Anakin sat in his dormitory on his computer, checking everything in the system to make sure he would have eyes and ears on everyone and everything at the right moments. He put on his headset and made contact with Emeraldi, who was allegedly doing a late-night head check, but really was secretly giving the girls tools to use in order to escape since she was not allowed into the boys' dorm.
Among the tools the girls were given were rope, headsets, and black clothing to camouflage in the dark.
The door was shut and the curtains pulled down, and on the cameras Anakin spotted Emeraldi seemingly adjusting a piece of her armor, which was actually the signal that the coast was clear.
Anakin contacted the girls over his headset.
"Vader to Propeller," said Anakin, using the codename for Comedia. "Do you copy?"
"Really? Do you have to make fun of my lucky hat?" Comedia said.
"I'll take that as a yes." He then contacted Ganodi and Numa. "Blue and Green, do you copy?"
"We copy." said Ganodi, code name: Green.
"Alright, girls. You got the tools Emeradli gave you? There should be a couple of screwdrivers in there to remove the vent cover."
With help from the bigger girls, the little ones removed the vent cover as quietly as possible. Now the girls just had to get in. And Kara had just the ability to help them.
"Alright, girls. Just hold still." she said. "You're about to see what made me and my brothers targets."
The three youngest girls were confused. Kara concentrated, and to the three little girls' great surprise, they were floating, starting with Comedia. One at a time, Kara floated them carefully up and into the vent, where Anakin began guiding them through according to his map, advising that they move very slowly to avoid making any noise that may alert the Sith.
Comedia moved very carefully in a sneaky manner her father taught her to do if ever someone broke into the apartment and she needed to get to a safe place to hide and call the police without being heard or seen. Each time she and her accomplices came to a fork in the road, Anakin guided them to the correct ones, but also warned them to freeze when he spotted another Sith or a guard walking nearby their position.
It took a while, but eventually the three girls made it to the vent where Dooku was watching the security footage on many screens, sipping coffee from his Lord of the Sith mug. He didn't suspect anything, so it seemed.
Numa and Ganodi tied the rope around Comedia's middle and slowly lowered her into the room so she could knock Dooku out and disable the security system. Comedia held a baseball bat in her mouth to get the job done. But, Numa and Ganodi had to be really careful not to drop Comedia. But then, Numa's hand slipped, and while she was trying to stop Comedia from hitting the floor... she was too late.
"Oof!" Comedia grunted.
Unfortunately, Dooku spotted them.
"What?! How did you get out of-?!" Dooku immediately sprung into action, but so did Comedia.
Before Dooku could hit any buttons, Comedia used her horn to move the coffee cup and splash a cup of hot coffee on the front of Dooku's shirt, making him scream in pain. Comedia pulled her two friends down, and they joined in the fight too.
Of course, Dooku then used a power like Kara's to push them back, and he was about to hit the button again, but Comedia ran at Dooku and jumped on him from behind like she'd done with her dad and as he was on the floor she jumped up and down on him like she'd done to wake up her father on the first day of school and every Life Day morning. Whiled Comedia kept Dooku distracted, Numa and Gandodi ran over and began to help.
Numa grabbed the baseball bat while Ganodi went to the system and started shutting everything down. And just as Dooku finally managed to throw Comedia off of him, Numa swooped in an clocked him in the head! Comedia checked him out. He was out cold.
"Propeller to Vader. Dooku is out cold and systems are off." Comedia said over the comm.
"Good work." Anakin said. "Emeraldi, how's the patrol takeout?"
Phase 1 complete. Now for Phase 2.
"All clear. Every Sith on patrol so far has been knocked out cold and placed in storage. What about the power sources on the vehicles?"
"Took care of that just this morning, calling it a maintenance check. The vehicles we're taking are each disguised as a IGPS Delivery Service hover truck. Plate numbers 47GHB05, and the other 29THD03. There are replacement plates with entirely different numbers in your bags to prevent the Sith from catching up to us."
Phase 2 complete.
"Now... Phase 3." Anakin said.
Emeraldi and Anakin both used their access cards to unlock the cell doors to release the other prisoners, and quickly came to meet the little ones before rushing over to the garage where they found the vehicles.
"Alright, everyone. We gotta split up." Anakin said. "Kara, you take one group, I'll take the other."
So, the groups split up. Emeraldi went with Kara. So did Comedia, Caleb, Myra, the Fett twins, Ganodi, Kalifa, and Petro. The others went with Anakin.
Quickly, Ahsoka and Carmine switched the license plates on each vehicle, but kept the old ones so the Sith wouldn't know they'd switched them.
Anakin opened the garage as he and Kara began starting the vehicles and preparing to make their getaways.
Except, none of them accounted for one of the Sith's hunters coming to search for tools for a little maintenance of his own.
"Hold it right there!" exclaimed Cad Bane.
"Uh oh!" Comedia gasped.
"Let's get out of here!" Emeraldi said.
Quickly, everyone rushed into the vehicle, shut the door and began driving off. Bane hit an emergency button to sound the alarm, but the vehicles both managed to reach the doors just before they closed.
The kids all cheered as they were out of the building. Now they just needed to figure out where they were so they could get home. Emeraldi looked out the window of the driver's seat and saw that the entire building was actually an abandoned observatory. But, she didn't recognize the mountain range they were in.
"It looks like we're going to have to find a town somewhere and go to the police so we can get home."
"I don't think that's a good idea." Anakin said. "I probably should've mentioned this earlier, but I just found out that the Sith managed to get one of their own on the inside of local authorities, and that's how they've managed to avoid Jedi agents more easily than before."
"Well, do you know who they got on the inside?" Carmine said.
"Well..."
"So, the prisoners have been freed." Sidious said. "I should have sensed Skywalker's growing disloyalty."
Sidious then hit a button and picked up an old kind of phone to make a call for someone special in his field.
"Get me in touch with Darlene." Sidious waited and eventually got an answer. "It seems we've had a breakout in our midst, as well as a traitor. No doubt those children will be heading to the police the first chance they get. Do something about it."
Meanwhile, at the Fetts home...
Ki-Adi didn't sleep too well that night, nor did he feel like having much to eat at breakfast.
"Your daughter doesn't even know about the tracking chip?" said Zam.
"No, she doesn't." Ki-Adi said. "Her trust in my protectiveness over her was already shaken enough before she was taken. The only way I could ensure she kept it was by having her promise not to take it off. As far as she knows, it's simply a gift of love, which isn't far from the truth. We made so many fond memories in the time we've had. Ki-Adi took a picture out from his wallet that held one of his and Comedia's favorite memories."
It was Comedia's birthday, and she'd had her heart set on going to this interactive playhouse for children, where there were lots of different themes for kids to play pretend. So, Ki-Adi saved up as much as he could to get her a V.I.P. experience for her special day. And one of the themes was animals, and Comedia's favorite turned out to be the panda bear. She kept cuddling the giant panda mascot and playing Hide and Surprise in the bamboo plants. She even got a stuffed panda as a souvenir.
Ki-Adi would never forget how happy Comedia was to have such a special birthday. She'd smiled so much and slept so much better ever since that bear came into her life. Comedia used to have nightmares of water at night, hence why her father never took her to the beach or public pools. At first, she didn't know why water scared her, but it was then her father shared with her how he saved her from a flood when she was a baby.
"Comedia has loved panda bears since. That's why I picked that particular necklace just for her."
"I understand that very well," said Jango. "When Boba and Omega were little, Zam and I picked out special necklaces for them too. Alpha and Omega charms. Made sense with Alpha being my son's middle name."
"I have twins myself." Qui-Gon said. "They and their big sister were thick as thieves. I only hope they're all okay."
"Even if they are," said Gregor. "Didn't you say it's been ten years since they've gone missing? How would you know it's them?"
"A good parent knows his or her children no matter how much time they spend apart." Depa said. "They can change their appearance all they want, but a loving mother or father will always know it's them."
"That, and because they each have distinctive features I would recognize anywhere."
Suddenly, there was the sound of beeping as Tech finished modifying a few devices, and he saw something on his phone in the form of a panda bear icon.
"I'm picking up a signal!" Tech said. "It appears to be on the move."
"That's Comedia!" Ki-Adi exclaimed, immediately looking at his charged phone. "Where is she?"
"She appears to be going through...Mustafar Range in Atravis."
"That's an entirely different land from here!" Depa said.
"There is more, however." Tech said. "From what data I could gather, your daughter's whereabouts have remained in one area for approximately twenty-eight hours. Just outside Mustafar Range in the old observatory."
"Didn't that place close like forty years ago?" Hunter said. "I majored in space exploration in college."
"It did, and no one was to go near there because it was deemed a safety hazard. But if that was where your daughter was for at least one day..."
Qui-Gon took that as his cue to call a special number on his phone.
"Chief Yoda... this is Qui-Gon Jinn. I believe we've located the Sith's headquarters." Qui-Gon paused. "Yes, I know you said to wait, but this cannot wait. This may be our chance to finally capture the Sith and locate the kidnapped children. You must send a squad to the abandoned observatory at Mustafar Mountain Range immediately."
Qui-Gon hung up and turned his attention to the others.
"Meanwhile, we have to be on the move right away if we are to at least find Comedia. If any of your children were in the same place as she was, chances are we'll find them as well."
"Where does she appear headed?" Ki-Adi asked Tech.
"It is too early to tell. But there is a ship headed across the sea in that direction. The next one leaves in two hours. If we leave now, we'll just make it in time."
"Then let's hurry!" Depa said. "My baby is out there!"
Ki-Adi didn't hesitate to run and get to a speeder. The Fetts split up though. Gregor stayed with Rex to go and notify the police so hopefully they could contact international authorities to arrest the perps and find the children.
Back in the real world...
"Okay, so everyone's escaped the Sith's grasp... but what should happen next?"
"Perhaps going to sleep?" said a voice that startled Comedia right out of bed, when she saw her father had pulled her blanket off her head. "Oh! Morning, Dad."
Comedia yawned hugely.
"Comedia, it's midnight. Have you been up all this time?"
Comedia's ears fell back.
"No..."
"Comedia..."
"Okay, maybe I was up a little late. But I was really in the zone. My story is coming along great. Better than ever."
"I'm glad to see you're excited about your writing, Comedia, but you need your rest."
Ki-Adi had Comedia lay down on her bed and switched the notebook for her notebook, which he placed on the shelf before tucking Comedia back into bed.
"Goodnight now, Comedia. Perhaps you'll have a dream of how to finish your story."
So, Comedia got back to cuddling her teddy and went to sleep, hoping she would have a dream of how to finish her story.