Chapter 48

"All right Snips, I'm here, what's this about?"

"Secure the door, Skyguy." Anakin nodded and pressed the control pad for the door to my quarters. I made a final scan of my room with the Force and my bug sniffer. "We're clean."

Anakin frowned and switched to signing, "You're not using the full kit?"

"I took the opportunity to destroy the bug," I smirked. "All this battle damage the Resolute took, such a pity."

"They'll just replace it eventually, Snips."

"Yes, but it gives us an opportunity for a conversation that I really don't even want a false record of. I don't want Intel to know we even spoke at this time and place."

"That sounds worrying," he walked towards my desk and pulled out an extra chair to sit on. "Hey R3." My astromech trilled a greeting from his spot next to my own chair.

"It has occurred to me for a while Skyguy, that while we must plan and build for the best case scenario against the enemy. We must also plan for the worst."

"Makes sense," Anakin nodded.

"You've probably long deduced by now that I haven't shown you every card in my Pazaak deck."

"Yes, but that's for good reason, which you've gone to great lengths to explain."

"I've also come to the conclusion that some secrets that are kept too close to one's chest might result in very avoidable disasters. I am in a war, one where my survival is in peril daily. If I die, my secrets… critical secrets, are taken with me. I need to think of more than just the galaxy I want to see someday, but also think about the galaxy without me."

Anakin shook his head, "You are entirely too young for such thoughts, Snips. You dying… it won't happen."

"Such certainty, Skyguy. This is war. As much as I'd train and endeavor for it to not happen. Death can find us when we least expect it. In any event, I must make provision for it."

I reached over to my desk and opened a nondescript plasteel gray case about thirty centimeters in width. Inside was foam padding I had cut out to fit numerous encrypted data chits.

I turned to R3 and held out my hand. A flap on the droid's cylindrical body opened and a manipulator claw dropped a small circular capsule about the size of my thumb and another data chit.

"Snips, that's a biocapsule," he said, looking at it in suspicion.

"Correct, it's something I'm adding to this case." I dropped it in its slot.

"So are these all your 'cards'?"

I laughed, "Of course not. This is just a portion of it. However, I wanted to let you know of their existence. So, if in the future, something happens to me, you can seek them out. A means to locate them will find you." I sealed the case. Using the Force to manipulate the internal mechanism. Only a Force user would be able to open it and any attempt to breach it physically with more conventional means, would result in a fluid being released that corroded everything inside. I was still figuring out a way to keep a Sith out, which involved research into how ancient Jedi used kyber crystals to secure locations or holocrons, so it was very much a long term project. "We must also now talk of something else. I'm going to need your help with this one."

"That is?"

"Tell me, what do you think of the clones?"

"They're soldiers, they're damn good at what they do. A number of them are… friends, comrades." He clearly wanted to say more, but stopped himself. "Snips, what's this about?"

I gave him a hard look, weighing the answer carefully. "You do realize that there is also another name for them… slaves."

Anakin sat back and folded his arms, now giving me an almost equal hard look. "Yes."

I blinked in astonishment for a moment, "You acknowledge this yet-"

"Snips, what exactly can I do about it?" He frowned, then got up to begin pacing. "Do I go up into the Council's face and call them hypocrites of highest order? Do I begin barging into Senators offices and call them spineless cowards who can't stomach the thought of their citizens fighting and dying in this war? Should I complain that I have thousands of blaster wielding men at my side fighting for the Republic against the countless droid formations of the CIS? Should I charge into the Senate and declare them all no better than the slavers we burned recently?"

"No, you should do none of those things."

"Then since you brought up the subject, I'm sure you have a point you're trying to get to," he stopped and glared.

"R3, display holo." The droid tilted his dome and the mounted projector blossomed a full body image of a standard clone trooper in the current generation of armor. "This is data I had R3 steal from the military complex during the battle."

"Snips," Anakin's shoulders slumped in exasperation.

"You'll see why in a moment, Skyguy," I smiled, then grabbed at the holo to begin zooming in. The virtual layers peeled away, armor, body glove, skin, until all that was left was a human brain.

"Giving me an anatomy lesson, Snips? Wait, what is that?"

"That is a biochip that every single clone has," I widened my fingers on the virtual brain until the chip in question was displayed, looking almost like a flat fleshy spider. "You can imagine that breeding a human clone army has potential risks attached to it. No matter how much you use external indoctrination or a controlled environment, you're left with the realization that nothing is perfect. When you send those clones out into the field they're even more susceptible to be swayed away from their intended purpose. Unless you put insurance in place."

"The biochips, behavioral modification," he nodded in understanding.

"They were originally ordered to be put there by Master Sifo-Dyas, the Jedi who had started the clone project in the first place. He was a Jedi much like myself, gifted with extreme powers of foresight. It earned him a spot on the Jedi Council but after the invasion of Naboo, he foresaw the current war we are fighting. He knew that the Republic would need an army if it was to survive. Naturally, the Council rejected the idea and after not even a couple of years, they booted him out.

"Sifo-Dyas was undeterred and grew only more determined, coming to Kamino and claiming to have the authorization of the Council and the Republic Senate to create this army. Using his powers of foresight he successfully bluffed the kaminoans and even managed to source enough seed money to pay for the initial costs. The only problem was, the enemy had managed to learn of Sifo-Dyas's actions."

Anakin held up a finger, "How? If he had foresight as well. I also thought it was the enemy who started it all."

"You ask a good question, Skyguy. I can only conclude that Sifo-Dyas fell into a trap common among those who are cursed with foresight. He saw the war and it horrified him so much that he let his emotions and biases blinker him. This prevented him from seeing anything outside of his expectations, including the enemy, whose own foresight allowed him to see what Sifo-Dyas was doing. The enemy then engineered to have Sifo-Dyas killed by his new apprentice, Dooku.

"Dooku was also not one to get his hands dirty. So arranged to have his former friend killed, by paying the Pyke Syndicate to shoot down his shuttle. It worked and now the enemy took over the clone project, using his own substantial funds and secretly funneling Republic money to Kamino to bring it to completion. Dooku arrived with all the funds, claiming to be representing Sifo-Dyas, so the kaminoans would think the original contract was being fulfilled. Hence, when Obi-wan arrived here to find the clone army, the kaminoans welcomed him with open arms. He was after all the customer finally coming to inspect the goods the Council had supposedly paid for.

"Sifo-Dyas had no clue about the Sith, but he had no illusions about the infallibility of his fellow Jedi and the politicians in the Senate. He had probably studied enough history that he knew that when Jedi go to war, some of us inevitably fall to the Dark Side. So he had contingencies and various orders programmed into the biochip. I'll give Sifo-Dyas this, he was very thorough."

"Snips, I'm not going to like this, aren't I?"

"In general no, these orders are for the most part common sense, something you'd expect to see in any good planetary army in the galaxy. The problem is that these orders are encoded on biochips and when someone triggers them, it dampens the will, judgment and reason of the clone, to carry out this order to the letter."

"So if someone with that authority became corrupt or was tricked by the enemy. It would turn the clones into effective droids, simply carrying out a program," Anakin strained his fists in repressed anger and the glove over his prosthetic arm crackled in protest.

"Since we're talking about biology, there will be some clones who find the strength of mind to partially or even completely resist the biochip orders, but they're a distinct minority. The percentage of clones who resist the biochip are even lower among the clone commandos, since they're given extra genetic engineering."

"Makes sense, okay, so given Sifo-Dyas was worried about any fallen Jedi commanding the clones, what…" Anakin trailed off, his eyes widening in realization. "The order is to attack the Jedi?"

"In essence, yes. But here is where the enemy came in and corrupted the order. The order under Sifo-Dyas was most likely to just detain or depose any Jedi officer that was acting against the interest of the Republic. This would allow the Jedi to step in, rehabilitate and take care of their fallen brethren. Now, with the enemy in charge… R3, display."

The holo biochip vanished and was replaced with a flatscreen, showing all 150 contingency orders programmed into the biochip for the Grand Army. It scrolled to 66…

"'In the event of Jedi officers,'" Anakin began reading, "'acting against the interests of the Republic, and after receiving specific orders verified as coming directly from the Supreme Commander (Chancellor), GAR commanders will remove those officers by lethal force, and command of the GAR will revert to the Supreme Commander (Chancellor) until a new commander structure is established.'"

It was rare to see such an expression on Anakin's face, but he was absolutely aghast at the words he was reading.

"Do you see how vague that is? How easily this order could be given. It'd take just one Jedi falling to the Dark Side, defecting to the CIS, and the enemy would have a button ready to press that would see the GAR turn to kill every Jedi within sight."

"He wouldn't… how?" Anakin shook his head staring into the floor and I could sense he was struggling to come to terms with the fact that Palpatine, his 'friend' and mentor, had a gun the size of an army, held directly to his head, my head, Obi-Wan's and everyone in the Order. There was a mistake in that thinking.

"Before I continue, Master, I want you to verify that this data came directly from the central core computer and DNA room of the military complex. Isolate your datapad, please." The holo vanished and R3 ejected the data chit.

He frowned but did as I asked, before slotting in the chit. Then his hand began tapping on the pad, running programs and checking for inconsistencies. He spent just a minute before shaking his head. "I've satisfied myself, Ahsoka. I trust you, what do you want me to see?"

"Browse to the last order. Order 150."

Anakin did so and began reading.

I took a deep breath and began shoring myself up in the Force. Then threw everything I had into a probability obscurement around our position.

This was very risky, but the clock was ticking. If I didn't throw this dice now, then all my efforts were worth nothing in the end.

Anakin stared at the datapad and the casing of the device began to visibly bend.

The Force in my quarters became as thick as molasses and a variety of loose bits and bobs around the place began shaking and trembling. I also became aware of the very walls and bulkheads beginning to warp and buckle.

If there was any cloistered master that doubted Anakin was the singular most powerful Force user in the galaxy, then they would be quickly disabused of that notion at that moment, in my small quarters.

I could try to stop the TK effects or I could shield him from Sidious's foresight, not both.

Interrupting him would also be bad, best to just get this out of his system as he began to finally piece together the last bit of the puzzle.

"You knew?" he said. It was the contrast that made it scary as fuck. He should be raging even as my quarters were steadily getting damaged, but this was not the Anakin of three years from now. That Anakin was not the Anakin that had me as his padawan.

"Of course, I did, Master. I wish there was an easier way to break this to you. That since you were a boy fresh from slavery on Tatooine, that he's had his sights on you. Why else would that order exist, exempting you specifically from Order 66. An order that also programs every clone to recognize the Supreme Commander and even identifies him by his secret name and appearance."

Anakin pulled out the data chit and handed it over to me, before crushing his datapad into an unrecognizable lump of plasteel using a quick thought.

"And I can…" he stopped himself, looked around the quarters with alarm, took a deep breath and sat on the floor, plunging into a meditation to get the Force around him under control.

For a while, we both just sat there in silence, all the while I kept up the probability shield around us both. It was thankfully much easier to do as he began working to actively calm down.

My anchor indicated that we had both fallen into a mediation for just under two hours during this process and it all passed in the blink of an eye relatively.

"You couldn't tell me. You let me believe that Sidious and Palpatine were two different people, that the enemy was controlling Palpatine…" he thought and incredibly, he laughed ruefully. "You pulled an Obi-Wan on me."

"The Palpatine persona is a very charming mask, Skyguy. It's a mask that has fooled most everyone in the galaxy, as it's backed by the Force and the Dark Side. Every master on the Council has been fooled. You can't blame yourself for not seeing through it, especially not when he has used it on you from a very young age."

"And now you rip off that mask. No one can imagine that it's him, so he slips right through! I'd almost admire it, if it wasn't so… insidious."

"Yes, and now you see his primary tool to eventually destroy the Jedi. It's not ready yet. Our numbers are too great, we haven't been worn down enough. Our trust in the clones is not established yet as a whole. The Shroud he has been weaving over the Force to blind us to the danger from the clones is not yet complete either. There is also the public he has to prepare."

"They wouldn't accept the notion that the Jedi would turn against the Republic," he pointed out.

"That is a slow and subtle narrative he will slowly begin to concoct over the next two years. As the war drags on, the Jedi Council will grow discontent with his rule as Chancellor, they will see his consolidation of power and the gradual weakening of the Senate. At this point, many military failures will have happened, most laid the blame at the Jedi's feet. Dooku's actions will only grow more heinous and our constant failure to bring him in or stop him will only torpedo the Jedi's reputation further. He has numerous media organizations on the payroll to help shape the narrative further. The Jedi Council, their minds clouded by war, begins to think that public perception is a distant concern. They see such public relations exercises as something the Jedi must be above.

"Finally, there will come a time when he reveals himself as the Sith Lord behind everything, he only does this when all the pieces are in place for his rise to ultimate power over the galaxy. The Jedi Council, in a panic, acts rashly and confronts him with drawn lightsabers in his office."

"Given everything you've impressed upon me about him, I imagine it will not go well?"

"They play right into his hands. Two masters are cut down in seconds, only Windu holds his own and even manages to physically defeat him. However, Windu is blindsided by you, Skyguy. The only voice of reason in the whole affair. Trying to stop the Council from just unilaterally killing the sitting chancellor, just because he happened to be a Sith. Not caring how it would look to the public. You stop Windu from outright killing Palpatine, but end up wounding him in the process. Palpatine retaliates out of feigned weakness, killing Windu with Force Lightning and flinging him out of the chancellery office window in the process."

Anakin cradled his face in his left hand and I could feel his turmoil as I described his future actions. He could well imagine himself jumping to the aid of Palpatine in that situation.

"It was the final break in a long line of events for you, Skyguy. Remember how I told you how he wanted to convert you to his side, to the Dark Side. Knocking away the pillars of everything that supported you; Padme, Obi-Wan, the Council and myself. Well, at this point, you see no choice, you become his new apprentice and you both move against your enemies. The first action of which is Order 66, which also triggers 150.

"It means you can lead the 501st without fear and in your next move, you invade the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, to further carry out Order 66-"

"Stop, Ahsoka," he said and looked up wearily into my eyes.

"As you wish, Master."

"I have a lot to process and think about. Get to the point… You wanted my help with the clones in some way."

"At some point, we need to make a decision about what to do about the biochip, Master. I've been thinking about it and the only conclusion I can come to is that I need to share this burden, so that together we can think of an idea. All I've come up with would inevitably lead to problems upon problems. For example, I knew the Battle of Kamino would be an opportune time for some clandestine intel gathering. The battle and the damage to the city, is the perfect window of opportunity and it is rapidly closing. I thought about editing the orders, but realized immediately that his foresight would pick up such a drastic reversal. Such an edit would also not affect the clones that are already in the field. The only other plan I have is to slowly rotate select clone units to Mandalore."

"Why there?"

"It's there where, as leader of Clan Vizsla, I can devote enough resources covertly to remove the biochips from the clones. The only way to get them there is by an order from you, Master."

"And how would I justify that?" he pointed out reasonably.

"Joint training exercises," I shrugged.

"That has the same problem as editing the biochips," Anakin pointed out. "If enough clones are without chips and fail to respond to his orders, that would also blip on his foresight."

"You can see now why I need another brain working the problem," I said wearily, slumping somewhat in my seat.

Anakin stood and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Listen Snips, I've long realized that you lived with a terrible burden, but I guess I didn't even know the half of it. As much as I wished you could've told me sooner, the past-me we wouldn't have listened. The idea that Palpatine… could be the one behind so much pain and suffering, it's preposterous. Yet that's what he counts on."

"Yes, speaking of which, before you can leave my vicinity, I need to teach you how to wear masks."

"What?"

"Now that you know, you must maintain a facade of your ignorance. Not just physically in how you act, but in the Force itself."

"That doesn't sound easy," he said wearily.

"No, it's not. But you can't leave my immediate presence until you can. I'm shielding you for now, but I can't keep that going forever."

Anakin eventually nodded, "Very well, let's do this. And Snips…"

"Yes, Master?"

"Thank you."

The next day I was not operating at 100%.

Getting Anakin up to speed on obscuring himself and using what I was privately calling the Force Mask, was literally life or death and so we had spent every second of the past day in deep meditation together, stretching that time out in the formless void along our Force Bond. We even switched off our comlinks, only leaving a general message that we were busy with Jedi training business. We didn't eat or sleep and only drank water and sustained ourselves with the Force.

Such a fasting meditation was an actual technique that Jedi could do, though was only practiced by those who were at cloistered temples and chapterhouses - who had a lifestyle that allowed for it.

Thankfully, Anakin had gained a passable form of Masking that would at least allow him to leave my immediate presence - it was a skill he would have to constantly practice further and he was extremely motivated to become very good at it. I had made sure to remind him that Padme was the natural first target of Sidious when it came to manipulation.

Now I was back in my command chair on the Resolute, reviewing the repair progress to the power grid. It was relatively slow going, which would take at least another two days for the grid to be brought back to something which would allow for hyperspace travel and a further three days for combat readiness. That was always the problem when repairing something that snaked its way through every system and part of the ship. It was tedious and mostly repetitive work, swapping out breakers and burnt out power conduits.

In that respect, neither Anakin or my own presence was really needed, but a lot of stuff that had needed our authorization had gotten delayed due to our 'emergency training'.

Both Obi-Wan and Shaak Ti had accepted our excuse on face value, as we played on the inherent privacy that was respected between master and padawan.

So, with a cup of very warm caf in one hand, and datapad reviewing the repairs in the other I got on with doing the neglected work and catching up on duty shifts on the bridge.

Of course, the Force wasn't content with letting me just destress from successfully getting through the most anxious day of my second life so far.

A blink of an eye and I felt my mind being pulled on a full blown Vision.

The water world of Kamino as seen from space…

… my point of view plunged into the atmosphere and ocean, with no regard given to the intervening matter…

… the southern hemisphere…

… a long line of underwater canyons… so deep… the pressure was unbelievable…

…yet there were structures here, old ones, that seemed to defy time and the weight of the ocean above… speaking of technology that only the kaminoans had…

…a light… power… life… someone was still living here! Now!

… my point of view rushed towards it and I found myself in a modest living space…

… the tall, gangly occupant, busy with the daily chores of life, cooking food she caught herself…

… her eyes whirled to face me and I beheld twin galaxies…

My eyes finished their blink and I was back on the bridge of the Resolute.

I stood up immediately, putting my cup into its holder before striding to the forward transparisteel viewports and gazed down at the planet around which we were orbiting distantly. I stretched my senses towards it, towards the southern hemisphere and naturally found nothing.

That didn't mean anything. In comparison to the being my vision had shown, there was a vast ocean of experience and power between us. If she wanted to hide from me, nothing I could do would be able to pierce her defenses. It was only the vision that had given me the thinnest of threads to even know that…

There was a kaminoan Force sensitive hiding there.

Just the fact that such a being could exist was a revelation. The kaminoans didn't have Force sensitives or Jedi. Their society considered such a thing abhorrent in the face of their own self engineered perfection. The Force was out of their control, therefore anyone of their own who was significantly connected to it was undesirable, imperfect and possessed of socially disruptive ideas.

I looked around the bridge, "Captain Velos, you have command."

The senior naval clone looked at me with a raised eyebrow, "Yes, Commander. May I ask-"

"No. Send word down to the hangar bay. I need a shuttle."

"Yes, sir."

I rushed past him and off the bridge, throwing myself into the closest turbolift.

When I reached the hangar bays, it was to find a Nu-class shuttle being prepped by a crew. I belatedly realized I hadn't specified the type I wanted, but this would have to do. My brain was in a nasty single minded 'zone', analyzing every detail of the vision to try and wring out further meaning that I might've missed.

I boarded the shuttle and immediately ensconced myself in the cockpit, powering up the sensors and computers, including a database link. A holo of Kamino appeared before me and I brought up a sea floor topographical map overlay, focusing on the southern hemisphere. Further filtering for known major canyon formations at the depths I had seen.

It brought down the list of potential locations for the vision to about a dozen possibilities.

I swiped my hand through each holo that the computer flashed for me, comparing it to what I had seen.

At possibility number eight, my entire being seemed to resonate with the absolute certainty that this was the place.

The Slici Canyons.

It was also at a depth of just over ten kilometers.

My brain recalled a physics class I had taken during the academy and after a few calculations, the stupendous pressures at that depth was revealed to be in the region of 964 standard atmospheres. Another mental calculation threw that into a unit of my previous life, 14181 psi.

That anyone was just living a hermetic existence at that depth was mind boggling.

The crew chief waved, "Commander, she's all ready!"

I gave him a casual salute of thanks in return and powered up the shuttle's systems fully. I pulled back on the yoke controls, then did a final maneuvering check, before inching the throttle forward and guiding the shuttle into the Resolute's spine.

"Dorsal hangar doors opening, Commander," announced Velos. "Would you please just log a destination, so when things inevitably go wrong, I know where to send the rescue parties?"

"I'm going to Tipoca City, nothing to write home about."

"Very well."

I opened the throttles fully and the shuttle smoothly exited into open space. I plotted a straight efficient course to the city and began the necessary engine burns.

"Now to find a submarine someone's willing to loan me. Grief, Ahsoka, don't challenge yourself so much."

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I received landing clearance in one of the main hangar bays in the eastern dome of the military complex. As I was an unscheduled arrival, I had to go through quite a bit of security red tape; such as my command code in the GAR, an active scan of the shuttle and even a bioscan of myself by a clone security team.

Once that was done, the security team marched off promptly and I was finding myself somewhat at a loss of what to do next. I knew there were sub bays on the lower levels of the complex, whether there actually were craft that could take me so deep and travel the distance to Slici Canyon was another issue. The databases I could access from the shuttle were sparse on precise details of kaminoan water craft.

I turned to head off in the direction of the nearest lift but before I had even taken two steps-

"Uh, excuse me, uh, commander."

The voice was rather out of place, because it was so elderly.

I turned to my interlocutor and found a hunchbacked clone, wearing a tech overall.

"99?" I said, my amazement slipping past my emotional masking.

"Uh, yes, commander. You know of me?" He was rather surprised at that fact, his face twisting into a lopsided smile.

"Gossip travels faster than hyper and your help to the 501st did not go unnoticed," I explained smoothly. It was actually true. The AARs of the various troopers did go through a program to distill it into a summary by the time it reached Anakin's datapad, but Rex's official reports were unvarnished and only subject to the clone's own judgment on what his senior officers had to know. His praise for 99s help in the battle was obvious, even if it was bogged down by military verbiage. That the old clone had also survived the battle was a welcome surprise and a butterfly of events and consequences that I didn't even want to try and untangle.

"Why, thank you, Commander Tano, I was just doing a soldier's duty. It seems though, if you forgive my observation, that you are a little bit lost?"

"Not so much lost, more uncertain. You wouldn't happen to know whether there are submersibles down below that can reach ten kilometers depth and travel two hundred kilometers distance?"

The old clone's smile grew wider, "I know just the thing. Follow me, Commander."

A few turbolift rides later and walking a route that would baffle anyone who wasn't a Jedi, 99 led me into a large bay that was just about ten meters below the nominal waterline.

On one side, stacked floor to ceiling were aquacraft that were rather small to my sensibilities. They were just over seven meters in length, featuring a pronged double hull mated to a spherical cockpit nestled in between the prongs. The hull featured smooth clean lines and glinted with silvery chromatic finish.

99 immediately went over to a shielded control room that looked like it could survive a direct blaster cannon shot.

Tractor beams hummed to life and picked up one of the craft from its cradle, before letting it settle onto a twenty meter diameter pool of water that dominated the central area of the bay.

Walkways extended from the edge of the pool and hovered directly over the sub's cockpit.

"This is a KE-UW33 submarine, built by the kaminoans for long range single person underwater transport," 99 explained, emerging from the control room. "Most of them still prefer to use tamed Aiwha whales, but when speed is an issue, they use these. They're rated to a 15 kilometer depth with an operational range of 900 km. It's a bit extreme, since most of their active underwater settlements never go to a depth beyond 9 km these days."

99 led the way and he crouched above the submarine's cockpit, opened a small panel, tapped a few buttons, which caused the upper transparisteel sections to blossom open with a smooth hiss.

The instant I climbed in I discovered an immediate problem.

"Oh, sorry commander, forgot about that," he reached down and tapped a blue button on the forward control panel. My seat seemed to come alive and mold itself to my back and legs, before pushing me forward. The many displays and panels also shifted themselves forward to accommodate my smaller size.

"I'm rather surprised they have this feature," I commented. That the kaminoans had gone to the trouble to account for other species piloting their craft was rather at odds with their mild xenophobia.

99 chuckled awkwardly, "This setting is for young kaminoans, they only become truly tall at the end of what is considered their puberty."

"Figures," I grumbled, going through a pilot checklist, testing the play of the odd control yoke and what the various MFD screens displayed. "At least, they've got everything in Basic."

"Yes, there is also a droid level intelligence for an autopilot. If you're unfamiliar with piloting underwater craft I strongly suggest you let it do the work."

"Jedi Padawan are trained to operate craft that travel in many mediums, 99," I assuaged his worry. "It's been more than a year since I was last in that simulator, so I'll let the autopilot do the heavy lifting, whilst I familiarize myself with this specific craft."

I tapped a few controls on the upper panel.

A tinny voice issued forth, "Greetings, I am Submarine Craft 552, built by Kamino Engineering. How may I assist you today?"

99 smiled, "Well then, I'll get the outer doors open for you."

"99," I stopped him before he could leave. "Thank you."

"You're a commander in the GAR, just doing my duty," he saluted me and walked off.

With technometry I merged my senses briefly with the sub, getting a feel for its every system and what was responsible for each function. After a few moments, I knew that kaminoan underwater tech was amazing. This was an ocean based civilization and their works naturally made what I was familiar with from my previous life look like old Earth had just been kiddies playing in a shallow pond.

I tapped a large button clearly made for much bigger fingers.

The cockpit closed up and sealed.

"552, go through your checklist. Vocalize so I can follow."

"At once, Commander Tano."

I chuckled, "Already interfaced with the city database I see."

"Naturally, your security level is sufficient for access to 98% of the military complex. I needed to verify whether you had clearance to pilot me."

The craft went through its rather dizzying checklist after that. I spent most of the time customizing the various MFDs to my own preferences. In the process discovering that the sub had a stupendous top speed of 140 kph underwater at any depth. I vaguely recalled that a Seawolf class attack submarine could reach 65 at flank.

"Checklist complete, all systems nominal and ready."

"Thank you, 552. Set a course of south-south-east from Tipoca City, cruising speed only for the moment."

"At once, commander."

The sub whined for a brief moment, before the water began swallowing me up from my perspective as it began diving.

Below the moon pool of the sub bay, was a wide submerged tunnel that ran forward for ninety meters or so before the way was blocked by an external door.

The sub's forward lights switched on and the door irised open impressively and beyond was the vast seemingly infinite depths of the ocean world.

I didn't have thalassophobia, but it was a challenge for any land based sentient of the galaxy to fully accept the true scale of an ocean's depths. At least in space, you had SPACE and could see for light years. In an ocean you were surrounded on all sides with a medium which severely limited how far you could see with light, which hid all the very nasty beasties that called that medium home.

Sub 552 shot itself through the water and left the submerged stalks of Tipoca City behind. Doing a curving rapid turn into the course direction I had given.

"Stay at a depth of a hundred meters, I'll tell you when to dive."

"Understood, commander. Be aware, I'm detecting a kamoradon to the north, range twenty kilometers."

I quickly brought up a database entry on it and immediately wished I hadn't.

Three pairs of very large flippers, long tail, sharp snouty mouth filled with razor sharp teeth and roughly the size of a large building.

I quickly brought up the craft's sensors that were detecting the thing, and used it as focus for my senses through the Force. A ten second observation of its position indicated it wasn't heading in my direction at least and through the Force I only sensed an animalistic mind that was almost always aggressive in a never ending quest for prey.

"552, does this craft have a silent running or low noise mode?"

"Yes it does, commander. Do you wish to activate it?"

"Yes," I said emphatically.

"Silent mode engaged."

I suddenly felt the speed decrease and now the craft was only hitting about 80 kph, whilst the general humming whine of the engines became a steady single note thrum at a much lower volume.

My next priority was to actually learn what defensive measures this thing had. The kaminoans wouldn't build a craft like this without being able to at least fend off big beasts like that. I hadn't sensed anything that looked like an underwater gun or torpedo in the thing's systems. A quick review of the MFDs revealed that it had a shield and a short range EM field that was powerful enough to at least fend off a kamoradon and the other smaller beasties that prowled the depths.

"Great, now all I need is some world ending bacterial plague and…"

I hit the figurative mental brakes on that line of thought and turned away from that direction in a hurry. To help, I plunged my mind into something else to occupy it, bringing up a nav map to program in my course to the Slici Canyon.

"Are you sure you want to go there, commander? Records indicate the Slici Canyon outposts were abandoned approximately 3523 years ago," 552 stated.

"Yes, I'm sure. Do those records state why they were abandoned?"

"Not explicitly, commander."

"Keep your sensors peeled for more hostile lifeforms, I will do the same in my meditation. We've got a long two and a half hours ahead of us."

"Snips, where are you going?"

I cracked open my eyes and stared at the Nav MFD; ten minutes to the destination.

"Took you long enough, Skyguy," I thought back to him with mock annoyance.

"Ha ha. Now answer the question."

"Short version. Got a vision from the Force. Finding a kaminoan Jedi who's been in solitude for a few thousand years."

Anakin nicely sent across the vision of himself with folded arms and giving me a deadpan look.

"I don't need to ask if you're serious, but if this is the case, did you not consider that this Jedi might not appreciate you disturbing their hermitage?"

"She won't appreciate it at all, but if I don't do this, the Force is going to keep pestering me about it."

"Sithspit, why would the Force send you of all people? You're a talented padawan sure, but sixteen-"

"Skyguy, yes, it would be more logical to have Master Yoda contact her. I've been meditating on this, running it through my head and I sense no danger in the future from her."

"There's no telling what her abilities are, Snips. She might be able to confound your foresight."

"That is true. However, I've got a hunch on this."

"That's usually my thing, Snips," he grumbled back. "I'm coming down and keeping a mental eye on you in the background. In the future, at least tell me when something like this happens before you go charging off."

"I will, Master."

I surveyed the readouts of the sub's systems. Everything was nominal, the closest fauna being a herd of Aiwha about six kilometers off starboard.

"We have arrived, commander. Do you wish to commence diving?" 552 politely asked.

I released my anxiety at the thought, letting it pass through me. Putting away the thought of how deep I was going, the pressure, the immense vastness of blue around me.

"Dive, 552."

"Affirmative."

My eye turned to the depth reading on my left MFD, sitting at 110m then rapidly began increasing. There was no feeling of motion and acceleration at all, only through the Force was I aware of the water flow and how my craft was moving downward.

As soon as I breached below 200 meters, the light from the local star began to rapidly fade into a twilight of darker blues.

By the time I reached 900 meters I could just barely perceive hints that a fluid medium was around the cockpit and everything was dark purple, then just before the depth reached 1km, there was nothing but absolute black.

The only light from outside was the reflections coming off the hull from the forward floodlighting, which let me see a steady stream of ocean going particles caught in their beams that seemed to flow upwards.

I focused my eyes on that as my lifeline. It was one thing to know intellectually what would happen, it was another to actually experience that awful void of black. At least space had stars…

At 1.2km depth, every hint of external color and light was gone.

The steady anxiety I had been managing perfectly well, started to ramp up and I had to forcefully put away stupid images my brain was conjuring up for me - imagining cracks in the cockpit, how quickly I would die in the implosion. It was already at 118 standard atmospheres outside.

I forcefully diverted my thoughts to thinking about the metallurgy, reinforcement and systems the craft had to survive all the way down to 15 km.

The hull alone could survive up to 9 km, but going deeper required polarization and gravitic shielding to be activated.

The craft reached 3 km and I could hear Aiwha song resonating into my cockpit. Far from comforting me with its similarity to Earth whales, it just served as another reminder of my depth.

"Oh, my kingdom for a music player," I moaned.

"Do you want me to play you something, commander?" 552 asked promptly.

"What do you have access to?" I asked a bit desperately.

"An entire catalog of kaminoan music of the last decade, a number of music compilations from-"

"I don't care, just play something relaxing."

"I'm afraid I can't do that, commander. Due to your unique physiology and hearing, I doubt my judgment about what would qualify as relaxing to you would result in a good outcome. I'm detecting elevated stress responses-"

"Yes, yes, okay, anything from Shili?"

"Unfortunately not. Do you wish for me to access the Holonet for such music?"

"Yes."

Thankfully, a hyperwave communicator didn't care about such things as 4 km of seawater above your head and less than a few seconds later, I was treated to the delightfully rich and complex tones of a Shili classical orchestra. Music that could only be listened to if you had montrals.

It was crazy that of all the things I had faced so far in this life, that this fear would be the one that challenged me the most.

I let the soothing rich tones wash over me, using them to banish the fear and thoughts. I cast my imagination aside as it threw images of another massive sea creature, suddenly appearing in the glare of my craft's forward lights. A massive maw, with two equally massive mandible claws on either side of its rapaciously grinning 'face'.

I will face my fear.

I was in a small bubble of life, with only utter darkness surrounding me.

That was only an illusion and the Force showed me how my normal senses were being deceived

There was life in this darkness. Small fish, barely larger than my fist, that looked like puffy marshmallows that didn't have eyes at all, using the very currents of the ocean to 'see'. Larger whale type species that gobbled those up by the ton.

The steadily rising pressure was slowing down my descent rate somewhat, but the engines powered through with no problems as the craft spiraled down and down.

I was in a constant battle with myself throughout and in that moment I understood actually why I had received the vision in the first place.

This was far from a petty fear and it clawed at me using every hook of memory and feeling it could access.

I will conquer you.

At some point I fell into a full blown mediation, as I lost quite a lot of my external senses, with only my hearing left to me.

This was a battle that had little rationality to it. There was nothing to visualize it with. It was just a back and forth of assault. My fear, my Dark Side, using my own imagination, throwing visual tricks and even smells to try and make me give in to it.

"Commander, we have arrived at the Slici Canyon."

I jolted back out of the mediation with my heart in my throat.

The clawing cold of the Dark had been beaten back, but I knew immediately this was not something that would be won in a day, week or even years. It was a struggle that would hound me for the rest of my life, unless I could conquer this fear somehow. It was not a fear of these depths… that was just its manifestation in the physical universe. It was a fear of crushing emptiness, of something utterly devoid of life and light, a void.

"Give me a local scan," I ordered wearily.

A holo of an S-shaped canyon in the craggy ocean floor below me was rendered in the holo. I grabbed a hold of the steering yoke and tilted the nose of the sub down, aiming the light beams.

Sure enough, I saw the edge of a vast canyon.

"Any power signatures, 552?"

"Confirmed, low level emissions detected, near a geo-thermal vent in the lower apex of the canyon."

"Makes sense, renewable power generation and heat source, only question is how she would be eating," I mumbled to myself. "I'll take the controls from here 552."

"Affirmative, commander."

Left hand on the throttle and I pushed forward, bringing the sub's nose up to clear the lip of the canyon, before descending further into it. It was roughly seventeen kilometers in length and ranged from 800 meters to three kilometers in width.

It wasn't long before scans and my lights intersected with the ruins of kaminoan underwater buildings, smoothly jutting out from the side of the canyon. The architecture was different, but like any culture, that had evolved over time as their tastes and circumstances changed. The smooth organic curving lines were there, but these seemed to lack that utter fetish for perfect proportionalism. Here they adapted their buildings to take advantage of the natural surroundings, including hollowing out living spaces directly from the canyon walls.

Then there was nothing, just natural curved craggy walls for a few kilometers.

I turned the sub to starboard, then applied a bit of reversed thrust to slow down enough to make the first turn.

There!

Light, coming from an intact building seemingly merged with the canyon wall halfway up.

"552, is that a docking tunnel I'm seeing there?"

"Correct, commander. You simply have to steer the craft in there to enter the pressure envelope of the building."

"Glad she hasn't closed the door on us."

Then the sheer presence of this Jedi in the Force registered passively to my senses. It was absolutely deliberate. Before there had been nothing, now I registered her as she lowered her own obfuscation just enough for me to detect her.

She had obviously known I was coming for a long while, probably ever since the vision had hit and sent my intentions and actions into her probability path.

"Well, there's an invitation to come in, at least."

I maneuvered the sub forward and carefully guided it through the threshold of the docking tunnel, taking it nice and slow.

"Apologies commander, I've detected no signal on any band. What are you referring to?"

"Don't worry about it, 552." Explaining the basics of the Force to a droid was something I only did once for R3, and it had been like explaining extremely high frequency music to someone without montrals.

The docking tunnel was nicely lit, though the sub just barely fit into it. The kaminoans had at least kept their subs to a common form factor over the years.

The tunnel was barely ten meters long before it terminated into a moon pool above me.

"Here we go."

I lifted the yoke and the sub parted the water of the pool and settled into it.

A quick look at this dimly lit sub bay, showed no one here to immediately greet me. In a cradle to one side was another small one-person sub, but one which didn't have the clean lines of a modern kaminoan sub, but looked more like a fat cylinder with rudders. The bay itself had the smooth cool curving of the kaminoan building style, but was colored in greens and gray, but there were gaps and breaks, where ad-hoc repairs and maintenance had been done.

"Atmospheric scan, 552."

"Nominal, commander."

I double checked the seals on my Aegis helmet and armor, and even activated a biofiltering mode. There was no way I was giving this Jedi Master an infection or bug. The chance was negligible, given how alien a kaminoan physiology was relative to my own, but I had no idea how truly isolated she'd kept herself in this hermitage. I could be carrying a new bug from the surface that she had no resistance to.

I opened the spherical cockpit and stood up on the seat. There was no walkway being extended, nor did I see any.

My legs briefly tensed and I burst into a Force Jump that carried me to solid land.

I reveled in the feeling of just being in a relatively open space that wasn't that bloody cockpit, and stretched my limbs out.

"Hello?" I winced as I worked on my right arm, looking around for this mysterious Jedi.

Only to stop dead as my vision was filled with the chest of a tall, thin, barely clothed kaminoan.

I looked up and stared into two big black eyes, filled with sparkly galaxies. They were set in a sinuous light blue face that was… smiling?

If I hadn't been a Jedi, I probably would've jumped out of my skin and screamed in fright. How had she gotten so close?

Then I was hugged.

"Oh thank the Force! It's so good to meet you. My name is Kina Ha. Who are you? Can I get you anything? What do you eat? I've got…"

The word babble washed over me and I stiffened in the alien's awkward embrace.

'Uh, Skyguy, question.'

'Yes, Snips, are you all right?'

'Fine, any advice for how to handle a half-naked, attention-starved Jedi hermit, who's very grabby?'

The silence on his end was deafening.

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