Allana

  I woke up when the rain started hitting the window. I smiled. This weather in particular is pretty to me, calming even. When I breathed in deeply and extended my hand to the left, I found a cold spot on the mattress. Meaning, Anakin has been gone for a while and may be at the Temple.

  I confirmed that when I walked into the kitchen and found R6 all alone, without his companion, in the living room. After eating some toast and tea, and unfortunately vomiting right after, I dressed up and the two of us left towards the Temple. Not without leaving 3PO as the responsible of the household.

  When we arrived, we immediately dried ourselves and then, we made our way to the training rooms, where I would be assisting a lesson. To my surprise, Anakin was already there. He was teaching the Younglings how to deflect blaster fire by using the form four technique...but with his own adjustments. I smiled and reclined my weight on the door frame while he started to count the steps, from one to seven. He then repeated the series of movements. When his eyes landed in mine, he smiled and stopped.

"Practice these exercises mindfully." He turned his lightsaber off. "And you'll see improvement. I promise." He breathed in and out with a smile. "Start practicing without the blasts for now, mind your movements and I'll be back in a minute." The kids turned on their practice lightsabers and they started mirroring what Anakin had done previously as he approached me. "Good morning." Said he, crossing his arms.

"Hey." I said. "Why did you start without me?"

"Because you were late. I had to lie, saying you were in a meditation session and that the duel practice will have to be postponed."

"Late? How late?"

"About thirty minutes late." My eyes opened wildly. "You like to sleep in, what can we say about that?"

"That's not true." I sighed as he giggled. "That's the only problem about the rainy weather here. Sunlight can't be seen." He nodded.

"Wanna take over for a moment?"

"No, this is your lesson now. When you're done, we'll move on to duelling."

"I don't think we'll have time for that today."

"Then it'll be tomorrow." He nodded and turned around.

"Alright everyone, form a line behind..." They all started raising their hands to be the first ones in line. "Katooni." She smiled to herself and high-fived Ani when he walked past her to be at the end of the line beside me and have a more extended look of what they're doing and where to improve.

  And practice started. Most of them did a good job and those that didn't only needed to move their elbow a bit up, or hold the lightsaber tighter. But overall, everyone did great. After a while, the session was over. We didn't have time for duelling, indeed. But we promised that Friday was the day.

  When everyone walked out and they directed themselves to the courtyard to meet with Master Yoda, Anakin's communicator started to beep.

"Skywalker, here." He said.

"Hello, Master." Said Ahsoka.

"Snips, hey. How's everything going over there?" A short pause.

"Not so well. We need to talk to you." We looked at each other.

"Give us five minutes. I'll contact you in a moment." Anakin finished the transmission and we made our way to the briefing room, finding Obi-Wan there. He had already wrapped a meeting with his special unit. "Hello, Master." Kenobi turned around.

"Hello there." I smiled and greeted him with a nod. He smiled back. "What are you doing here?"

"Ahsoka made contact. She said that they had information for us. It didn't sound good." I answered.

"Hmm." Anakin turned the holo-projector on and contacted the Padawans. They picked up in a matter of seconds.

"Snips, Witty. What's going on?" Asked Skyguy. "I sense fear in you." I nodded in agreement, not to mention, that they're too serious.

"Well, the Separatists said they will execute their King tomorrow in Yolahn Square." Said Cal and we all looked at each other. "They are also saying that he's behind the rebels' attacks, which is obviously not true."

"Steela said that this is an example to humiliate them. I say that it could backfire on the Separatists. This will only make Rash look like a martyr." Said Ahsoka. "This has divided the rebels."

"How so?" Asked Obi-Wan.

"On one hand, Steela wants to wait until tomorrow to save the King at the Square and show their power to the people and the Separatists. But on the other one, Saw wants to break him out right now." Cal sighed. "He already left." I sighed too.

"That was too risky. He can get captured too." I commented and my Padawan nodded. "Now, taking out the issue of Saw's very possible capture, both plans are good. But they're also too predictable." Ahsoka also nodded.

"Agreed. If they try to rescue the King now, I'm afraid we might lose them." She said.

"We cannot control their fate." Said Kenobi.

"It's just, they're risking their lives to save just one." I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Do not underestimate the King's power." I jumped in again. "He represents hope and its critical to their success." Someone walked past them and they stood silent for a moment, made eye contact and looked back at us again.

"We feel responsible for them." Witty commented, crossing his arms as well, while Snips rested her chin on the palm of her hand.

"We know you do, guys." Ani finally spoke. "But remember, purpose must come before feelings."

"We know, Master." Said 'soka.

"Step in only if you must, but remember, if this experiment is to become an effective strategy, they must learn to survive on their own." Obi-Wan highlighted once more what he told them before we left.

"Yes, Master Kenobi. We understand." She said with a head nod.

"Keep us updated. And if you feel like you need an extra hand, do let us know as well."

"Will do, Smarty." Said Cal with a smile before they finished the transmission. I sighed.

"I don't like the way this is going right now." I said and Anakin nodded.

"I know, but we must not interfere. Not yet." Said Obi-Wan. "Let them handle it. They will let you know if they need you." I nodded and he walked out of the room after he placed a hand over my shoulder and offered a smile.

"Everything will work out. I'm sure of it." Anakin said and I nodded. "Have faith."

"Oh, I have faith. I've placed it blindfolded on those two, but, that doesn't mean I don't worry about them." He smiled.

"I know." He sighed. "Now, we have a bunch of patrol missions to do." I chuckled and we walked out to make our way to the hangar. Once there, we hopped on the Twilight and started flying around different systems here in the Core and the Inner, Mid and Outer-Rim. A quite exhausting trip.

[...]

  We were done at nighttime. As soon as we landed and I yawned, claiming to go to crash here and just sleep, my holo-disk beeped. It was Cal.

"Kestis, what's up?" I asked as soon as his tiny figure, alongside Ahsoka's, appeared before me.

"We have good news." He said excitedly. "King Dendup is safe and breathing, the people have basically joined the cause and we have the help of the army and General Tandin. He's a very nice man, by the way. Like a grandpa." I chuckled.

"That's very good news." I said.

"Yeah..." Ahsoka said making us frown.

"What is it, Snips?" Asked Ani.

"Well, the Separatists definitely know that we're backing the rebels." We stopped walking.

"Oh." I said under my breath. "Well, prepare yourselves. I can't imagine Dooku will be happy about this. The real fight is about to begin." They nodded.

"Will you be able to send some help?" She asked and we looked at each other.

"That's up to the Council, Ahsoka." Said Anakin. She frowned. "We'll see what we can do." They nodded and ended the transmissions once again. I sighed.

"We'll need to arrange a meeting with the Council." He nodded.

"First hour tomorrow. It's too late right now." And he was right, it was almost three in the morning.

  We walked our separate ways to our quarters here and slept in for the following four hours. At 7:00 a.m. sharp Skywalker was already knocking my door for us to talk to the Council. And we did, explaining in detail the information the Padawans provided us. Unfortunately, they said we must not get involved.

"This is outrageous." I complained as I walked with Anakin towards the briefing room. "Ignoring a cry for help...it'll be a massacre." Anakin just sighed as we entered the room and made contact with the Padawans, they seemed to be in the middle of a very tight fight.

"Master!" Said Cal, making his voice audible over a loud explosion in the background. "We seem to have Dooku's full attention." I worried.

"I can see and hear that. How are you holding up?"

"Not that good." I frowned with worry.

"It's a full-scale war. They need our help." Ahsoka said. "Please talk to the Council." We looked at each other briefly.

"We already did." Anakin said. "They won't engage or involve the Republic in an internal affair." I shook my head.

"The Separatists have a new gunship with a powerful ray shield. Nothing's getting past it." Cal commented.

"The Council said they are sorry, and instructed us to tell you to leave if their failure is certain." It pained my soul to say that. But I refuse to do that, to abandon those people. "I will try to push with the Council or find a way to help. In the meantime, evacuate who you can and if we fail to get there, return to Coruscant immediately."

"Yes, Master." They said at the unison and the transmission ended.

  "Well, that is certainly not happening." Said Obi-Wan behind us, making us both turn around.

"How long have you bee there?" I asked.

"Long enough to hear your plan." I bit my lip. "Allana, the Council has spoken, we must not interfere."

"But we must help them." I said as he walked downstairs.

"We will do what we can to relocate the survivors."

"Before they lose their planet, we mean." Anakin backed me up.

"We can't." Obi-Wan said again. I'm getting tired of that phrase.

"What difference does it make now? The Separatists already know we're involved." I nodded in agreement.

"Listen, I don't disagree with you, but to send in Republic gunships defeats our purpose." I rolled my eyes. "We must stay true to our intentions, learn our lessons."

"It doesn't have to look like we're the ones helping." I said when something clicked in my head.

"What do you mean?" Asked Kenobi.

"What if another party was involved?"

"Another party? Who in the Galaxy would be running around with an extra batch of missiles?"

"Hondo..."

"You can't be serious." I started walking towards the entrance. "Allana, he's a pirate."

"I'm aware of that." I turned around. "Try to trust me on this one, if I screw up, you can give a long-ass lecture and the Council can punish me, but I will not sit here and watch all of those young women and men die because Dooku found out we were there. Their deaths will be our fault and I will not go down without a fight. Plus, my Padawan and his are down there. If they die because I didn't do enough...I'll never forgive myself." Anakin smiled.

"I'll go with you." I nodded and Kenobi sighed.

"I'll cover you here. But whatever you do, be careful. I don't trust him." I nodded.

"Thank you. And when are we not careful?" He smiled.

"I don't know? Never?" We scoffed before we started running towards the hangar. This time it was en emergency. As we ran, we contacted our astromechs and asked them to prep the fighters and the space-rings. And also to get spice as payment into the ships. I'll need to make up for that.

  When we arrived, they were already waiting for us and the star-fighters' cockpits were opened. The engines already warmed up. We hopped into our respective ships and started flying out of the system. By the atmosphere, we found the rings, connected to them and the droids set the coordinates to Florrum immediately. In no time, we jumped into hyperspace.

  About twenty minutes later, we jumped out and the immense planet was before us. We entered the atmosphere and started flying towards the pirate base.

"Land your ship over the hill, let me talk to him alone." I said.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Asked Ani on the opposite side of the line.

"I'm not sure any of this is a good idea, but, it's worth a shot." I looked at his ship and saw him shrugging.

"As you wish." I thanked him with a nod and he landed on top of the hill as I asked while I approached the base. When I landed, I spotted the Captain talking to two of his men, who aimed their blasters at us in within seconds. I hopped off my ship slowly, gaining everyone's attention. Knowing very well Ani did the same behind me. Hondo laughed when he saw me.

  "Naberrie! My old friend, you come alone?" He said.

"Not really. Skywalker's over there." I pointed with my thumb to the back. We all turned around and said man waved at us from the distance before crossing his arms.

"Right." Hondo started waving back. "Hello!" He yelled before looking at me again. "What brings you here?"

"Your service."

"Oh, business! Good, good, good. That I understand."

"I need you to make a delivery for me." The guns clicked all around us as Ohnaka laughed while I frowned.

"And that is all I am to you, Jedi?" He turned around to face me. "A delivery boy?"

"What are you talking about? Weren't we friends as well?" He chuckled again.

"Go straight to the point, sweetheart." I rolled my eyes. "Don't try to buy me with kindness."

"I was not trying to buy you, but, as you wish." I sighed. "I know that if I need arms shipped illegally, you're the man I need to go to." His eyes opened wildly as I crossed my arms.

"Illegally?" He gasped. "Now why would a Jedi need to deliver arms illegally?"

"How about I pay you well enough that you just deliver the missiles for me and don't ask any questions?" Ah, the art of answering a question with a question. I love it. That's when he started laughing once more.

"Well, as long as you don't pay me in credits, I'm sure I could accommodate to your wishes, Master Jedi." I offered a hand.

"Then we have a deal. Does spice sound good to you?" He chuckled and took my hand to shake it.

"It does." We let go of each other. I walked towards my ship and took the box I was carrying. "Let me see, let me see."

"I'll let you when you show me what you've got."

"What exactly are you looking for?"

"Something that can penetrate ray shields." He smiled, made a hand movement and in a second, two men arrived with a box. He opened it and let me see rocket launchers. "Huh."

"Two boxes like this one shall suffice." I nodded and opened the box. He narrowed his eyes. "Where's the rest?" I chuckled.

"I'm no idiot, Hondo." I closed the box. "You get the first half now and the second one after the delivery is successfully done." He smiled.

"A woman that knows how to do business, I like that." He sighed. "Load my ship." He ordered and the men got to work. "Who am I delivering to and where?"

"Ahsoka Tano, you already know her. She's in Onderon." He nodded.

"Very well." I handed the box over and he gave it to some guy. "I'll deliver it myself. Meanwhile make yourselves feel at home. When I get back, you give me the other half, we shake hands, call it a day and forget any of this happened our your sake."

"Our sake." He nodded. "Agreed. And be careful, it's a war zone." He nodded and hopped on his ship when he was notified it was ready.

  As I walked backwards, the ship took off and I watched it get off-world. I met Anakin by the hill and we sat there by his ship for hours until Hondo's ship returned. Skywalker gave me the other box and I jumped down to meet the Captain.

"You didn't tell me I was going to be shot by droids." He complained.

"I warned you about Onderon being a war zone, didn't I?" He narrowed his eyes and rolled them a second later. "Here's the other half." He grabbed the box, opened it and gave it to the same guy. "Thank you, Captain." I extended my hand and he shook it as he nodded.

"It was a pleasure doing business with you, General." I nodded and waved at Anakin. He nodded and got into his ship at the same time I entered mine.

"Likewise." He nodded. "See you around, Ohnaka."

"See you, Naberrie." I closed the cockpit with the click of a button and started piloting away. When we were off-world we entered Coruscant's coordinates and were taken there with the help of the space-rings. We got off the fighters as soon as we landed on the Temple's hangar and took a deep breath.

  "Hopefully it'll work." Said Anakin and I nodded after rising my eyebrows.

"How did it go?" Asked Obi-Wan once he had reached our side, he was waiting by the landing platform.

"Good. The rebels got the help they needed. I just hope things go alright there."

  For the rest of the morning, we stayed at the briefing room waiting and waiting. We even ate there, but, we didn't get a single report message; not a call, nothing. Something was not going well. The three of us had a bad feeling but we didn't know why. It was 3:30 p.m. when we got a message. Finally. When we answered, it revealed Ahsoka and Cal, both with sad expressions on their faces and the first one had a bandage over her shoulder. Anakin and I worried immediately.

"Ahsoka, what happened?" Asked Ani. "Are you alright?"

"I am, Master. It's...nothing." Cal looked at her sadly.

"It's over. The rebels won." He said and I frowned.

"And why aren't we happy about it?" He sighed and she frowned.

"It's better if you come here." The transmission ended and we looked at each other confused. Obi-Wan nodded and the three of us made our way to the hangar, where we hopped on a large vessel, and Anakin piloted all the way to Onderon.

  When we arrived, we saw streaks of smoke crawling out of many places, destroyed areas, droid spare parts, as well as the bodies of many rebels spread on the ground. A knot was formed in my throat and chest. If only we had helped sooner...

  Anakin landed near the entrance of Iziz and we walked out of the ship, spotting a lot of people —if not all of them— gathering in the main street. We started our approach and when we got closer to the palace, we realised why Cal told us it was better if we were here. Someone had died, and everyone was paying tribute.

  My eyes scanned the place and they found everyone's eyes except for Steela's. That could only mean that the corpse that was being covered by a while blanket was hers. I sighed as we stood before the fancy coffin where she was laying and bowed our heads before her. Then, we stood on the side and saw how Saw, Lux, Cal and finally Ahsoka were the next ones. Snips looked terribly sad. I mean, everyone did, but her eyes had this shade of guilt. Like Saw's. It was painful to see that, not to mention that we could sense it.

"It has been quite a journey for our Padawans." I commented, low enough for the men that were flanking me heard it. And I didn't say that as to speak about the kids separately, but in an united matter. We both know how Cal is much of Ani's Padawan as Ahsoka's mine. We've been training them both simultaneously.

"Steela will be a powerful spirit in their lives." Said Anakin.

"Yes." Obi-Wan commented. "For all of us." In that moment, the King started speaking.

  "Remember this day, the day Onderon became free again." When his voice stopped echoing around, the roar of the crowd's cheer replaced it. It sounded amazing. I got goosebumps, and I can assure that, if Steela was here, she'd get them too.

  When the farewell ceremony was over and we payed our respects to the brother, we started our way to the ship. When we reached the vessel and we boarded, Ahsoka asked to be excused. Claiming to be tired, and Anakin let her with no questioning.

  Cal told us what had happened and we understood even better why Snips seemed to be so upset. And who could blame her? No one. I wanted to talk to her, tell her not to feel guilty, that it wasn't her fault; but, the wisest thing to do at the moment was to let her have her space. Plus, I'll leave that to her former Master.

  When we arrived at the Temple, the kids went to their rooms and Obi-Wan said he'd inform the Council, which gave us a window to get out of here.

  We got home, left our weapons on our nightstands, kicked off our shoes and sat on the couch to watch the sunset. A very relaxing evening, indeed. We asked for take-out, a very tasty meal from an Alderaan restaurant that's a few blocks away from where we live.

  When we finished our food, we started the nighttime routine: brushing teeth, taking a shower, dress up with pyjamas and lay down in bed. It didn't take long before we fell asleep, after all, today was en exhausting day.