Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Irritated beeping roused Obi-Wan from sleep, that and a shaft of sunlight falling across his eyes. Squinting and scowling, he sat up, taking in his surroundings. These weren’t his quarters, on the Negotiator or in the Temple…

Obi-Wan stood, hand going to his hip, thankful to find his lightsaber still hanging there. Low, sloping metal roof and walls, one section covered in hundreds of tally marks, scant few personal items, a sandy floor, and… an odd little droid. It must be the source of the beeping.

The strangely spherical droid rolled forward, domed head tipping back to look up at Obi-Wan, who had the feeling he was being judged, and harshly. 

It beeped again and he frowned. “I’m sorry,” he apologized. “But I don’t speak binary. That’s Anakin’s area of expertise.”

Anakin… where was he? Was he safe? Did he know what was going on? 

Well, first things first. He had to find out where he was, and why he had woken up here instead of in his own room. Spotting a small hatch set against the far wall, Obi-Wan walked over and out into the daylight.

Rey woke up far more comfortable then she thought she had any right to be. This wasn’t her raggedy hammock in the walker, or the small, hard bunk that the General had found for her among the Resistance pilots. This wasn’t even the pilot seat on the Millennium Falcon, where she had dozed off once while working on repairs after the Battle of Starkiller Base. 

No, this was a properly comfortable sleep couch, in a private room. Judging by the distant hum and blank, metallic walls, she was on board a large cruiser. A thrill of fear went through her at the thought. Had the First Order captured her again? But if they had, why had they given her a nice room instead of a cell block?

Her hand went to her hip, and she breathed a sigh of relief, finding the lightsaber still there. Definitely not the First Order, then. Kylo Ren would have taken the lightsaber immediately if she had been captured again.

Where was she, then? What had happened? The last thing she remembered was laying down in her bunk, thinking back longingly to her quiet makeshift home on Jakku, where she was never disturbed by snoring pilots or landing ships in the middle of the night. She was supposed to leave in the morning for Skywalker’s hidden island…

A sharp knock on the door roused her from her thoughts. “Master? I can’t find Skyguy, or raise him on the comms, and he told me that he’d teach me a new kata this morning. Do you know where he is?”

She didn’t really allow herself to think before getting up and walking over to open the door, which, in hindsight, was a mistake.

A young Togruta girl was standing in the corridor outside, and upon seeing Rey, dropped into a defensive position, hand going to the lightsaber on her hip. “Who are you?” she demanded harshly, much different from the lightly worried tones from before. “What have you done with Master Kenobi?”

“Who?” Rey blinked at the girl, noticing the second lightsaber on her belt.

“Master Kenobi,” she repeated impatiently. “These are his quarters. Why are you here?”

“I don’t know,” Rey said, brow furrowing and crossing her arms over her chest defensively. “I don’t know how I got here, or even where here is, or - or anything.”

The girl narrowed her eyes suspiciously, and Rey felt a brush of the Force against her mind. While the General had admitted to not knowing everything about the Jedi and the Force, she had taught Rey some basics, explained some things that Rey had picked up from Kylo. Rey could feel the Force more fully now, and knew when someone was trying to use it against her.

“Hey,” she scowled at the girl, batting the probe away with annoyance.

The girl’s eyes widened. “You’re a sensitive,” she said. “But you don’t feel like a Sith, or a Jedi. Who are you?”

“I’m -” she bit back the ‘nobody’ that rose automatically to her lips. “I’m Rey.”

“Well, Rey, you don’t feel dangerous, at least,” the girl finally relaxed, settling into a more natural standing position from her defensive stance. “I’m Ahsoka.”

“Hello,” she nodded politely.

Ahsoka’s eyes suddenly fell to Rey’s belt, noticing the ‘saber that hung there. “Hey! That’s not yours!”

“Uh, I can explain?”

“You’d better!”

Poe woke up in a position that wasn’t unfamiliar (under a ship, surrounded by parts and tools), but the ship itself didn’t really ring any bells.

For one, it seemed to be a lot smaller than his X-Wing, as well as missing the distinctive wing type. While the base paint was a similar gray color, instead of orange accents, this fighter sported yellow. It was also much lower to the ground then his ship, and judging by the sounds around him, was sitting in the back of a busy hanger.

A curious beep sounded next to the ship. Poe tilted his head up to look down, past his boots, to see an oddly familiar blue and white paint job.

The droid beeped again. Are you okay?

“I’m fine,” Poe reassured it automatically, starting to squirm out from under the ship. 

You’re not Anakin, the droid told him.

“Nope,” Poe agreed, wondering who Anakin was. A new pilot that the General had found somewhere? “I’m Poe.”

Poe?

“Yeah,” he said, finally getting all the way out and sitting up. “Hey, I know you!”

R2-D2′s dome swiveled and it’s photoreceptors blinked at him. I don’t know you.

Poe frowned at that. “What? But my droid, BB-8, just woke you up a couple of weeks ago. You told me stories about the first Rebellion while I was cleaning you up!”

That is not in my databanks. What rebellion?

“What -” Poe gaped at the little astromech. “What rebellion?! The one against the Empire! The one that founded the New Republic!”

R2 whirred at him in wordless confusion. Poe shook his head, finally turning to look at the mysterious ship he had woken up under, and couldn’t suppress the gasp that escaped him.

“This is an interceptor… this is a Delta-7B! And it’s an Aethersprite-class!” He jumped up excitedly, running his hand over the wing almost reverently. “These things were the fastest ships in the galaxy during the Clone Wars, and for quite a while afterwards!”

R2 beeped a question behind him, but Poe wasn’t paying attention, eyes glued to the little fighter. He leaned up on his tiptoes to look into the cockpit. “Someone’s made some extensive modifications to this one…”

A shout from across the hanger caught his attention and Poe turned in time to see a stack of cargo tip over, as well as all the men in white armor scrambling away to avoid injury. 

He felt all the blood drain out of his face. “Stormtroopers…”

Anakin’s first sensation upon waking up was pain, but that was nothing new. Between his awful sleeping habits, his risky stunts in battle, and training sessions with Ahsoka and Obi-Wan, he was used to starting the mornings with aches and sore muscles. 

This was different, though. This wasn’t a general burning stretch in his shoulders or legs, this felt more… deliberate. Opening his eyes and looking around the chamber as much as he could confirmed his dark suspicions. This was a torture chamber of some sort, and he was strapped to the table in the middle.

He flexed his hands, grimacing as the joints cracked loudly in protest, and went through the usual routine. He had been captured so often, both before and during the war, that it was habit by now.

Search his system for drugs. A quick internal scan brought up… nothing, surprisingly. Not even a Force-inhibitor. What sort of rookie mistake…

Check for injuries. Again, nothing, other then his feet going numb. The restraints on his ankles were a bit too tight, cutting off the blood flow. He tried to wiggle his toes, and while there was definitely movement, there was also a spike of discomfort. He needed to get out of here soon, for the sake of his feet if nothing else.

Check for guards. Just one, standing outside the door, but something felt off. It took a moment for him to figure out what was wrong.

The guard… wasn’t a droid. It was a human, and beyond that, he could feel the exceptionally weak mind within the body. What were the Separatists playing at? Putting a Jedi, especially one well-known for escaping from their prisons, under minimal security, without any sort of Force-inhibiting drugs or restraints, and with only one weak-minded human guard outside? 

Either it was a trap, it wasn’t the Seppies, or… well, he couldn’t really think of a third option. In any case, even if it was a trap, he had to get out of here.

A small surge of the Force around his wrists was all it took to free his hands, and moments later his feet were free, too. He stumbled a little as he hit the floor, pins and needles shooting up his legs.

On the other side of the ship, Kylo Ren paused in the middle of arguing with General Hux, eyes narrowing suspiciously behind his mask.

“What is it?” Hux asked impatiently.

“The prisoner,” Kylo said, striding towards the door. “Something is happening. Shut down the cell block, now!”

Cody was in the barracks. 

A little odd, considering that he had his own quarters and frequently made use of them, but it wasn't completely out of the question for him to have fallen asleep among his brothers. 

What was odd was the cold, impersonal feel of the place. Even though the clones were, as a whole, fastidious, the barracks always felt open and welcoming, small touches like arrangement of armor or posters giving a more personal feel.

But this? This was... sterile. It reminded him eerily of the pod rooms on Kamino - very obviously full of living beings, but impersonal and tightly monitored.

He got out of the bunk carefully, hardly even disturbing the blankets under him. A handful of other bunks were occupied, but they were almost all the way across the room, barely visible through the dim lighting. Something seemed even more off about that, but Cody couldn't quite put a finger on why.

The small locker at the foot of the bed held armor, but...

Cody stared at the helmet in his hands. It was obviously based off of the Phase II armor, but it was also very different, and lacked any distinguishing marks. Not shiny, though. The owner of this helmet had seen battle, and recently if the flaking blood streaks meant anything. Just like the entire room, it felt coldly impersonal. There wasn't even a battalion color on it, or the rest of the armor. 

Cody was feeling more and more uneasy with the whole situation, and his heart leapt into to his throat when alarms started blaring. An automated voice called for reinforcements to the cell block and Cody donned the helmet.

Whatever was going on, he didn't like it, and he had the oddest feeling he wasn't supposed to be there at all. However, if there was one thing he had learned during the course of the war, it was that the best way to get answers was to find the source of the trouble, in this case the cell block.

Usually, he would find a Jedi there.

Rex pounded on the door to Cody's quarters. "Hey! Get your lazy ass up, vod! Something weird is going on!"

No answer. No answer on the comms, either. Rex scowled to himself and punched in the override code.

"Cody, I don't know what you're playing at, but - what the kriff?!"

There was a stranger in Cody's quarters. There was an unconscious, clearly wounded stranger laying on Cody's bunk. And Cody was most definitely not there.

Rex put a hand to the stranger's throat, feeling his slow, weak pulse, and cursed, reaching for his comm immediately.

"Kix."

"I need you in Cody's room. Now."

"What's going on?"

"I'm not sure, but there's a man in here who needs a medic."

"A man? Not the Commander?"

"No. I haven't got a clue where he is," Rex growled. "Just get up here, now."

"On my way, Captain."

Rex cut the signal and frowned down at the stranger. First Skywalker, then Kenobi, and now Cody was missing, too? What was going on?

Chapter Text

The world outside of the small room was not to Obi-Wan’s liking. Even though it was clearly very early in the morning, it was hot, the sun shone oppressively bright as it inched over the horizon, and sand dunes stretched in every direction without visible end.

He squinted in the light, searching in vain for some evidence of civilization. In the name of the Force, he hoped he wasn’t stuck on Tatooine again.

There was another beep, and the droid nudged the back of his legs. He stepped aside, allowing it to roll out.

It swiveled to look at him with a whistle.

“What?” he asked it. It’s domed head tilted to one side and it beeped at him again. “I told you, I don’t speak binary.” He sighed, feeling a headache coming on. “Can you lead me somewhere where I might find some answers? Preferably in Basic?”

It whirred agitatedly at him, then rolled off around one of the protruding metal walls that stretched out from the room Obi-Wan had woken up in.

And that brought up another question - what was this place? Not even the planet, just the weird little shelter he had been dumped in.

The wall closest to him provided some makeshift hand and footholds, and after double checking his lightsaber was still securely fastened to his belt, Obi-Wan climbed up.

Reaching the top, he found it to be sloped downwards in almost every direction, worn smooth by time and sand, making it slippery. There was a smaller section, just to the side of the one he had woken up in, and the aforementioned thick metal walls jutting out from one side.

The more he studied the odd structure, the uneasier Obi-Wan felt. It was both familiar and utterly foreign, sending a shiver of deja vu up his spine.

The little droid beeped impatiently, and he looked down to find it. It was at a stop just next to the smaller chamber… no, not next to it, underneath the bottom of the head…

He dropped to one knee, fearful of losing his balance as the realization suddenly struck him between the eyes.

“A walker,” he murmured, pressing one hand to the smooth metal side of the giant tank. “A new version of a walker.” It was a brand new design in his eyes, but it was also clearly very old. “What in the name of the Force…?”

The droid’s design was unfamiliar, the walker’s design was unfamiliar, the entire planet was unfamiliar, and the only thing Obi-Wan felt sure about at the moment was that he was very much lost.

Well, at least his captors weren’t completely incompetent. Anakin considered the pros and cons of this as alarms started blaring and an automated voice called for reinforcements to the cell block. There was a spike of fear and a little confusion from the guard outside, but he stayed put. Good, that gave Anakin time to come up with some sort of weapon.

His lightsaber wasn’t anywhere around, of course. The last he remembered, it was…

Anakin paused for a moment, frowning. He remembered going to work on his fighter and giving his ‘saber to R2 for safekeeping, since he was going to be working on the fuel lines and didn’t want to risk blowing up the entire cruiser on accident. So how had he ended up in this torture room?

He could find answers later. Right now, he just needed to get out.

The guard at the door suddenly blacked out, his dim Force signature becoming even more muted, and Anakin tensed, gathering the Force around him in preparation for a fight.

“Sir!”

“Cody?!” Anakin stared at the clone who opened the door, only able to tell it was the commander from his presence in the Force. He was wearing strange armor, all white with an unfamiliar helmet streaked with dried blood.

Cody tugged the helmet off, revealing his familiar face. “General, we have to leave, now . Something isn’t right on this ship.”

“Who are we up against?” Anakin asked, falling in beside his friend as they hurried away from the torture room.

“I’m not sure,” Cody admitted. “But, all the soldiers on board -”

A warning rang out through the Force and Anakin grabbed Cody’s shoulders, pushing him into a small alcove just off the hallway. A platoon trotted by at a brisk jog, and Anakin felt bile rise in his throat as he watched them. Roughly 30 soldiers, all dressed in the same not-quite-right armor as Cody without any distinguishing marks whatsoever. Every single one of them felt wrong in the Force, much like the first guard had. Weak and dim, even more so than regular, non-sensitive people. It reminded him uneasily of the minds of abused children or animals he had brushed against over the years - driven by fear and a survival instinct centered in bloodlust.

“They’re dressed like clones,” Anakin murmured as the last one passed by, finishing Cody’s sentence for him. “But they’re most certainly not clones.”

“Exactly, sir,” Cody replied quietly. “Something is going on here, and I don’t like it.”

“That makes two of us - shush!” Anakin pressed them back even further into the tiny crevice, feeling the edges of the unfamiliar armor bite into his arm.

There was someone else approaching, someone who felt distinctly more dangerous than any of the other soldiers. Anakin and Cody watched with wide eyes as a tall trooper in silver armor, polished to a mirror-like shine, strode past, talking with some sort of superior officer on her comm.

“Cell block has been shut down, sir. I’ll report back in when we have secured the prisoner.”

“Keep me updated, Captain. There can be no mistakes with this one.”

“Yes, sir.”

They waited until she had rounded the corner before exiting the alcove. “We need to get out of here and figure out what the kriff is going on.”

“Agreed,” Cody said grimly. “I think the hanger is this way, we can steal a ship there.”

“What do you mean, he’s not there ?” Kylo snarled into his comm. “He’s just a pilot, and he’s weak! Find him! Now! ”

The Force was surging on the far side of the cruiser, starting in the cell block and steadily moving away. There was a sensitive down there, a powerful one, and they were getting away.

He was sure it wasn’t the Resistance pilot from before - he would have sensed that during the interrogation, certainly. No, something much stranger was going on now, and he was determined to get to the bottom of it.

They seemed to heading for the hanger, probably intending to steal a ship and leave. Well, that would never do.

He stormed down the hall, robes swirling around him dramatically, whipping in the little Force-eddies he was unconsciously creating in his anger.

Stormtroopers nearly fell over themselves trying to get out of his way in time, but he barely noticed, focused solely on catching the intruder (for that’s what it had to be, an intruder, a stowaway of some sort, he would know if they had purposefully brought a sensitive on board).

The alarms in the hanger started echoing, and Kylo sped up.

The hanger was… disconcerting, to say the least. Anakin didn’t recognize any of the ships docked there, and that was supposed to be his specialty. The stacked rows of fighters against the walls were only vaguely recognizable - he half-remembered seeing designs for similar ships during some war meeting or another, although he thought that production was still some time away. And besides that, these ships seemed to have a number of improvements on the original design that he remembered criticizing heavily.

“Think you can fly one, sir?” Cody asked, seeing the contemplation in Anakin’s eyes.

“I can fly anything .”

Of course, that was easier said than done.

Getting to the fighters wasn’t a problem - a mild Force-suggestion and none of the troopers in the hanger took any notice of the two interlopers. Getting into the fighter also wasn’t a big issue, although the back-to-back seating threw them for a second before Cody claimed the gunner seat, leaving Anakin to pilot. Turning it on? Also no big deal.

Getting out of the hanger? Well…

“We’re hooked on something!” Anakin shouted, wrestling with the controls as Cody caused as much destruction as possible with the guns. “Can you see what it is?”

“Not from here!” Cody answered, brow furrowed in concentration as he tried to cause maximum chaos with minimum casualties. Considering that they were up against what seemed to be some sort of sect of brainwashed brothers, he was trying to keep the outright death toll low.

Anakin cursed colorfully in Huttese. “Keep that up, I’m going to open the hatch and see if I can find the problem.”

Popping his head out turned him into a target, but thankfully none of the soldiers seemed to be very good shots. They were practically disgraceful by Republic standards. And it only took a moment to find the problem - a large cable attaching their fighter to the wall. Reaching out with the Force, he quickly unhooked them.

Just before disappearing back inside the fighter, Anakin happened to glance over at the main doors. A man dressed in all black ran into the hanger, his black and silver mask tilted up to watch them, and a thrill went down Anakin’s spine. Bad-Wrong-Right-Familiar-Stay-Go.

He ducked back down and grabbed the controls. There would be time to think about the strange man later. For now, they needed to escape. “Hang on, Cody!”

Kylo let out a wordless shout of frustration as he watched the fighter leave. “After them!” he ordered. As the pilots scrambled to their own fighters, he watched the intruders escape, thinking back darkly on the brief glimpse he had gotten of one of them.

The man had been too far away to accurately identify, but something about him seemed strangely familiar. The long, semi-curly brown hair and the bright blue eyes that seemed to pierce through Kylo, even from all the way across the hanger… He was certain this was the mysterious Force-user. It had practically shined out of the man, a supernova of invisible power.

Power that should belong to him , to Kylo Ren. He was a legacy of the Force, a direct descendent of the great Darth Vader! Who was this mystery man to have the gall to wield such power without justification?

He snarled silently behind his mask, turning on his heel to stalk back out of the hanger and up to the bridge. He would get to the bottom of this, and he would rip the Force directly from the man’s midichlorians if possible.

Chapter Text

The stormtroopers hadn’t noticed him yet apparently, and Poe thanked the stars for small mercies. He quickly ducked around the fighter, crouching down on the far side from the troopers.

R2 rolled after him, apparently taking no notice of the enemies around. What’s wrong?

Poe gave the astromech an incredulous look. R2 was just acting weirder by the minute. “Those are stormtroopers,” he hissed. “You know, the army that keeps trying to kill us? The bad guys?”

The GAR employs no such soldiers.

“The – the what?” Poe blinked. The only GAR he knew of was the Grand Army of the Republic, something which hadn’t existed for nearly sixty years.

Before R2 could answer, a shout echoed through the hanger. “Hey! What are you doing with the General’s ship?”

“Kriff,” he muttered, looking over the wing of the fighter to see several stormtroopers heading in his direction. “Time to go.”

Unfortunately, the Delta wasn’t going anywhere any time soon, and Poe didn’t have the time to put her back together before the troopers got him. The only other ships nearby seemed to be bulky old-fashioned gunships, meant for carrying platoons, and were surrounded by more stormtroopers.

Left without any other options, Poe sprinted for the door, hoping to find some sort of alternative escape route elsewhere. Maybe another hanger filled with TIE fighters – he had already flown one before, he could do it again.

Although, last time he had had a gunner. The thought made his stomach lurch. Where were Finn and Rey and BB-8 and the others? Were they safe? What had happened to land him onboard a First Order cruiser with no memory of how he had gotten here?

And what in the nine hells was wrong with R2-D2?

“He’s stable,” Kix reported after running several tests and hooking the stranger up to a few monitors. “Unconscious, but the signs are good that he should wake up soon.”

“Good,” Rex grunted. “What’s got him out?”

Kix shrugged. “He’s got a large wound on his back, and a smaller one on his shoulder; looks like someone sliced him open pretty well, but the injuries themselves aren’t really catastrophic. It looks like he hardly even bled from either – I think they were cauterized almost immediately. They,” he hesitated for a moment before continuing. “Well, they look an awful lot like lightsaber blows.”

“He’s been fighting Sith?”

“Or Jedi,” Kix nodded. “Seems that way, at least. Usually I only see these kinds of wounds after Skywalker and Tano have a run-in with Ventress or Grievous.”

Rex scowled as he considered the implications. “Is he a Jedi? Or a Sith?”

“Well, I didn’t find anything in our records that matched him to anyone – Jedi, Sith, bounty hunter, officer – but all that means is no one from the Republic has run into him before and lived to tell anyone.”

Before the Captain could respond, his comm chimed. “This is Rex.”

“Captain, we’ve got a situation in the hanger.”

“What kind of situation?” he asked, frown deepening.

“An intruder. He was hanging out by the General’s fighter, we’re chasing him down now.”

Rex valiantly resisted the urge to heave a sigh. That would just be unprofessional. “Keep me updated and alert the rest of the cruiser.”

“Yes, sir.”

Kix raised a brow as Rex terminated the call. “What do we do now?”

“You’re going to stay here and keep an eye on him,” Rex said, jerking his chin towards the stranger. “I’m going to try and track down a Jedi.”

Ahsoka scowled, arms crossing peevishly over her chest. “Well? Are you going to explain how you came by that lightsaber?”

“Do you want to short version or the long one?” Rey sighed.

The comm on Ahsoka’s wrist beeped. “Better make it short for now.”

“I found it in the basement of an old castle used as a bar on Takodana.”

The Togruta shot her an incredulous look as she answered her comm. “Tano.”

“Commander, we have a problem.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Ahsoka muttered, glancing at Rey. “What’s going on, Rex?”

“We’ve been unable to locate either of the Generals, and Commander Cody is also missing. On top of that, there are two intruders on board as well – one is unconscious and safely contained in medical with Kix, and we’re tracking down the other now.”

Rey’s brow furrowed with concern. “The one in the medical bay, does he have an injury stretching across his back?”

“Ah, yes, he does… who are you?”

“That’s Finn!” Rey exclaimed. “My friend – is he okay?”

“He’s stable,” Rex reported tersely. “Commander, what is going on?”

“That is an excellent question,” Ahsoka sighed. “I found another stranger in General Kenobi’s room, but she doesn’t seem to be dangerous. I’m taking her down to the medbay. Let me know if anything else weird happens, Rex.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Come on,” Ahsoka said as she ended the call. “Let’s go check in on your friend – Finn?”

“Yes,” Rey nodded anxiously. “He was hurt badly in the Battle of Starkiller Base, trying to protect me from Kylo Ren.”

“Kilo who?”

“Kylo,” Rey repeated, slightly slower as they headed towards the medbay. “Kylo Ren. You know, the second-in-command of the First Order? The one who destroyed the New Jedi?” General Organa and Poe had both been giving Rey some history lessons, helping her understand who and what they were fighting against.

“The New Jedi?” Ahsoka gave her a disbelieving look. “You say that like the original Order has been destroyed.”

“Well, it was, wasn’t it?” The General hadn’t much liked talking about that part, but Poe had filled her in on the rise of the Empire, how the terrifying Darth Vader had brought the powerful and ancient Jedi Order to ruin in one night. His story was somewhat fanatical, and she didn’t believe every part of it, but everyone she had talked to agreed on the basics – Vader was a Jedi who had turned to the Dark Side and slaughtered the innocent children at the Temple, while the stormtroopers that were supposed to be the allies of the Jedi killed the rest.

“No!” Ahsoka looked aghast at the very idea. “Where in the universe did you get that idea?!”

“I… thought it was common knowledge?” Everyone had certainly acted that way, at least. Rey had been under the impression that the only reason she wasn’t fully caught up on everything was due to her being dumped on Jakku for most of her life. “Sorry – where am I?”

“Onboard the Negotiator,” Ahsoka answered promptly. This was something she knew for sure, walking down the familiar corridors. “The Resolute was destroyed last week, so Master Skywalker and I and the rest of the 501^st are waiting for the new command ship to arrive.”

“Skywalker?” Rey asked, latching onto the one fragment of familiarity. Had he arrived on his own, returning from his self-imposed exile on his own accord? “Luke Skywalker?”

Ahsoka frowned, head tilting slightly. “No…” she said slowly, as though Rey was mad. “Anakin Skywalker. Who’s Luke?”

“The last of the Jedi,” Rey frowned back. “Who’s Anakin?”

“My Master,” she said impatiently. “Why do you keep saying that? The last of the Jedi, the New Jedi… what, exactly, do you think happened to us?”

“Us?” she blinked at the other girl. “Are – wait, are you a Jedi Knight?”

“Padawan,” she corrected flippantly. “Yes, of course I’m a Jedi! Who else carries a lightsaber and uses the Force, besides Jedi and Sith? And, quite frankly, I don’t think I look that good in black.”

“I’m sorry,” Rey apologized, feeling as though she was doing that a lot. “I just – I’m still new to all this. I thought the Jedi were extinct.”

“Well, I don’t know what rock you’ve been hiding under, but you’ve been horribly misinformed.”

“Jakku.”

“The junkyard at the end of the galaxy?” Ahsoka’s nose wrinkled distastefully. “I know it’s a ways off, but I didn’t think they were that cut off from the rest of us.”

“Apparently so,” Rey murmured, frowning as she thought over Ahsoka’s words. Something wasn’t adding up; she was pretty sure that the Rebellion would know if there were still Jedi other than Luke in the universe. And who was this other Skywalker?

They rounded a corner, and Rey felt her heart stutter and drop.

Stormtroopers. A whole company of them – at least 100. They were milling about, in and around what appeared to be a cafeteria of some sort. She had thought the ship was safe, Ahsoka had seemed so confident…

A glance over at the Jedi showed that she didn’t look shocked or worried at all. In fact, she almost seemed to be comfortable, faced with a horde of enemy troops.

“Commander!” one called, waving at Ahsoka. Rey felt her blood freeze as the Togruta waved back with a smile. She was on the same side as them. Not good.

She flung a hand out wildly, instinctively, and didn’t stick around to watch as Ahsoka and three soldiers were pushed back. She just turned and ran.

Chapter Text

“How’re we looking, Cody?” Anakin asked through gritted teeth as they shot out of the hanger and into open space.

“Guns work,” Cody grunted. “So, pretty good.”

A squadron followed them out of the cruiser, as expected, and both Anakin and Cody’s brows furrowed as they saw the ghosts of clone formations in how the other ships moved. They didn’t speak, moving in tandem to avoid and shoot.

Half of the view port was taken up by a large, brownish planet. It didn’t look particularly welcoming in Anakin’s eyes, but he also wasn’t sure what the extended space flight capacities were on this strange little fighter.

“Ah… sir?”

“What?”

“It’s a Jedi cruiser.”

Anakin looked around eagerly. “Where? Maybe they can help us!”

“No,” Cody said grimly. “I mean the ship we just escaped from. It looks an awful lot like one of ours.”

“What?” He pulled a loop, dodging a shot from one of the few remaining fighters, and got a glimpse of the ship for himself. Cody was right – the long wedge shape, the rear command tower… while the details were different, the tower was wider and squatter, the ship was unmistakably part of the Star Destroyer line.

Anakin’s jaw clenched and he flipped a few switches, pouring on the speed and directing them down towards the planet. Whatever was going on here, he very much did not like it.

“Blast!” Cody cursed as his shot went wide. “Bring us back around and –”

“Not happening,” Anakin answered tersely. “We need to get out of here.”

“Without a tail would be great,” he snapped.

Whatever Anakin’s response might have been, it was cut off as the ship jolted and the control panels sparked. “We’re hit!”

“Kenobi was right,” Cody grunted, wrestling with the gun controls as Anakin did his best to put them into a non-lethal dive. “It’s suicide to get in a ship with you.”

“He’s not dead yet, is he? And neither are you, so shut up and let me concentrate.”

Cody kept his mouth shut, doing his best to keep the remaining enemy ships at bay as they spiraled towards the planet. He sorely wished that Rex was here instead of himself.

Obi-Wan sat back against one of the walker’s legs, resting in the scant shade it provided. The droid rolled forward and whistled at him. He didn’t even bother responding this time.

He had searched the entire walker, looking for clues as to its origin. All he had found, besides the sparse living quarters he had woken up in, was a seal stamped into the underbelly of the tank, proclaiming it to be a product of Kuat Drive Yards. That made sense, they manufactured almost all of the Republic’s heavy equipment, from the Star Destroyers down to the Delta-7B fighters the Jedi used.

It still didn’t answer the question of why the walker seemed to be so weirdly advanced from what he was used to, let alone the spherical droid.

It beeped again, and he sighed. There also hadn’t been a droid translator anywhere among the wreckage, unfortunately.

“At least battle droids speak Basic,” he grumbled quietly. The droid let out what sounded suspiciously like an offended beep and nudged his boot. “Apologies. I’m sure you’re a lot more useful than those ‘clankers’, as they say.”

It settled back, satisfied, and tilted its little domed head at him. Even if he couldn’t speak binary, he got the gist of the query.

“My men,” he said. “The 212^th, and the entire Army of the Galactic Republic, as well. The troopers have gotten to calling the droids we fight against ‘clankers’.”

Another beep, the shutters on the droid’s photoreceptor blinking at him.

“I haven’t a clue where any of them are at the moment, unfortunately,” he sighed. “If I did, maybe I wouldn’t be stuck here. As it is, I have no idea where I am, and you can’t tell me.” He leaned his head back against the walker’s leg. “I wish Anakin were here. He’d at least be able to communicate with you properly.”

It whistled and rolled a little forward.

“Anakin,” he repeated with a tired smile. “My former Padawan. He’s a genius – but don’t ever tell him I said that, his head is big enough as it is.”

The droid rolled up and settled next to him in the shade, and Obi-Wan was reminded forcefully of the younglings at the Temple, who were well known for ambushing unsuspecting Masters and demanding a story.

“Well,” he started, “One time, we were on a mission to Andara, and Anakin and another Padawan had to pose as students to infiltrate a school…”

“… Cody… Cody… Cody… Kriff, don’t die on me now… Obi-Wan would never forgive me…”

“Kenobi could forgive you anything,” Cody mumbled, pushing away the hand on his shoulder blearily.

“Thank the Force,” Anakin sighed, sitting back on his heels as Cody rejoined the waking world. “Don’t scare me like that.”

“No promises,” he responded dryly, sitting up and squinting at their surroundings. “Where are we?”

“A desert,” he said flatly, surveying the rolling dunes distastefully.

“I see. What happened?”

“Ship crashed,” Anakin gestured vaguely over a nearby ridge. “Right into a sink hole. We ejected just in time, even if you did hit your head.”

Cody nodded, rubbing the tender spot just above his temple. “Any signs of civilization?”

“Not here,” he sighed. “I can sense a small settlement, but it’s a long walk away. There don’t even seem to be any Jawas in these parts, otherwise we could try to hitch a ride with them.” His Jawaese was a bit rusty, but it was passable enough that he probably could have secured passage with the little scavengers if there were any around. Unfortunately, this planet seemed even more destitute than Tatooine. He hadn’t even really thought that was possible.

“Well,” Cody said, starting to unbuckle the armor and dropping the parts into the sand. “We’d better start walking, then.”

Anakin made a face but nodded. The sooner they started out, the sooner they would arrive.

Obi-Wan was sitting inside the walker, not wanting to risk sunburn as the day dragged on. There were a scant few lifeforms out in the desert, too weak and guarded for him to get an accurate fix on.

He settled in to mediate, hoping to get a better reading. The droid settled in the corner, its photoreceptors watching him curiously.

Inward-focused meditation was Obi-Wan’s preference, but he was just as capable of outward-focused. Expanding his mind over the landscape, he grimaced internally. Barren sand dunes, a few rocky outcroppings, and something that felt suspiciously like a crashed ship. A very large ship. Had there been a battle here recently? Was it Separatist or Republic? The endless reports that came in had started to blend together, and he couldn’t remember what planets had recently been the site of large crashes.

A few lifeforms were among the wreckage. Scavengers, no doubt, looking for parts. He gave them a cursory look – such a harsh life in the desert gave the mind natural defenses, and he wasn’t interested yet in breaking down mental walls for answers.

There seemed to be a cluster of lifeforms a short ways away – a village, perhaps?

As Obi-Wan shifted his focus, a light seemed to flare out in the desert. It was so familiar that he latched onto it without a second thought.

Anakin?

“Master!” Anakin gasped aloud, stopping dead in his tracks.

There was no one around, and Cody gave the Jedi a concerned look. Was he hallucinating already?

Anakin’s brow was furrowed as he concentrated, though his mouth was set in a small, crooked smile.

He was silent for a long moment, and Cody didn’t dare say anything. Jedi were weird, maybe he was doing something important.

Finally, Anakin nodded and started walking again.

“Sir?” Cody asked, falling in next to him.

“Obi-Wan is here,” he explained. “On this planet. Not too far away, either. We’re going to meet up with him at the town – he’s on the other side of it from us.”

“Is he injured?”

“He didn’t say,” Anakin sighed. “I think he’s okay, but I’ll believe that when I see it.”

Cody nodded. He knew all too well how the General could be. “We’d better find him soon, then.”

Obi-Wan kept his head down as he entered the town, the droid rolling along at his side. It was like any other desolate Outer Rim settlement – wretched, run down, and overrun with those of less than stellar repute. He just hoped the speeder he had found behind the walker wouldn’t be stolen while he waited for Anakin and Cody to arrive.

The droid let out a squeaky-sounding beep and rolled to hide more behind Obi-Wan’s legs as a large alien in a booth, seemingly controlling the food supply, eyed it. Obi-Wan gave him a cold look, one that still had the ability to cow Anakin, and the alien quickly turned his attention elsewhere.

“Hey!”

Obi-Wan turned to the alien that approached him, shouting in some dialect he didn’t understand. As he held up his hands to pacify the stranger, a warning rippled through the Force.

He quickly swung out, fist connecting solidly with the head of a humanoid that was trying to trap the droid in a net. A few more joined the fray, trying to steal the little droid. Though Obi-Wan wasn’t sure why they wanted it, he felt a strong urge to protect the droid, if only because it had been with him the entire time.

The thugs were persistent, he had to give them that. But they were still only third-rate thugs, and he was a seasoned Jedi Master and General.

He dispatched the last one as two blessedly familiar presences approached. “Anakin,” he greeted calmly, watching to make sure the thugs retreated. “Cody.”

“Master.”

“General.”

The droid beeped.

“Oh,” Anakin said, and Obi-Wan turned to see his former Padawan crouching down to take a better look. “Hello.” The droid let loose a string of excited whirrs and boops. “Oh, you’ve heard about me, have you?”

Obi-Wan shook his head with a smile and looked towards his Commander. “What happened?”

“I’m… not sure, sir,” Cody admitted. “The two of us woke up on a ship in orbit – I was in the barracks, and General Skywalker was, well, in a cell. We escaped and our ship crashed some ways away. And,” he hesitated for a moment, collecting his thoughts, “Sir, the ship we were on… it was a Star Destroyer, and manned by some lost sect of brainwashed brothers.”

Obi-Wan frowned, hand coming up to thoughtfully stroke his beard. “That is troubling. I found myself in a very… strange walker, myself.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s clearly based on our current walkers, but it’s also very advanced. But that’s not the strangest part. It was half-buried in the sand, as though it had been abandoned a long time ago.”

Cody’s brow furrowed as Anakin stood back up, also looking troubled.

“The droid is BB-8. I’ve never heard of a BB unit before,” he frowned. “It also says it’s on a classified mission for the Resistance.”

“The Resistance?” Obi-Wan questioned.

Anakin shrugged helplessly. “I can’t get any more out of it.”

“I guess even the great Skywalker has his limits,” Obi-Wan rolled his eyes.

The droid – BB-8 – rolled forward, bumping Anakin’s leg and beeping rapidly.

“Woah, woah, slow down,” he said, looking down at it. “Yes, Skywalker. That’s me. Why?” It gave a frantic whirr. “Who the kriff is Luke?”

“General, you might want to save it for later,” Cody said grimly, watching the horizon. “They found us.”

Anakin’s head snapped up. A squad of the fighters from the ship were quickly bearing down on the town. He cursed and looked to Obi-Wan. “Do you have a way off this rock?”

“Yes, I have a star cruiser up my sleeve, Anakin,” Obi-Wan snapped. “Of course not, all I have is my ‘saber and a lost droid!”

“There’re ships this way!” Cody said, turning and running for the edge of town, the Jedi and droid hot on his heels. The hair on the backs of their necks all raised in anticipation as the bombers drew closer.

Chapter Text

Run, run, run, run. The word pounded through Rey’s mind in time with her heartbeat and footsteps as she raced through the halls of the ship. Have to run, have to hide, have to escape, have to survive…

Finn. She couldn’t leave Finn, he was injured, and unconscious, and probably not even aware that they were in danger – and it sounded like Poe was out there somewhere, also running. Rey swallowed as she paused to press her back against a wall and catch her breath. Poe had been captured before, too, even before she had. He was probably freaking out just as much as she was.

So, now a decision. The whole ship was looking for Poe, and probably now her, too. But the person on Ahsoka’s comm, Rex, had said that Finn was under guard… Should she try to team up with Poe, wherever he may be on the cruiser, or should she try to find the medbay, where Finn was locked up? But Ahsoka was back in that direction, with all the stormtroopers…

Speaking of Ahsoka, Rey could feel her presence drawing near, and quickly. Running didn’t seem to be doing much good, not with a Jedi after her, and there was nowhere to hide in the empty corridor.

Rey pulled the lightsaber off her belt and gripped it tightly. It still felt awkward in her hand, too short and deceptively heavy without a counter balance off the back. She wondered briefly if there was such a thing as a double-sided lightsaber.

Ahsoka rounded the corner and Rey ignited the ‘saber. The blue blade hummed as she held it out in a defensive position that would be better suited for a staff than a sword. The Togruta skidded to a stop, her own ‘sabers flying into her hands, unignited, as she fell into a much more natural defensive stance.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” she cautioned. “Why did you run?”

“You’re one of them!” Rey accused. “A First Order lackey – are you his new apprentice? I said no, so he snatched you up, is that it?”

“What?” Ahsoka looked genuinely confused, but Rey wasn’t about to back down now.

“I won’t let you hurt me or my friends!” she declared. “Not again.”

“I’ve never even met you before!” Ahsoka said. “What are you talking about?!”

“The stormtroopers,” Rey said, gesturing back the way they had come from. “You’re on their side.”

“Stormtroopers?” she looked even more lost. “I’ve never heard of those – the men back there are clone troopers.”

“What?” Now it was Rey’s turn to look lost. No one used clones in mass quantities anymore – even she knew that it was too expensive, and that the Kaminoans barely interacted with any outsiders again. They hadn’t been used since the early years of the Empire.

Ahsoka relaxed a bit, but both hilts remained in her hands. “Rey, what’s going on?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted, thumbing her own ‘saber back off. “Things are… weird.”

“That’s putting it lightly,” Ahsoka sighed. “Listen, no one is going to hurt you here unless you give us a reason to. Please don’t run, okay?”

Rey nodded slowly, still not comfortable with everything. She slowly replaced the lightsaber on her belt.

Ahsoka narrowed her eyes as she watched. “I still want to know where, exactly, you got that.” Rey opened her mouth to answer, but Ahsoka held up a hand. “Later. First, let’s get down to the medbay and see your friend.”

“What about Poe?”

“Who?”

“The other intruder,” Rey clarified. “The one everyone is looking for. I think it’s my other friend.”

“I’ll make sure no one hurts him,” the Jedi promised. “Come on, Kix is waiting for us.”

Poe was not in the most dignified position, but he was still alive and uncaptured, so he wasn’t exactly complaining about it.

The smell, though. The smell would definitely warrant a good rant later.

A patrol marched by and Poe held his breath, terrified of giving away his hiding place with even the smallest sound. The white armor sent chills up his spine, even offset as it was with blue markings. He wondered what that was all about – the First Order, and the Empire before it, was notorious for giving their army the face of anonymity. One soldier was nearly impossible to tell from the others without training. So why the sudden independence with the paint?

Two more troopers walked by, at a more leisurely pace and with gold accents on their armor.

“– and who even knows what’s happened to the Generals,” one was saying. His helmet bore a thick stripe going directly up the center and going back over his head.

“They’ll be fine,” the other placated. His helmet had thin gold stripes around the viewports, with a triangle on his forehead pointing down. “Not like this is the first time they’ve gone missing.”

“Yeah, but usually it’s either in the middle of a battle, or kept quiet until after the fact because Command is in on it!”

“Waxer, you need to –”

“You tell me to calm down, Boil, and I’ll shove my blaster so far up your ass that Kix will find it in his next dental exam!”

The one with the triangle, Boil, sighed. “I was going to say that you need to focus on looking for these intruders and worry about the Generals after we’ve secured the ship.”

“…oh. Right.”

They walked out of hearing range, and Poe frowned to himself in the dark. He knew, logically, that there were people inside the armor, and Finn was definitive proof of that. But he had kind of thought that Finn was an outlier, that most stormtroopers fell in line with the humorless, uncaring image that the public was shown. These troopers, with nicknames and casual banter and concern for their superiors… these troopers didn’t fit his mental image at all. Were they escapists, like Finn? Waiting for their chance to ditch the helmets and find a new life? Or were they, somehow, the norm?

It was a question to ponder later, he decided, holding his breath again as more footsteps rounded the corner, heading in his direction.

“Finn!”

Rey rushed forward, heedless of the medic standing by the bed, to see her unconscious friend.

As she worriedly checked him for new damage, Ahsoka stepped up next to Kix.

“How is he?”

“Stable,” Kix reported, giving Rey only a glance before turning back to his datapad. “He should actually wake up in a few hours.”

“Maybe then we’ll get some answers,” Ahsoka sighed.

“Do you think we should try and contact someone about this?” Kix asked, raising one eyebrow.

“I…” She hesitated. Skyguy would probably be against informing the Council or anyone else until there was no other option, but Master Obi-Wan would want to go to Yoda immediately. Neither of them where present, however. She’d have to figure something out on her own. “I don’t want to keep it a secret from everyone,” she finally said. “But I don’t want to go running to the Council like a scared youngling.”

“Sounds like you need a third party. Any other Jedi close by?”

Ahsoka nearly smacked herself in the forehead for overlooking the obvious. “Of course, I’m such an idiot! Master Vos told Skyguy that he’d only be three systems away if we ran into trouble!”

Kix frowned slightly. “Vos? General Vos, the Kiffar tracker?” He’d heard plenty of stories about the Jedi, and despite being part of Skywalker’s battalion, he wasn’t sure if he was ready for Vos.

“That’s the one,” Ahsoka said, offering him a grin. “Don’t look so worried, Master Vos grew up with Master Obi-Wan.”

“If I may be honest, sir, that’s not much comfort, seeing as General Kenobi is the one who trained General Skywalker.”

She didn’t really have a response to that.

Chapter Text

The occupants started screaming as the bombers drew closer to the town, setting up for a clear run. The Jedi, clone, and droid poured on more speed, dodging both beings and objects that crashed into their path as they ran for the ships.

“That one looks fast!” Anakin hollered over his shoulder, gesturing ahead to some sort of hopper.

“That one looks closer!” Obi-Wan pointed out.

“It also looks like chiszzk!”

They were cut short as the first round of ordinance was dropped, sand and debris raining down and a wave of even more intense heat flashing over their backs. Obi-Wan threw out a hand to force Anakin to a stop as the bombers raced over head, dropping one last charge on the hopper, completely destroying it.

Cody and BB-8 skidded to a stop behind the Jedi. Anakin nodded decisively. “Bucket of bolts it is.”

He led the way again, this time towards the decrepit freighter off to one side, and all four raced up the boarding ramp. Cody headed immediately for the lower gunner’s chair while Anakin and Obi-Wan bee-lined for the cockpit.

They didn’t say a word as they fell into their usual positions; Anakin taking the pilot seat while Obi-Wan slipped into the copilot’s. Both scowled over the controls, though Anakin’s deepened as he analyzed the situation.

“Someone put a compressor on the ignition,” he complained, hastily flipping switches to avoid blowing the engine completely.

“Fly now, fiddle later,” Obi-Wan chided, looking for the shield controls.

As he couldn’t really argue with that logic in the current situation, Anakin did as he was told, wrestling to get the old ship off the ground. The cockpit was a strange mix of outdated and brand new – and it was the outdated components that Anakin found himself the most familiar with, which threw him off once again. The newer controls even seemed a bit worn down, suggesting an advanced age that didn’t seem to fit with anything. Then again, nothing seemed to fit on this strange planet.

“This is Commander Cody, can you hear me, General?”

“Loud and clear, Cody,” Obi-Wan answered. “You’re in the gunner’s position?”

“Yes, sir. Ready on your command.”

“Fire at will. We’ll try to get you some clean shots from up here.”

“Understood.”

Down in the gunner’s seat, Cody only winced a little bit as he moved the controls and the seat clunked heavily to one side. It was the same basic design as the gunner positions on some of the transport ships, but he usually found those to be a lot smoother. He wasn’t about to complain, though – a cannon that is difficult to handle is better than no cannon at all.

As the bombers circled back around, Anakin got the ship off the ground and moving, albite a tad clumsily.

“This thing steers like a drunk bantha,” he complained through gritted teeth. “No wonder it was abandoned.”

“I’ve seen you do plenty with worse,” Obi-Wan observed, finally bringing the shields online. “Let’s get out of here.”

“And go where?” Anakin demanded as he coaxed speed out of the ship. “We still don’t know where we are – we need a starting location to find a hyperspace route that won’t kill us.”

“What do you think I’m trying to do with the nav computer?” Obi-Wan shot back. “Keep us in the air, I’ll figure out the rest.”

There was a muffled explosion behind them as Cody landed a shot.

“Still have three on our tail,” he reported. “We need to find some cover.”

Obi-Wan looked up through the viewport, remembering something. “Hang a left here. I have an idea.”

Anakin brought the ship around. “Mind sharing this idea?”

“There’s a wreckage field up ahead – I found it earlier in meditation. I imagine you’ll fare much better there than those pilots behind us.”

Ahead of them, as promised, loomed the back half of what was clearly a Star Destroyer.

“That looks like the ship Cody and I escaped from,” Anakin observed darkly, not bothering to verbally confirm his piloting abilities.

Obi-Wan frowned at the implications. “Just try to lose them as soon as possible.”

Anakin hooked a sharp left, dodging around broken bits of ship at a dizzying rate and causing a loud metallic thumping back in the cargo area that was most likely the droid bouncing around. There was another muffled explosion behind them – two more to go.

An opening loomed in the most intact side of the Star Destroyer, and Obi-Wan glanced over, frowning at the look in Anakin’s eyes.

“Don’t –”

“Too late!”

The ship rushed into the opening, and Cody sent up a grumble. “You have got to be kidding me.”

“Those fighters are much smaller than us, Anakin,” Obi-Wan chided, “You’re going to get us killed!”

“Talk less, program more,” he snapped in return, ignoring the shudder that ran through the ship as it scraped against the side of the narrow corridor.

The world outside of the viewport trembled as an explosion rocked the Destroyer.

“Cody?”

“Clipped one of the fighters, it spun into the wall and exploded. Still got one on us, though.”

“Right,” Anakin muttered, spotting daylight up ahead. “Let’s finish this.”

They rocketed back out into the harsh desert sunlight, just as the ship was finally hit.

“Argh!”

“Cody!” Obi-Wan jumped on the comms. “Cody, are you all right?”

“I’m fine – can’t move the gun anymore, though. You’ll have to aim for me if you want this last fighter gone.”

Anakin grimaced. “Understood. Your chance is coming up in just a moment.”

“Yessir.”

He pulled up hard, sending them nearly straight up in the air. They climbed for several tense moments before he cut the engines.

“Anakin!”

“Now!”

Cody didn’t bother adding the clamor, as BB-8 was also shrieking, concentrating on the shot. A final explosion rocked the area, and Anakin quickly booted up the engines again, pulling up just in time to keep them all from becoming a sticky mess in the sand.

“Home free, sir. Let’s get out of here.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Anakin said, heading for the upper atmosphere. “Master, anything from the nav computer yet?”

Obi-Wan scowled at the readout. “There’s almost nothing out here, I’m afraid. But I did at least find out what planet that was – Jakku.”

“Jakku?” Anakin repeated incredulously. “We were nowhere near Jakku last I remember – how’d we get all the way out here?”

“I don’t know,” Obi-Wan said grimly, “I’d like very much to find out, though.”

An alarm started blaring as Cody ran into the cockpit. “I think the engine is smoking, sir!”

“Kriff,” Anakin muttered, leaping up and rushing back to try and fix the problem. “Can’t just one thing go right today?”

“Spanner.”

What size?

“What’s available?”

Um… just one.

“I’ll take that one, then.”

BB-8 beeped pleasantly and handed it over. Anakin gave him a thankful nod before ducking back down below the flooring.

“How long until we can get going again?” Obi-Wan asked, peering down.

Anakin sighed. “Probably ten minutes, five if I had the right size spanner.”

Sorry.

“Not your fault, buddy.” He was just pleased that he had been able to stop the toxic gas leak before it became too much of a problem and could now focus on the engine itself.

Obi-Wan was silent for a long moment, looking perturbed. “I tried contacting the Council.”

“Tried?”

“The frequency was dead – even the Council Member frequency didn’t get a response. I tried contacting any Jedi, but no one picked up. Ahsoka’s private comm isn’t working either, it seems.”

Anakin looked up with a frown. “Problem with the ship comms?”

“I don’t think so,” Obi-Wan said. “Nothing seemed out of order on this end. It’s almost like there’s just… no one out there to answer.”

Anakin scrunched his nose up thinking deeply. “Maybe there’s a jammer or something onboard or nearby. I’ll take a look when I’m done here.” He ducked back down to the engine. “Have you put in some hyperspace coordinates yet?”

“I don’t know where to go,” Obi-Wan admitted. “The idea of Coruscant is giving me a bad feeling.”

“Naboo?”

“It’s farther away than Coruscant, and I have some serious doubts about this ship’s ability to get us more than a few parsecs.”

Anakin scowled. They were far, far away from pretty much any planet that was confirmed Republic. ‘Junkyard at the end of the galaxy,’ indeed. “Well, what about –”

The ship shuddered and started drifting in a new direction as Anakin and Obi-Wan shared concerned looks. “Tractor beam,” they chorused, turning towards the cockpit only for Cody to hurry out of it.

“Freighter’s caught us. A really big one.”

“Isn’t that friendly,” Anakin grumbled, hauling himself out of the floor and shifting the cover back with a wave of his hand.

“Anakin,” Obi-Wan sighed, finally noticing something. “Where is your lightsaber?”

“With R2,” he responded promptly. “I think.”

A pained look passed over Obi-Wan’s face, but the lecture would have to wait until later.

“I found an extra blaster,” Cody offered, holding out a small weapon.

“There, you see? It’s fine, Cody’s got it covered.” Anakin grabbed the gun and tested the weight in his hands. “This is meant to be concealed, I’m pretty sure.”

“It’s a ‘just in case’ blaster,” Cody nodded. “Found it in the cockpit, along with this.” He held up a blaster that looked more military grade, and Anakin frowned.

“Hey –”

The ship jolted as it came to a forceful stop, and the three tensed for a moment before darting away to defensive positions.

The door groaned open, and footsteps echoed up the ramp. From his position, Cody could just make out a humanoid figure, accompanied by what seemed to be a Wookie, step onto the ship.

“Chewie,” the man said happily, “We’re home.”