, but loaded in meaning. Anakin was happy to let his friend speak.

"You never asked me, you know," Tombur's voice was back to its normal bell-like chime, eyes curious, "You never asked me why, given what my ranks are and given what Djibourdi is, I would allow a Togruta to be involved in something that their kind simply cannot do. Do you know why I took him as my padawan instead of letting him slip through the cracks and get sent to the corps?"

He got a soft shake of a head in a negative.

"There is a very good reason that our training centers around mindfulness and rhythm, just as your training of Ahsoka focuses on self-sufficiency and restraint. If it ever comes to it, I would like you just to watch for a moment Anakin – a fraction of a moment."

A quick flash through those normally calm eyes made the human swallow shallowly.

"Djibourdi is more cut-throat than I am when it comes to battle and fights – and given enough time to think, he's unbelievably precise. His annoying habit is to learn his opponent's styles before he makes his own plan, and more than once it has led people to underestimate what he can do. I would have thought you would've caught on by now, but it seems you have fallen for his ruse just as everyone else does… Do you really believe that all of those plants he gathers are medicinal? He is far from incapable."

"I'm just saying that putting yourselves in the vicinity of that psychopath seems… ill-advised. If he's out there, he'll be looking to get at you both."

"I assure you, I have considered the risks," Tombur's voice came quietly, "Besides, that coming from you is rather rich, you know. It is better to be the hunter than the prey - staying behind the walls of our current camp is turning us into sitting targets. The blockade grows which means no supplies nor reinforcements… we need food if we are going to outlast whatever is going on here. We're going to meet up with the southern patrol and gather what information they have to share from their last exchange with my legions and scouting of the surrounding terrain."

He closed his eyes in a moment of raw contemplation.

"We still have three questions we have to answer before we make any decisions."

He held up one finger.

"Exactly how many enemies are we up against?"

A second went up.

"What means do they have of escalation that we are unaware of?"

He held up a third.

"What is the true nature of their intentions here? You and I are both familiar with Kailem and his conniving mind….surely this isn't all him. He isn't that resourceful. Without these answers, any form of move or counterattack on our part is simply suicide."

He dropped his hand and fixed his fellow Jedi with a deep stare, the intelligence brimming there edged with a small note of planning.

"I believe that holding my padawan behind these walls will do the opposite of what you intend – you wish for me to keep him well from the fight for his own sake. I believe that the best way that I can keep him safe, should he actually be what our enemies seek, is to teach him how to handle himself against them. I have no doubts in his abilities, nor do I doubt that he will do what he must when put into that position."

The porcelain face became stoically calm again.

"Staying in the dark is no longer a risk we can afford. We'll go a few miles out and see if Red can pick up Kailem's trail – then just turn him loose for a while."

Anakin looked flabbergasted.

"Turn him loose?"

"Yes, Anakin. He is a Jedi and is quite capable of handling himself. He either will bring back our quarry or food for us. Unlike you, I have no doubt in my padawan's ability to stand his ground."

Tombur breezed past him and back out of the tent, leaving a mildly shocked Anakin behind. Tombur wasn't wrong in his assessment, Skywalker admitted to himself – he had his doubts. Djibourdi has surprised him more than once since they had come back into contact days ago, but in the time since the blood-skinned Togruta had made a purposeful path to dodge the human every chance he could. If his belief was right, Djibourdi dodged him for the simple fact that he was just as human as Kailem was… which meant that he was far from his center. But, if what Tombur had spoken to him was truthful, how much of that was fabricated so that he would believe it? What was the actual purpose behind the teenager's behavior?

It took him several seconds to shake the heavy fog of his mind and then, with a calming breath, followed the Echani out of the tent and met him halfway down the path to where the hovercarts and clones rested. They were ready to go on their way.

"I thank you for loaning me some of your men and weapons," Tombur suddenly sounded cordial again, giving him a soft smile, "As you know my runners aren't well versed in blasters and bikes…and I think our style is less suited for the amount of game we're going to need to acquire today to hold us over."

Anakin waved the thank you away with a flutter of his hand.

"It's giving my boys something to do – a little hunting trip sounds like a good way to burn off some energy, right Hardcase?"

"More than correct, sir," the clone responded with a grunt as he hoisted another empty crate onto the hover cart.

"We will round ourselves out to the northeast, my patrols tell me there have been herds moving through that area pretty regularly," Tombur told Anakin with a hum, reaching over the edge of the first cart to gather something in his hands, "There will be plenty for all to do…I don't plan to come back light-handed."

Then, looking past the human, he gave a soft call of:

"Vla'Dji, here."

His padawan's head snapped up from his book and with a quick flutter of the cloak he was by his master's side, the tome set on the rail of the cart. His master held out those two sheathed vibroswords and spoke softly in Togruti, a short surprise for Anakin and a small delight for Djibourdi, before passing the blades back to his apprentice. They were accepted with a bow, and at Tombur's quick statement he spared another quick bow to Anakin before retrieving his book and climbing onto the cart to find a secure place to sit.

"I will take Sam and the Jackals with me. The Reapers will stay here and be under Campion's control," Tombur informed Anakin as he climbed up to take a seat next to his padawan on the cart. The clones around them all found their respective places, including Hardcase and Rex who won the 'rock, paper, scissors' game against their brothers to drive the pulling bikes, "With the Force as our guide, we will be back by sunset with enough supplies to hold us for a while. Perhaps in that time you could manage to get us out of the dark ages here."

"What's wrong with the dark ages?" Anakin pressed with faux hurt. His face and the faces of his fellow Jedi turned as a clone, screeching from his place on the camp wall, went careening to the ground as he had attempted to open the camp gate… but didn't see the gap in the dark. At the laughter of the rest of the clones and Tombur staring a hole into the side of his face, he grimaced, "Point taken."

Then, with an air of humility:

"May the Force be with you both."

"And also with you, Master Skywalker. Rex, Hardcase, would you mind setting us off?"

They were happy to oblige, the bikes pulling the carts of clones and crates at a decent pace out of the camp and to the darkness of the northeaster border of their range. Anakin watched them leave with his mind muddled in thought, and then, looking to Campion who had come to stand at his side in preparation for the general's orders, beckoned the clone to follow his path toward one of the gunships near the wall.

"Alright Snips, try it again!"

Ahsoka barely contained her retort – the one that she so desperately wanted to hurl at him because if it didn't work the last three times it wouldn't work now – and instead threw the lever to its 'on' setting. They had been at this now for double-digit hours, and in all reality the only thing they had been successful in was setting some lights, bare basic turrets on the upper camp walls, and power to the medical tent. Now they were attempting to power a communication station within their camp and it was proving…far from ideal.

As if to prove the point the holo-station powered up with a happy chirp – and then just as quickly powered down with a saddened whir when the breaker flipped again. Ahsoka could hear her master's annoyed grumbling from inside the makeshift powerhub he had created before the sounds of tinkering met her montrals. What they needed were power cells, a lot of them - or at least stronger ones than they had at their disposal. The gunships had surrendered theirs and were the main reason that they had lights and standard defenses, but anything beyond that was proving to be more of a headache than it was worth. The entire day had been invested in this and it was clear that Anakin was refusing to let it go.

She herself had started to go slightly stir-crazy in recent hours. It was frustrating enough that she was still limited to the space inside of their camp walls, but it was frustration on another level that she acknowledged an emotion she thought she had left in her much younger years: helplessness. She still hadn't been able to answer the question she had asked of her friend the night before, and now he and his master were out in the middle of the Force-forsaken forest with that…man. The image flashed in front of her mind's eye again, and the dark cloud nipped at her mind. She felt helpless and she was sure her friend was terrified behind his mask, but there was nothing that she could do about it.

Instead of helping him, she was in the middle of trying to rig a camp from downed transport planes and used battery cables – and dodging the conversation that she had agreed to have with Anakin. He was too busy, she had explained to herself, so right now wasn't a good time for it anyway.

Ahsoka leaned against the wall of the makeshift hub, looking down at her master who had started to pull out several cables and rewire them to separate units. The few lights they had rigged all pointed down to where the human worked, shrouding him in warm rays despite the setting sun passing the horizon.

"Master, we've rerouted these conduits multiple times now. It's not going to work without more power input."

"You're giving up too easily, Snips," Anakin told her, giving an acknowledging and thankful nod to Eddy who passed a canteen of water down to him as he collected the used pieces of machinery scattered about, "Electronics are particular and they need to be finessed," he took a sip of the canteen and then passed it to her, adding absently, "You have to treat them delicately, like a woman."

The moment the words left his lips he froze and then his eyes looked to the doctor who had paused above him. They stared at each other, acknowledging the hole that the human had just unintentionally dug and, when it became clear that the other male wasn't going to bail him out, Anakin glanced sideways (with a slight sweat now on his forehead) to his padawan. She had clearly heard him and stared at him with one eyebrow ridge raised in expectation. When he stayed silent, she prompted:

"Go on."

Anakin gulped.

"No," he finally answered slowly, picking through his words, "I sense that I have made a mistake of some kind."

"I am no Jedi Master Skywalker, and I would have to agree."

Desperate blue eyes looked to the amused doctor, the Jedi's gaze shifting between him and his padawan that was staring a hole into his temple.

"Chime in any time."

Eddy bit his lip to hide his chuckle at the look the teenager was sending her master, and then gathered the machine parts in his arms.

"No thank you, I choose life."

He trotted off quickly and left Anakin to fend for himself – which he fortunately didn't have to do for long. A quick call from the gate announced the return of their fellow Jedi and Anakin couldn't recall the last time he had been so grateful to be interrupted… he made a mental note to thank Tombur for his timing later as he watched his padawan perk up and set off to meet the caravan that had begun to wander through the open gates. He was slower to pull himself out of the conduit pit and pulled its cover shut before going to greet their allies.

Tombur hadn't been kidding he realized as the group finally filed in – although he was confused as to where they had found the two new hovercarts that were tied to the two that they had left with. They had a bountiful trip, meats and furs and random objects were strewn heavily about the carts that were being pulled along by the clones and two Jedi who flanked them. He and Ahsoka intercepted them when the gates finally closed.

"It would appear you had a fruitful trip," Anakin told them both, then caught sight of the unfamiliar weapons that were neatly stacked atop the first cart, "Did you run into trouble?"

"Hardly 'trouble', Master Skywalker," Tombur told him with a hint of amusement, "more along the lines of… involuntary donation of supplies."

He turned to observe his padawan who had nudged him through their bond, and all of them could almost hear the proverbial lightbulb click on above his head.

"Ah yes, apologies I forgot."

He looked to his fellow Jedi pair with a smile.

"Master Skywalker, Padawan Tano, I believe Red here has some gifts for you both."

"For us?" Ahsoka prompted her friend, watching his face brighten as he nodded and trotted off to the third cart in the row that the clones were purposefully avoiding.

"We found a downed squadron of fighters," the Echani told them both as they walked slowly after Djibourdi, his hands folded neatly into his sleeves, "and he was quite excited to find a pretty wrecked transport unit among them. He had mentioned that Ahsoka had shown him a thing or two, and we managed to dig out something we believe may be of use."

They reached the end of the cart Djibourdi had climbed onto just as the padawan undid the last holding strap, pulling the covering tarp back and revealing a whole load of –

"Power cells!" Ahsoka recognized immediately, reaching out to collect one in her hand. It was heavy and full of acids – perfect for what they needed.

Tombur pulled himself onto the cart as well, bypassing the weaponry, crates of wires and tools, and excess bags of rations to meet Djibourdi in the middle, grasping the other side of the heavy trunk and dragging it with his apprentice to the end where Anakin stood.

"And for you in particular, Master Skywalker," Tombur offered, setting the trunk down and allowing Djibourdi to open its lid to expose its contents.

"Black boxes?!" the human spat out, collecting one and turning it over in his hand.

"We hope that if you can decipher the tracks on these cubes that it may give us some answers as to where the fighters came from and why they are here. We didn't really have much to go on besides Djibourdi's interactions with Ahsoka and Rex's know-how… apologies if we were a tad crude cutting them out of their holdings. Machines are…not our specialty. Dji was certain that these were important."

It was the first moment that Anakin noticed the wrappings on both of their hands and the carefully treated cuts outside of them – and for the first time in a long time, he felt more humbled at the blood of someone else than he did frustration over their situation. He looked to the golden eyes of his friend's padawan, noting the flash of light there before fixing him with a calming smile and what he hoped was a reassuring gesture of holding the cube up for illustration.

"For not knowing for sure, you're absolutely right. These are a good find, kiddo."

Djibourdi shyly smiled back, then looked to his master when his attention was called.

"Why don't you unload your plants, Red? Master Skywalker and I have some things to discuss – I will join you for meditation soon."

Ahsoka volunteered her help to her friend who agreed with a slight nod, the two Togruta moving to start unloading the crates from the last of the hover carts and carrying them toward Djibourdi and Tombur's quarters. When they were fully engrossed in what they were doing, Tombur turned back to the human in front of him.

"Am I to assume these will be of use?"

"More than use," he was informed, Anakin feeding him a wanton grin as he tossed the cube he held in his palm in the air and letting it slap back into his grip, "between the powercells and the blackboxes, Ahsoka and I can get a base system wired in a rotation or two. In all honesty, these blackboxes will probably tell us everything we need to know and then we can break them down for data storage for us. How did you know what we needed to do it?"

"I didn't," the white-haired Echani shrugged, jumping down from the cart, "Red did. He remembers the oddest things, was sure Ahsoka mentioned these. We pulled them from the units that weren't destroyed."

"And you just left the actual ships out there?"

"I didn't say that," the response came full of mirth, his friend staring at him from the corner of his eye, "You should know by now that a good Jedi only says what must be said."

"Maybe that's why Obi-Wan is always so tight with words," he muttered back, then with a soft frown he gestured to the Echani's bandaged hands and wrists, "How bad is it?"

"Hardly anything," Tombur told him and held up one hand to observe it himself, "but my young padawan is… determined to ensure any injuries we sustain are dealt with properly. With his intervention it will be sealed and well on the mend in the morning."

He suddenly grew drawn and silent, watching the two padawans who retrieved a couple of the pelts from the load and carried them off toward their destination. Anakin realized what he was waiting for and, only when the two were fully distracted in conversation again, did Tombur turn that sharp gaze back to him.

"How quickly can you get the display running?"

"Give me a rotation and I can have it running smoothly," Anakin told him plainly, his own mood mirroring his fellow knight's.

He knew Tombur. His old friend was well in control of his own emotions and mind, but the kindness and tender care he displayed was only for the padawans – when his mood shifted like this, there was only ever one cause. The only thing that could alter his friend's demeanor so drastically was… he didn't want to acknowledge what this meant, but when the porcelain hand reached into his pocket and pulled out the video card, Anakin had to acknowledge the truth. The look his old friend held could only be summarized in one word: agony.

Pure, unmoving, dripping agony. The human felt his stomach bubble with hot, sticky waves of anxiety as the white lips moved to speak again.

"When it is done… we need to talk. Away from the padawans. There is darkness in the distance."

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Thus ends the most recent installment. This one was a challenge to tie together – but I feel confident in the way it came out. There is a reference to one of my favorite childhood shows in here… I hope someone is able to find it and get a good chuckle.

Happy Writing, my friends.

-Eliana