For those of you who celebrate it, I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving. For everyone else, I hope you enjoyed the Thursday off. I spent most of the day on an airplane, so it wasn't what you might call fantastic. It gave me plenty of time to write and edit, though, so that's good.

Thank you to everyone who left a review on the last chapter.

Sadly, I must still ask you to donate whatever you can afford to support Ukraine. Their fight isn't over just because we are tired of hearing about it.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Chapter 46

As soon as he was certain their hyperspace jump was stable, Naruto set about actually coming up with a plan for rescuing his friends. Three kage bunshin huddled in a group, pouring over the technical specifications for all of Delta squad's weapons and gear. The blue glow from their padds added to the light from the commandos' visors. The commandos seemed to find the kage bunshin fascinating, though Naruto didn't fully understand why. Their amusement hung rich around them, though, and he caught a few muttered phrases in Mando'a that must have been jokes, given how they chuckled. Fixer and Scorch both sat near the kage bunshin and answered their occasional questions. Scorch had a devious, speculative bent to his thoughts that made Naruto smirk under his mask. The explosives expert was no doubt contemplating all the mischief he could get up to with the help of kage bunshin. A man after his own heart.

Naruto himself was studying the transmission R2 had sent, alongside the information the Archives already had on Geonosis. Even combined, it made for scant reading. The Republic simply hadn't had enough dealings with the Geonosians to warrant more than a skeletal report, most of it decades out of date. R2's transmission was recent enough to be reliable, but the data was badly degraded. Still, between the two, with some helpful nudges from the Force, Naruto felt he could build a workable picture of what they were flying into. He could only hope it would be enough.

'So, you are going to war?'

The rumble of the Kyuubi in his head almost made him fall out of his seat. The fox had been less vocal ever since Lothal, and he hadn't said anything for weeks.

'So much for those vaunted ideals you always prattle on about.' The derision in his tone could have dissolved rock.

'What are you talking about?' Naruto answered, irritated at the intrusion. The fox was the last thing he wanted to deal with right now. 'If you have a problem, spit it out.'

The seal on his stomach grew warm as the Kyuubi growled, but when he spoke, his voice was surprisingly calm. At least for him.

'You claim people are not so bad as I believe. That you are different from the humans who imprisoned me. But now you start a war, just like all the other humans. So predictable.'

Naruto scowled. 'I'm not starting anything. Dooku and the Sith started this. I'm just trying to save my friends.'

'Bah.' Whole nations could have drowned in the oceans of contempt that snort held. 'Your friends? If they are so weak as to need saving, they are not worth the effort. They will just drag you down and weaken you.'

'Y-you can't be serious.' When nothing but silence greeted him, Naruto shook his head in wonder. 'You actually believe that, don't you? You actually think that's how friendship works. I think that might be the saddest thing I've ever heard.'

'Do not dare pity me, human,' the Kyuubi growled. 'And do not change the subject. Whatever you claim, you are going to war, and you are taking these clones with you. These clones who have no choice in the matter. Can you still claim you are so different from the others?'

'Why are you asking me this? I'm not going to steal your chakra, if that's what this is about. Not even if I do end up fighting a war.'

'Stop evading, boy,' the fox snarled, though not as viciously as he might have. 'Answer the question.'

'I don't know, okay!' Naruto shouted in his own head. The Kyuubi stayed silent, and he went on. 'I don't know what the right thing to do is. The clones, the Separatists, the Republic, the Jedi, this war… I don't know what I'm supposed to do with any of it. All I do know is that my friends are in danger and I can do something about that. So that's what I'm doing.'

He glanced at where Boss and Sev were reviewing the same information he was. He could feel their anticipation, the tightly leashed excitement at the coming mission, and the bone deep sense of pride that came with it.

'Yes, the clones bother me. Their… programming bothers me.' He couldn't even think about it without a pulse of disgust turning his stomach. 'But I didn't order them to come on this mission. They volunteered. It was the best I could do.'

'I did not take you for a coward, boy,' the fox said. 'You are lying to yourself as much as me. Tell yourself you gave them a choice if it comforts you, but I know the truth. They came because those Kaminoans programmed them to follow you. Because they are living weapons, and you are using them just like your village would have used you.'

To his surprise, Naruto didn't feel angry in the face of the Kyuubi's insults or accusations. An idea came to him, one so simple and obvious he cursed himself for not thinking of it days ago. If the fox thought he'd laid down a winning hand, he was in for a surprise.

'You might be right,' Naruto admitted. 'Let's ask them.'

He stood and picked his way around the gear his kage bunshin were familiarizing themselves with. Boss and Sev looked up from their own musings as he approached, but neither made to stand or salute. Their helmets made reading faces impossible, but he could sense curiosity tinged with wariness in both of them. Predictable, considering he was their commanding officer (as much as he wished it otherwise) and he was headed their way.

"Is there something you need, sir?" Boss asked.

Naruto nodded and slipped his leadership mask into place. It felt unnatural, being in command of soldiers. Jedi were advisors, not generals. Still, he'd seen Mace take charge of local security forces often enough, and he still remembered how Kakashi and the other Jonin had projected an air of casual authority. He tried his best to emulate that. If he was going to fill the role of commanding officer, he refused to do any less than his best. "Something's been bothering me. Why did you agree to come on this mission, Boss? I'm not questioning your dedication, but… why?"

"It's our duty. Our purpose," the clone answered without hesitation, but Naruto shook his head.

"That's not what I mean. This- urgh, I don't know how to word this." He scrubbed a hand across his face and tried to center himself. "I can feel your sense of duty, but it's more than that. You're excited. All of you. You want to do this, even though the Kaminoans never gave you a choice. They- they brainwashed you."

He had yet to discuss the conditioning with any of the clones directly. The Kaminoans had discouraged it, and he hadn't known how to broach the topic. How do you ask someone if they're okay with being brainwashed from birth to fight a war? However, none of the commandos felt even a flicker of surprise at his statement.

"We know," Sev said. His growling voice was devoid of emotion, but Naruto could still sense the conviction behind his words. "Doesn't matter. This is what we're meant for."

"We have a purpose, sir," Boss said. "Even if it wasn't our choice, it's still our purpose. We were created to defend the Republic. I'd say that's pretty good, all things considered. We may not know much about the galaxy, but I'd say the Republic is better than the alternatives. And you gave us a chance to be the first of the vode to fight for our purpose. Are you surprised we jumped at it?"

"Huh. When you put it like that, I guess not." Naruto wasn't certain they'd entirely understood his concerns, but then, perhaps he didn't entirely understand their position. They knew what they were for. They knew what their purpose in life was. How many people spent decades unsure of the answer to that question, unsure if it even had an answer. Choice might not seem such an important thing in the face of certainty. He wasn't sure what to think of that. He wanted the clones to have a choice, but how did he get them to want that? And what if they chose the military anyway?

'Fierfek. I'm not going to solve this right now. Besides, I've got more pressing issues.' He directed his thoughts inward, to make sure the Kyuubi heard him. 'Are you satisfied, furball?'

The fox growled at the nickname. 'Do not think to patronize me, human. We are not friends.'

Something occurred to Naruto when he heard that. Something he hadn't thought of before, but which seemed obvious now. Obvious, but not easy. Perhaps not even possible. Even voicing the thought was risky, but he had to say it.

'We could be. Friends, I mean.'

The Kyuubi's answering roar threatened to split open his skull. The seal burned against his skin, and he cut off the connection quickly before he got worse than a headache. Even then, Naruto could still feel the outrage and anger pouring off his tenant. Despite that, he could not bring himself to regret what he'd said, nor would he rescind the offer. There was still a lifetime of hurt and resentment between the two of them, but he didn't want that to define their relationship forever. If the Force willed it, he and the Kyuubi could be stuck with each other for many decades yet. Perhaps longer. Jedi lifespans often far exceeded their species norm, such as with Master Fay. He would rather spend that time with a friend than a bitter enemy.

'There is more to you than hatred,' he sent to the fox. 'I'll show you.'

"Sir?" Boss' voice jerked him back to the present. He realized he'd probably been looking into nothing like a simpleton for more than a minute and suppressed a grimace. It was hard enough to imitate an air of command without freezing like a glitchy droid in front of the men he was supposed to lead.

"I'm fine, sergeant," he said. "Was there something you needed?"

Boss gestured to the holo of Geonosis floating in the air between them. "What's the plan, sir?"

Naruto took a look at the paltry data next to the holo and had to suppress a grin this time. He'd wanted to do something like this for years. "Brace yourselves, because it's pretty crazy."

"We're good with crazy," Scorch said from behind him. Of course he'd been eavesdropping. "Well, most of us are, at least. Fixer's got too much of a rod up his ass, and Sev's-"

"Sev's what?" Said clone asked, voice flat as a knife blade.

"Sev's a highly skilled soldier who can adapt to any situation that comes up," Scorch went on smoothly. The effect was ruined somewhat by the shit-eating grin they could all hear in his voice, as well as Fixer bouncing a power pack off his helmet.

"Enough," Boss said automatically, never looking away from Naruto. "Scorch is an idiot, but he's right. We're ready for anything, sir. No need to coddle us."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, but didn't question him. They'd see soon enough. On the holo, he highlighted what they knew of Geonosian defenses.

"From what we know, Geonosis doesn't have a planetary shield or any orbital defenses. Their atmospheric defenses, however, are supposed to be substantial, especially around the cities." None of that was a surprise. Orbital defenses were too expensive for most Outer Rim worlds. Planetary shields were even more so. "What we don't know is what sort of defenses those are."

"It doesn't matter, much," Fixer said. "These shuttles weren't designed to operate without support in combat conditions. Any halfway decent AA system will shoot us down before we get to the surface."

"If we even make it that far," Boss said. "They'll detect us when we exit from hyperspace. If there are any sort of patrol craft already out, they'll intercept us in orbit. Our intel doesn't say anything about orbital patrols, but I can't believe there won't be any. Not after what the Separatists just pulled."

Naruto was impressed. Despite easily spotting two massive obstacles in their path, none of the clones felt any apprehension or doubt. They just looked at him, certain he had the answers. He was their commander, after all. The responsibility of that pressed on him, but he pressed right back and kept his calm. 'Just be like Mace,' he kept telling himself.

"That's why we won't be exiting hyperspace at any designated jump points," he said, and zoomed out the holomap to show the 15 moons drifting around Geonosis in a lazy dance. One of them, an icy orb named Bahryn, lit up orange on the map. "We'll come out of hyperspace behind this moon. That'll keep them from detecting us. From there, things get tricky."

He tapped a few more keys and a dashed line traced itself around the moon and towards a marked location on the planet. "Once we arrive behind the moon, we'll have a single engine burn before their sensors detect us. The plan is to use that and the gravity well of the moon to slingshot us around and put us into orbit over Geonosis. The timing will be critical. Once in orbit, we'll use cold gas thrusters to get in position over the hive spire where they're holding our people."

Boss regarded him carefully. "Sir, a maneuver like that…"

"It's barely possible," Sev finished, blunt as always. "None of us can do it."

"I can," Naruto said in answer to the silent question. "The Force will guide me."

None of them understood what he meant by that. He could feel their confusion, but it didn't make any impact on their certainty. They may not have understood what he was going to do, exactly, but they had no doubt he'd pull it off. Their faith in him was at once uplifting and terrifying. He couldn't let these men down any more than he could his friends held prisoner on Geonosis.

Scorch elbowed his way past Fixer and Sev to get to the holomap. The two gave him simultaneous whacks on the back of the helmet, but he ignored them. "That all sounds great, really, but I think you've left out a pretty important step." He waved at the clear gap between the shuttle's planned orbit and the surface of the planet. "How are we supposed to get down there, huh? Boss already said it; if we try to enter the atmosphere, they'll shoot us to bits. I'm assuming you have a plan for us not getting dead. Because I'm not allowed to die before Sev. My ghost couldn't bear the shame."

"Don't be stupid," Fixer berated him. "If we were shot down by AA fires, we would all die at the same time."

"Nah." Scorch shook his head. "Sev's got rocks instead of brains. He'd survive out of spite."

"All I'm hearing is as soon as I die, I'm allowed to murder you," Sev said. He sounded just a hair too pleased at the thought.

"Lock it up, Deltas," Boss snapped, before returning his gaze to Naruto. "Is there a plan for getting down to the surface, sir?"

Naruto smiled. "We jump."

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

The remaining flight to Geonosis passed quickly. No one said much. The Delta's, once he'd convinced them his plan wouldn't get them all killed (necessarily), spent their time checking and rechecking their gear, going over desert operating procedures (mostly Fixer), telling rude jokes (mostly Scorch), and generally wasting time as only soldiers can. Naruto spent most of the time meditating, seeking guidance from the Force. The Veil was stronger than ever, resisting any attempt at piercing, but he managed to glean a few hints. Tunnels mainly, and a sense of something important ahead. It didn't make much sense, but hints from the Force rarely did until the time was right.

Even after they arrived behind the frozen moon, nothing happened for a while. Once Naruto verified they'd escaped detection, there was nothing to do but wait for the planet to rotate into optimal position. The hours passed reluctantly, dragging their feet and leaving trails of boredom and stress behind. Naruto could sense Anakin below them, but he didn't dare reach out to let him know. With Dooku present, it was too much of a risk. He couldn't sense the Sith Lord, exactly, but he knew he was there. There was a taint of sorts around Geonosis; like a cloud of soot in a clear sky. Naruto didn't want to think about what it took for one man to mar an entire planet just from his presence, and he shielded his own Force signature as much as he could. It was an uncomfortable sensation, like wrapping himself in heavy blankets, but it was better than risking detection. After a mid-sized geologic epoch had passed, their window finally came.

"Strap in for high-g maneuvers," Naruto told the others. "This'll be a rough ride."

He dialed the inertial dampers down below their minimum safety thresholds. It would make for an uncomfortable flight, but it would let him feel the complex interplay of gravity and momentum he would be dealing with. Between Bahryn, Geonosis, the other 14 moons, and the local star, the gravitational forces were bound to play havoc with his intended path. If he was going to manage this in just one burst from the engines, he needed every bit of feedback he could get. Closing his eyes, he opened himself to the Force and sought guidance. Instantly, the world slid into focus. What he had taken for random tremors in the hull became a complicated pattern of tidal stress. What had been a vague idea of where to aim became a path so clear it may as well have glowed. A few short bursts from the thrusters brought the shuttle into alignment. With his goal fixed firmly in his mind, he keyed the engines.

"Burn in 3… 2… 1… now!"

The burst of acceleration forced his eyeballs deeper into his skull. It became hard to breathe as his body suddenly weighed over ten times what it should have. He had to force each breath into his lungs in a burst. The skin on his face felt stretched tight across his skull. Black began creeping into his vision, and the beckoning lure of unconsciousness sounded.

"Remember… what… Anakin… said," he told himself through gritted teeth. What came out was little more than a strained grunt, but it kept his mind focused. "Flex… core… and… breathe."

The shuttle rattled and groaned around him. The hull was rated for far greater forces than this, but that was with the inertial dampers active. Without them, the entire ship felt like it was about to fly apart. Somewhere behind him, he heard sparks burst from a cracked… something. Two of the clones had passed out, but he couldn't tell which two. It was all he could do to stay conscious himself. Darkness had consumed all but the very center of his vision, and even that was blurry and dim. Every ounce of his focus was on the minute changes in their course. Each time gravity or solar wind or pure chance threatened to tug them off the path the Force had shown him, he twitched the controls just enough to correct them. Too much, and he would send them off course, maybe out of the moon's shadow and into the sensor range of the Separatists. Too little, and their drift would take them into the atmosphere of the moon and ruin the whole maneuver. It would have been hard enough at the best of times. Now, with hands that weighed as much as his legs normally did and a brain starved of blood, it was almost impossible. Almost. Then, at last, it was over.

"Cutting… power," he grunted and slammed the engine cutoff switch. Instantly, the crushing g-forces vanished. Naruto gasped for sweet, sweet oxygen as the weight on his chest disappeared. He didn't have time to savor it as much as he wanted, othough. Geonosis was threatening to poke over the horizon, and all its potential sensors along with it. Hurriedly, he reduced the shuttle to minimum power. The lights shut off, the recirculators wound down, and the low thrum of power dwindled to almost nothing. Only the artificial gravity, emergency lights, and chemical life-support stayed fully running. Everything else, from the engines to the scanners to the comms cycled down to minimum power. Unless a ship got within fifty kilometers of them, they were effectively invisible to standard scans.

"Is everyone okay?" He called back to the clones.

"No injuries," Boss shouted back. "Fixer and Scorch passed out, but they're coming around now."

Right on cue, Scorch's voice drifted into the cockpit. "Aww, I missed the ride."

"Don't worry," Naruto yelled back. "There's an even better one coming up. We should be in position in six hours."

Once again, the wait was interminable. The shuttle drifted through space on nothing but its own momentum and the gravity assist from the moon. Naruto was just grateful that Bahryn was particularly close to Geonosis, or they could have had days to wait. As it was, the seconds ticked away with nothing to do but try to plan and occasionally fire the cold thrusters to keep them on course. Behind him, the clones each dealt with the wait in their own way. Boss, a soldier to his bones, went to sleep. Fixer soothed his tight nerves by cleaning his weapon and making minor repairs to the shuttle. Scorch and Sev were engaged in a vicious argument, though over what wasn't clear. It had started over whether Scorch passing out from the g's made him weak, but had eventually progressed to everything from the comparative merits of semi vs fully automatic blasters to the best flavors of dried ration bars. The back and forth formed a surprisingly relaxing white noise. Naruto wondered if he could convince the Temple to record it and use it as a meditative aid. Given the eclectic language the two displayed, he doubted it.

As hour after hour slipped by, Naruto had to fight off a looming sense of urgency. He could still feel Anakin on the planet below, and Master Kenobi, too. If they were alive, he had to believe Padmé, as well. But for how much longer? Would Dooku truly keep them as hostages, or would he make good on his threats to turn them over to the Geonosians? Even if he kept them, could he and Delta squad free them before Yoda and the invasion force arrived?

'Invasion force.' He shuddered just at the thought. What madness had infected the galaxy that Master Yoda was leading an invasion force? The ancient Jedi was a diplomat, a mentor, a teacher of children. Just the thought of him as an invading general was the closest thing to actual blasphemy Naruto could think of. 'Please, let this insanity end quickly.'

The currents of the Force washed away his worries, but even there he had to be cautious. Dooku was undoubtedly on Geonosis. The taint around the planet was stronger now; a chill in his blood that had nothing to do with the falling temperature inside the shuttle. As an empath, he had some of the best shields in the Order, but they weren't geared towards stealth. Keeping himself hidden in the Force while still touching it wasn't something he'd practiced much, and it took focus. Not much, but it was like consciously not scratching an itch. Easy at first, but it grew maddening after a time.

As they drew closer to Geonosis, Naruto carefully pulsed the engines to slow them down. He kept them to the lowest power setting he could, and kept the pulses to less than a second each, but his stomach still lurched with every one. They should have been too small to draw notice. Should. Too many plans had gone to kark because of "should".

After yet another few millennia of waiting (Naruto was starting to notice a trend), the shuttle reached the target altitude. They were just barely skimming the ionosphere, and the whole ship vibrated as it sliced through the ultra-thin air. Naruto made a last series of checks to ensure they were still hidden and then went back to change for the next stage of his insane plan. The clones had already prepped, though it was hard to tell just by looking. Their armor was the same, though now adorned with a series of seals his kage bunshin had applied. He'd designed them to help absorb heat, and combined with the natural durability of the Katarn armor and its built-in shields, they would handle re-entry easily. The only other difference from their normal gear were the jetpacks strapped to their backs beneath their normal gear packs. Naruto's EVA suit was a sleek thing of white and red duraweave with a clear, dome-shaped helmet. Thermal panels lined the tough fabric inside and out, each inscribed with the same seals he'd made for the clone's armor. A jet pack and thrusters were both built into the suit. He slipped it on over his armor and tested the seals. A holographic HUD popped up inside the helmet as soon as he pressurized the suit.

"Good seal," he said. Each of the Delta's echoed him in turn. "Remember, your jetpacks are only for an emergency. I will catch you, believe it."

They did believe it, which was almost as frightening as what they were about to do.

"Prepare to jump," he said and opened the external hatch. Only the emergency particle shield kept the atmosphere inside the cabin. Geonosis loomed before them, orangey red and unthinkably huge. Naruto thought he heard the Kyuubi suck in a breath at the sight. He certainly did.

"Sir, I just want to say, in case I turn into a smear on the rocks down there, it was an honor serving with all of you," Scorch said. "Except you, Sev. You snore."

Naruto laughed at the wisecracking commando and took one last look at the majestic sweep of the desert planet. The planet he was either about to jump onto from low orbit, or the planet he was about to splatter himself across at several hundred kilometers per hour. It looked beautiful.

"Does everyone have the landing coordinates?" He asked. His own HUD showed a glowing crosshair when he looked at the surface, positioned directly over the hive-city they had to infiltrate. Each of the Deltas took a turn looking and confirmed they, too, had it locked.

"May the Force be with us," he said. "On my mark… jump."

With the press of a button, he deactivated the particle shield. The rush of air leaving the ship gave them a boost as they hurtled into space. Gravity took hold instantly, and his stomach lurched for a moment as he entered free fall. He glanced at his HID and saw the distance to target. 450 kilometers.

Holodramas always portrayed moments like this as silent. The hero, alone in the vast emptiness of space. In a way, it was accurate. Space was silent, after all. Space suits, on the other hand, were anything but. His blood pounded in his ears. His breath sounded like the gales of wind. The click and rustle of his suit as the panels jostled together felt deafening simply because there was nothing else to hear. Nothing, that is, except for Scorch cackling like a loon as he plummeted. Then Fixer berating him for his "poor comm discipline".

Behind him, he knew, the shuttle would use its repulsors and thrusters to maintain its position, hopefully hidden in the magnetic interference of the ionosphere and the rings. Hopefully. It was too late to worry about it now. The ground below him was a more pressing concern. He glanced at his HUD again.

350 kilometers.

Still too high to generate much in the way of heat, but getting closer. Geonosis loomed larger and larger, growing so slowly he barely noticed. They fell and fell, the bright reticle on his HUD the only thing to indicate they were on course.

250 kilometers.

The planet was getting noticeably larger now; fast enough to notice. Naruto could see the edge of the upper atmosphere getting closer, and braced himself for the turbulence to come.

150 kilometers.

There was no sudden shock as they hit the atmosphere. Gradually, he noticed a new sound beneath his own breath and racing heart. Wind. It was faint, at first; just the slightest hiss. With every second, it grew louder and louder and louder, until it was an all-consuming roar. He couldn't even hear his own thoughts next to that rushing, howling roar, and still it grew. In front of him, he could feel the air compressing, heating, booming out in great shockwaves that rippled across his suit.

With the noise should have come heat. They weren't moving even a tenth as fast as proper meteors, but they were still going fast enough to have cooked them all if it weren't for his seals. He could feel them working through the Force; drinking in the heat and disrupting the shockwaves that threatened to tear them apart. They didn't do much to make the drop comfortable, though. The wind buffeted Naruto until he felt like a stone in an avalanche. Still, it was a survivable sort of discomfort, and a glance at his HUD told him the clones were all still alive as well.

50 kilometers.

They were close enough now for the sky to lighten from the pitch black of space to a deep purple. The wind kept getting louder, but he'd almost gotten used to it now. The ground took up his whole field of view, and he started making adjustments to their course to keep them headed towards the glowing reticle that marked the hive-city. With the Force, he nudged himself and the clones through the air, eliminating any need for thrusters. To anyone watching a scanner, they would be all but invisible, and totally uninteresting.

"Keep an eye out for anything on the ground," he said over the comms. "Landing zone, defenses, enemy troops, anything."

"Roger that," came Boss's voice through the helmet speakers, barely audible over the noise of the wind.

20 kilometers.

"I see something," Fixer said. "Marking on HUD."

Naruto's own HUD lit up with a green marker, shared from Fixer's helmet. He squinted at the spot, a few dozen kilometers from the hive-city, and saw what had drawn the clone's attention. Even at their altitude, there was no mistaking the shapes of a spaceport. He saw airstrips, probably lined with fighter craft, along with larger berths for cargo transports or something of the like.

"Good eye,' he said. "But I don't think we can do anything about it. Our objective is the city."

10 kilometers.

The Force whispered to him, dragging his attention to a cloudy smudge just to the east of the hive-city. A patch of fog? Surely not, but he didn't know what else it could be. He could barely make it out at their altitude, but Mace had taught him to listen to his instincts. They would land there. He marked the spot on his HUD.

"Remember, I'll catch you," he said. The clones were professionals, but the ground was the ground, and asking them not to fire their jetpacks as they hurtled towards it at blistering speed was a lot. They didn't acknowledge over comms, but he could feel their resolve stiffen once again.

5 kilometers.

There were seconds left. The smudge resolved into a towering column of steam. One of several, each dozens of meters across and wafting from holes in the ground. A terrible landing zone for anyone who didn't have a Jedi with them. For Naruto, it was simply a matter of timing. He reached out with the Force, careful to keep his touch constrained to just himself and the clones, and slowed them down. It felt like dragging a boulder backwards through mud, but he was more than up to the task. In just a few seconds, they went from hurtling to the ground like falling stars to drifting through the air almost lazily. Just in time, too. The steam enveloped them, thick, opaque, and no doubt warm. Only the Force told him where the ground was. He could feel a moment of fear from the clones as they entered the cloud after him. To them, it must have been terrifying, not knowing where the ground was or if he could still catch them. They needn't have feared, though. With the Force acting as both cushion and guide, Naruto slowed them all to a more or less gentle landing.

He touched down first, barely a second before the others, and let his momentum carry him into a roll made clumsy by the EVA suit. The steam was so thick he could barely see the metal platform under his feet. The wall of the ventilation shaft, for that's what this must have been, was only a suggestion of shadows and eddies in the steam. Behind him, he could hear the dull thumps of the commandos clambering to their feet and unhitching their weapons.

"Congratulations on not killing us all," Sev said as Naruto popped his helmet off and tossed it over the side of the platform to tumble into the foggy depths. There was no point leaving it for someone to find. "Pity about Scorch, though."

Naruto twisted to see what he was talking about, only to find the wisecracking commando apparently unhurt, establishing security next to Fixer. "What do you mean? He looks fine."

"Exactly. Pity."

"Kark you kindly, vod," Scorch said. He might have continued, but a pneumatic hiss had them all snapping around to face the wall at the end of the walkway. Naruto sensed two life forms entering the ventilation shaft, though the steam only admitted faint outlines. Not human, not even remotely. His hand flew to his lightsaber, but it was still sealed into the palm of his EVA suit. It didn't matter, though. The clones were already moving. Scorch and Sev, rivalry forgotten, stepped forward in perfect unison. A second later, two flashes of blue light illuminated the chamber, accompanied by the muffled whine of blasters.

Naruto rushed forward, his blade appearing in his hand with a puff of smoke, just in time to see two Geonosians armed with long pikes slump to the floor, glowing holes drilled between their eyes. That wasn't what drew his eyes, though. Between the dead guards was a droid. A very familiar-looking droid. A silver and blue dome swiveled back and forth, status light blinking from blue to red and then back to blue. Whistles and beeps sounded, and the excited droid wobbled back and forth on its servos.

"Hold your fire!" He said to the clones, who were already turning their blasters in the droid. "Hey, buddy. I got your message." Naruto would have recognized R2-D2 anywhere. He smiled until his gaze landed on something decidedly unfamiliar about the little astromech; a little cylinder of dull metal affixed to his side. His expression darkened as he recognized the restraining bolt.

"Hold still and I'll get that off of you," he said, and ignited his saber. With a single flick, the remains of the restraining bolt clattered to the floor, leaving only a faint indent in the droid's casing, scorched black from the heat of the lightsaber. R2 chirped his gratitude and wheeled himself in a circle just to prove that he could.

"Sir, do you know this droid?" Boss asked, his voice tight. All the clones were on high alert as they peered into the murk in search of more threats.

"You bet I do," Naruto replied. "This is R2-D2. He's Padmé's astromech. He's the one who sent the message about the droid factory and Geonosis' defenses. What are you doing here?"

He addressed the last to the droid, who whirbled and chirped. -Declaration: The Wrong Made broke into the ship and took me. The click-wings put me to work in the factory.-

"Do you understand what it's saying?" Boss asked.

"I understand him," Naruto said, emphasizing the last word just a touch. He didn't like it when people stripped droids of their personhood, even subconsciously. Some droids were little more than talking computers, sure, but then there were those like R2 or Oni. Those more like people than some organics he'd met. "Do the Geonosians know we're here?"

-Negative statement: They do not. Those two brought me here to repair a faulty door seal. Observation: You are very sneaky.-

He chuckled and gave the droid an eye smile. At a prompting noise from Boss, he relayed the droid's words to the clones. Boss nodded in satisfaction and set Fixer to disposing of the two bodies. Naruto stripped the rest of his EVA suit off and tossed it to join the helmet in the depths of the ventilation shaft. He hated wasting it like that, but it was too clumsy for his taste, and there was little chance he'd be needing it again anytime soon. Most planets tended not to have sudden vacuums, even ones as harsh as Geonosis.

"We're here to rescue Padmé and the others," he said once he was done. "Are they alright? Do you know where they are?"

R2 hummed. -Affirmative statement: Yes. I downloaded the city schematics when I scomped into the computer. Interrogative: Do you require directions?-

"That'd be great."

R2 projected a holomap of the hive-city into the air. Their own position was a blinking dot, adjacent to what had to be the droid factory. Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padmé were another dot, this one at the base of the north-most spire.

"Shab," Boss cursed, and Naruto couldn't blame him. He'd seen it, too. The only way up to the detention area was through the factory. The, no doubt well guarded and heavily surveilled factory. They could probably sneak through without setting off the alarm, Naruto thought. Probably. He certainly could, and the commandos were extremely skilled. It would take time, though. Time they did not have. At best, they had a handful of hours before the invasion force arrived in the system. His maneuver with the moon had taken much more time than he would have liked. They couldn't afford any more delays.

"Is there any other way?" Naruto asked. "A shortcut, a maintenance tunnel, anything? We need to be sneaky if we're going to rescue them."

R2 let out a long series of beeps and whistles, all the while rocking back and forth on his servos. He ended with a long, low hum, and Naruto clenched a fist in frustration.

"What is it?" Boss asked.

"He says there's one other way, but it means sneaking through the sleeping tunnels," Naruto said in a low, frustrated voice. "They wind through the entire city. They're a tangled maze, and there will be sleeping Geonosians. If we wake them up, they'll raise the alarm and swarm us. But it's still faster than going up through the factory, and if we're quiet, we shouldn't wake anyone."

It was a terrible choice. The factory was the surer way, but too slow. These tunnels might get them to the cells much faster, but they could also wind up lost. Worse, if they raised the alarm, they would have nowhere to run and no room to fight.

"What do you think?" He asked Boss. He didn't want to make a decision like this without at least consulting the man. The clones were in this too, and they deserved a say in what happened.

The helmet made his face impossible to read, but Naruto could follow his thoughts by the shifting of his emotions. Contemplation, worry, a brief struggle between that worry and a sense of duty, then grim acceptance and determination. "The tunnels. They're our only chance of reaching them in time. If we need to be quiet, then we'll be quiet."

Naruto nodded. "The tunnels, then. And may the Force be with us."

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Omake 2: Take Two 2

Ahsoka gaped openly at the splendor of the frozen Temple. She'd thought the hidden entrance was pretty amazing, but this was something else. The Force was so powerful here. Powerful and bright and intimidating. She shivered a little, even with her parka. Beautiful this place may have been, but it reminded her of the akul stalking her on Shili. Not so much the danger, but that sense of something watching her. Something not necessarily friendly. This was a place of judgment, after all.

Barriss nudged her and they shared an excited smile. After so many years of training, and more adventures than she'd ever expected, they were finally here. Finally on Ilum, where every Jedi for thousands of years had found the kyber crystal at the heart of their lightsaber.

"Huddle up," Naruto called from his position at the center of the room. "Listen close. This is important. Through there is the crystal cave."

He pointed at what looked like a solid wall of ice. Ahsoka didn't see how they were supposed to get through it, but she could definitely sense the cave beyond. It was like a bell chime from a deep well, but it never faded. Maybe getting through the ice was their first test.

"In the cave, you will face yourselves. Your faults. Your fears. Your weaknesses." His eyes were solemn above his mask. For some reason, she found it hard to look away from those cerulean pools. "Before you find your crystal, you'll have to overcome what holds you back."

"How are we supposed to do that?" Trilla asked. Naruto just shook his head.

"That's for you to figure out. It's your crystal, and it's your test." He sounded almost… wise. Ahsoka had to swallow a giggle. Her friend was plenty of things. Brave, kind, smart, passionate. But not wise. At least, she'd never thought of him as wise. Maybe she'd have to rethink that. "Trust in the Force and trust in yourselves. I believe in all of you."

He waved one hand lazily and the strange mechanical apparatus above them shifted until the lenses aligned with a massive gemstone. A window opened high above them, and a beam of focused sunlight struck the wall of ice. In seconds, it started to melt. Ahsoka shivered as his power washed over her. Ever since that day they'd fallen into the Undercity, she'd been more in tune with his Force presence than anyone else's, and being next to him when he exerted himself like that was… something. Something she very much didn't mind.

In less than a minute, the door had melted completely, revealing a long tunnel descending deeper into the planet. "You have until sunset before the door freezes over completely," he said, and sure enough, the ice was already reforming at the top of the doorway. "If you don't make it by then, you'll have to spend the night in the caves."

They all stared at him incredulously. Spend the night in a frozen cave? He had to be joking.

"I'm pretty sure the crystals are in there, but if you all want to spend a night underground without food or blankets on Ilum, be my guest."

Okay, so he wasn't joking. With speed that would have shamed a speeder bike, Ahsoka raced into the tunnel with the others right on her heels. A night in a cave sounded almost as bad as a night on the surface. Naruto wouldn't actually let them freeze, but he'd certainly let them shiver for a few hours if they were too slow. It wasn't until she came to the third turn in the tunnel that she realized she couldn't hear anyone else's footsteps anymore. When she looked behind her, there was no one.

"Barriss?" She called. "Trilla? Guys? Where are you?"

Nothing. Just her own voice echoing back at her. She'd have sworn up and down there hadn't been any branches or side tunnels they could have turned down, but here she was. Alone. Ahsoka shivered. She hated being alone.

"Come on, guys," she shouted once more, just to make sure. Once again, she heard nothing but her own voice bouncing off the cave walls. It sounded odd, though. Her echolocation was acting strange, too. Everything felt… wobbly? Fuzzy? She wasn't sure, but it didn't feel right. According to her montrals walls of the tunnel weren't quite solid. When she laid a hand on the frosted stone, though, it had no more give than, well, a stone.

"This place is messing with me." She spoke aloud just to hear something other than her own heartbeat and the general background noise of a cave. "Doesn't matter. I'll find my crystal, no matter what. Nothing's gonna get in my way."

The one thing that wasn't wonky about her hearing was the song. She didn't know how else to think about it but as a song. A perfect harmony, complex, yet unchanging. Two notes that were also a symphony, twined around each other in a pattern so intricate, she could spend a lifetime listening to it and never get bored. If that wasn't her kyber crystal, she'd bite her own lekku. Footsteps echoed all around her as she stalked towards the music. The hunt was on.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Barriss wasn't sure when she'd wound up alone in the cave. She'd entered just behind Ahsoka. Naruto's not-so-subtle prodding had sent them all scurrying like skrats. From there, things got a little blurry. One moment, she could have sworn she was looking at her friend's striped lekku, idly noting how the blue and white blended so well with the light in the cave. The next, she was alone, but she couldn't remember ever actually losing sight of Ahsoka. Something was wrong. And now, instead of the nice straight tunnel, she was in a large cavern. A dozen or more tunnels speared off in every direction, tunnels she was sure hadn't been there just moments earlier. Something was very wrong. Which way was she supposed to go? How would she ever find her crystal if the cave kept shifting around her? The beginnings of panic rose in her breast before she caught herself. It took three tries, but she released the emotions into the Force, leaving her head clear.

'Stop and think,' she told herself. 'What would Master Unduli say to do?'

Well, that was simple enough. This was, technically, a mission, and Naruto was her mission leader. Master Unduli would tell her to follow protocol and listen to her mission leader.

'Okay, what did Naruto say?' That one was also easy. 'Trust the Force.'

It always came down to trusting the Force, and she did. She really did. But, just once in a while, it would be nice to trust in a holomap and a set of coordinates.

'Don't think like that,' she scolded herself. 'Jedi don't think like that. You're a Jedi, so you can trust in the Force and that's that.'

From what she'd read in the Archives, most Jedi said their crystal called to them through the Force. Some called it singing, others a pull, and others a light they could see even through solid rock. All of them agreed it called to you, though. Right now, the only thing calling to her was her rapidly numbing toes, calling for a thicker pair of socks. The Force was stubbornly silent. It often was for her. She would reach and reach for answers, but they dangled just out of reach.

She sat down to meditate. Meditation always helped. Almost always. A little voice in her head whispered how meditating hadn't done anything to quell the pain of Viir's death. Only talking about it, crying about it, with Master Unduli, had helped with that. She ignored that voice, though. No matter how much it had helped, that had been against the Code. Jedi weren't supposed to show such emotions. The cold ground made for a convenient distraction. Well, convenient for ignoring dangerous thoughts. Not so convenient for meditation. It was hard to find inner peace when her buttocks were freezing into a solid block of ice. She wished she had Ahsoka's fire affinity. It would be nice to-

'No. That's jealousy. Jedi don't get jealous of their friends.' She sighed and wrapped her arms around her knees. 'Force, how am I ever going to find my kyber crystal if I can't even keep my emotions in check?'

Eventually, though, her mind quieted. It was always this way when she was stressed. Trying to meditate was like slamming her head into a mountain and expecting the mountain to move. Meditation was something that had to come passively, at least at first. There was no forcing the Forde to embrace you. Only when she stopped bashing her head against the mountain did the Force wash over her and sweep her away in its currents. She sighed in relief as it smoothed away her doubts, her insecurities, all the secret little flaws she always knew, knew, the others were just too polite to mention. Here, wrapped in the warm embrace of the Force, none of that mattered. She could just be, and that was enough.

That was when she felt it. Through the Force, something tugged at her. It wasn't like a magnetic pull, though. It was more like she found herself at the top of a steep slope, and at the bottom was her crystal. All she had to do was move, and gravity would draw her down to it. When she opened her eyes, she was still in the cave, sitting on frozen rock with a numb butt and aching thighs, but something had changed. Something in her head. It didn't matter which tunnel she chose, so long as she kept the feel of the crystal in her mind. All of them would lead her there, eventually. She picked one at random and started down it. As it curved steadily down and down into the planet, she kept her thoughts focused on her crystal. She would find it. Nothing could stop her.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

I had to do actual physics calculations for this chapter. In fact, I'd say I did more research into real world things for this chapter than I have for any other. Everything from when astronauts would experience g-forces in a gravitational assist maneuver with simultaneous engine burn to what altitude the sky fades to black. I know Star Wars has its own Hollywood physics, but when I'm writing about things which actually can happen, I prefer to be as accurate as possible. Allowing for a bit of dramatic license, I think I got the physics of the slingshot and space jump fairly accurate.

As always, please leave any questions, comments, or complaints in a review. Email notifications are back up for me, at least, so I should be able to respond. Just make sure you are logged in and have PMs enabled, or I can't send you anything.