Boz Pity, 6 Weeks Later

Luke Skywalker, once again, stood on the temperate, green world of Boz Pity, looking out over one of its many canyon systems.

Where this view differed from the ones of years past, however, was in the remarkable number of men, machines, and prefabricated structures that had taken over the valley itself. Did he see the marks of this occupation and assault when last he walked the surface of this world? Or was he too preoccupied with what he would be doing once again?

“Master Starkiller.”

Luke looked back at Anakin as the man stopped by his side. “It's quite a view,” he said. “Have you ever seen something like this before?”

“A few times,” Luke replied. “Not quite like this, but something like it.”

“I see,” Anakin replied, his tone somewhat subdued. After a moment, he cleared his throat. “So, where is this holocron hidden?”

Luke took the opportunity to open up a holo map, studying it for a second as he thought back several years, for him at least. The Force had guided them…

He pointed at a spot on the map that was in between two of the major droid bases. “It was around here. In a rather well-preserved little hideaway. It couldn’t have been much older than the Clone Wars.”

Anakin hummed as he nodded. “I see. Think we can sneak a few Jedi in there?”

“With where it’s positioned… it’s risky. At least when we did it the first time, there weren’t two rather major bases full of droids we needed to worry about.”

Anakin cupped his chin thoughtfully, likely considering the strategic and tactical options available to them. “Maybe we could devote forces to attack and draw away the attention of the bases. Give us some time to search.”

“Us?” Luke asked, his brow slightly arched. “As I recall, you’re in charge of a whole 1/5th of the army currently invading.”

“They’re smart men,” Anakin replied. “They’ve made miracles on their own, and this is a pretty by-the-book planetary invasion. We can tell them what to do and let them work. They aren’t droids, after all.”

The pair was silent for a moment, the memory of those damned chips once again intruding. The progress of taking the chips out was slow, certainly. Several million clones undergoing cranial surgery took time, and a lot of it. But progress was steady, and the results were remarkably promising. The clones that had undergone the process had reported a much better quality of life even only after a day or two.

“Any progress on finding out what the chips are?” Luke asked quietly. “Whether there’s some sort of trail to follow?”

Anakin sighed, equally quietly. “Not really. Pal… Sidious likely covered his tracks well enough that trying to conclusively link them to him would probably be next to pointless.”

“Makes sense,” Luke said with a grimace. “But we'll cross that line when we come to it. Right now, we'll need to find the holocron and liberate the planet.”

“That easy, huh?” Anakin snarked.

“Well, we've already ruled out one major base by destroying it,” Luke said. “It's just a matter of the process of elimination.”

Anakin chuckled. “You sound like Obi-Wan. Maybe you should hang around him more often.”

Luke nodded, smiling slightly. “I should. Perhaps he should come along as well.”

Luke found the stirring of… hesitation from Anakin rather odd. “Maybe,” Anakin said. “But he likes to lead his troops alongside Commander Cody. He isn’t exactly one for unexpected adventures.”

“You haven’t told him?” Luke asked.

Anakin’s jaw clenched. “He’s… he’s a real stickler for the rules. The Jedi Order is his life. Having been around him since you and yours… told us about the future, he’s been in… well, let’s call it a mood.”

Luke’s expression began to match Anakin’s. “I understand. But talking with the Obi-Wan I know, he was either going to experience it now… or at the fall of the Order.”

Anakin sighed quietly. “Let’s get Rex, Cody, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka together. We need to figure out how to get this holocron. Who knows? Maybe we kneecap this planet in the process.”

. . .

The small number of people that gathered around the holotable in the planning chamber peered at the state of the quadrant they focused on, pondering their options.

“So, sir,” Rex said, “how are you planning to take both of these stations at once?”

“That’s not entirely the plan,” Anakin replied. “A lot of this is going to be a probing attack. Both sites have a high probability of being the strategic transmitter’s location. Depending on the droid response we get when someone attacks one or the other, we’ll know which one to focus our efforts on.”

“Which leaves us with who attacks where,” Obi-Wan replied. “This one in the northeast, here, can be attacked by the 212th. The other can be the focus of the 501st.”

“Sounds good to me,” Rex said. “When do we attack?”

“We'll leave that to you,” Anakin said. “Obi-Wan will be accompanying me, Master Starkiller, and a few others to go and find a particular artifact. You and Commander Tano will be in charge of the 501st, along with Appo.”

Ahsoka’s brows rose. “Master?” she said incredulously. “Why am I not coming with you?”

“We won’t be long,” Anakin replied. “But I need to make sure there’s a chain of command that we’ll return to. Don’t worry too much. Rex and Appo can take things from here.”

Ahsoka mulled on the words for a moment, then nodded. “Alright,” she said quietly. “I’ll do my best while I’m in command.”

“I trust you’ll do your best, Snips,” Anakin said with a slight smile.

Obi-Wan glanced at Anakin silently, Luke watching on and wondering what he might be thinking.

“Well,” Anakin said, “we’ll let you get to planning, then. We’ll await your signal before we go treasure hunting.”

“What kind of treasure are we trying to look for, Anakin?” Obi-Wan asked.

“A holocron that has valuable information that can serve as… a guidestone for our new course,” Luke replied. “My friends and I found it very useful as we navigated the galaxy of our time.”

“I see,” Obi-Wan said quietly. “I cannot help but wonder where this holocron might have come from. Not that I doubt your good intentions, but uniqueness can often carry danger with it.”

“It is a light side holocron, I can promise you that,” Luke replied. “It may be unique, but the dark side does not taint it.”

Obi-Wan nodded. “With how things have begun to change… guidance from other sources might not be unwise.”

“Good luck out there, sir,” Cody replied.

“Thank you, Cody. I just hope we won’t need too much of it,” Obi-Wan replied.

. . .

A squad-transport speeder, low to the ground and built for quiet operation, thrummed softly as it sped across the surface of the world.

The about half-dozen in the speeder’s passenger cabin waited patiently as Luke and Cal guided the clone driver to their destination.

Anakin looked out the window as he watched the terrain fall by as they went, allowing Luke and Cal to take the reins on getting them where they needed to go. Even in the midst of war, there was a certain beauty to the place, with rolling green fields, small forests being passed by, and bright blue skies.

“So,” the driver said, “word gets around quickly about why we’re having cranial surgery.”

“Somehow, I’m not surprised,” Cal replied.

“You guys are part of why we’re getting those damn chips out of our heads, so… thanks.”

“Well, that’s more Dan and Elle than anything,” Luke replied. “I wouldn’t give any of us too much credit.”

“Still,” the driver replied. “You’ve given us a chance at something more. Your secret’s safe with us. Even the more chatty troopers are keeping a tight lid on things. I’ve got to say, knowing guys like Kep, you’ve worked something of a minor miracle.”

“Certainly sounds like it,” Cal said with a slight chuckle.

Luke interrupted the somewhat cheerful atmosphere as their destination came into sight. “There it is.”

More than a few began to look out the viewscreen as best they could, taking in the ruined city that they fast approached. What architecture could be made out in the rubble was flowing, curved, and yet almost scaled, the tallest buildings that remained somewhat whole in one orientation or another seemed almost like trees of some aquatic world.

“I didn’t know Boz Pity was inhabited before the war,” Anakin said quietly as they made their way around the ruins before finding a way into the city proper.

“Neither did I,” Obi-Wan replied. “Not this recently, at least. I knew there was life here, but as for what happened… no one knows.”

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“It doesn’t look like whoever was here went peacefully,” Elle said, holding Dan’s hand. “This looks like the ruins of a bombardment. Turbolaser, traditional bombs… can't say, with how old everything looks.”

“Stop us here,” Cal said. “We’ll take it from here.”

The driver stopped the speeder. “Best of luck to you. Hope you find whatever it is you’re looking for.”

“Thanks,” Anakin said as the group finished disembarking. “Stay safe on your way back.”

He paused for a moment, his head tilting slightly as he listened. In the distance, the subtle, but unmistakable thunder of artillery was beginning to rumble on their left and their right. The battles were starting far more simultaneously than any of them had been expecting.

The speeder pulled away, leaving the group to their devices as the sound of the vehicle quieted to silence.

“Alright,” Anakin said as he looked at the group. “Lead on.”

Luke nodded, walking past Anakin and Obi-Wan, the others of his group following after.

It gave Anakin a chance to watch the people who had brought him there as they interacted with each other. It proved… enlightening.

Dan and Elle, unsurprisingly, were quite clear in being husband and wife. The others, though, were more subtle, but no less recognizable.

Maybe it was the experience of hiding his relationship with Padmé, but he could see how the Jedi were around their partners. The closeness that wasn’t too close, the quiet conversations that happened that weren’t fully able to be overheard.

Luke and Mara were more flagrant about it, but perhaps they didn’t care. Cal and Merrin, though, were more subtle about it.

‘What do they have to hide?’ Anakin wondered. ‘They must know about the Order’s views on attachment. Do they… not have to hide, usually?’

It would fit, if the Order didn’t exist in their time. As bad as what destroyed the Order had to be, the idea of not having to hide sounded… nice.

He glanced over at Obi-Wan, wondering if he saw what Anakin saw. He seemed more focused on the architecture, but he caught the glances that Obi-Wan cast at Luke and Mara.

He drew back from the group somewhat, and Obi-Wan followed his lead. “So,” he said quietly. “What do you think about them?”

“They’re… strange,” Obi-Wan admitted. “I can see things that they’re trying to hide. Things that… well…”

“Some other people in the Order would be rather upset about?” Anakin asked archly.

Obi-Wan sighed quietly. “That’s putting it mildly,” he replied. “But if their secrecy is tantamount to keeping the Order from falling-”

“I don’t think they fully view that as an entirely bad thing, Master,” Anakin replied. “If Sidious was able to sneak under our noses and take everything apart around us while being able to sit in front of Master Windu and Master Yoda without breaking a sweat… then maybe the Order really does need to change… at least somewhat.”

“But how much?” Obi-Wan asked. “I don’t doubt that the Order isn’t infallible, but how much must change to save us? And will we still be Jedi at the end of it?”

“By whose definition?” Anakin asked. “Ours? Or theirs?”

Obi-Wan was silent as they came to a stop in front of a ruined building, its carvings more unique and ornate than most around them.

“Alright, here we are. Let’s get started,” Luke said, reaching out and lifting a piece of debris with the Force and throwing it aside. Behind it, there was a passageway, rubble-strewn and rough. He took out his lightsaber and ignited it as he made his way into the darkness.

Anakin and Obi-Wan gave each other a glance before following the others in the space tight and the light of Luke’s lightsaber splashing on the crumbled, ad-hoc walls and ceiling as they slowly descended down a gentle slope.

After minutes of descending, they emerged from the tunnel, the space expanding into a massive room, the darkness again pressing in and making the light of Luke’s lightsaber small before other blades, along with a few flashlights, ignited to drive back the darkness. The only thing that pierced the silence of the space’s dread repose, for long moments, was the collected hum of five lightsaber blades.

“I’m half surprised archaeologists haven’t made any forrays into this city as of yet,” Obi-Wan remarked as they began to make their way further into the space. “The entire city looks almost untouched, besides the obvious ruin.”

“Well,” Daniel piped up, “a largely unimportant planet in the Mid-Rim that only recently became an issue due to military action tells me that… I don’t think this city’s inhabitants wanted to be found.”

“Speaking of inhabitants,” Elle said, looking around at the ruins as they came to a charred, human-sized archway, “why haven’t we seen any bodies yet? You’d think with how violent this city’s fall was, we’d see some sort of remains. Bones, clothing… something.”

The emptiness of the space suddenly took on a much sharper, more hostile edge, Anakin shifting his grip on his saber as they continued. “You’re right…” he said slowly.

“Come to think of it…” Luke said as they once again began to descend again, this time down a staircase. “I don’t think we found any bodies the last time most of us were here either. It was just… empty.”

Anakin expanded his senses in the Force, trying to find just how much merit the claims made thus far had. Besides the ten of them that were right here, there was… absolutely nothing. They were the only living beings within a dozen meters in any direction. It did nothing to comfort him.

“I could see why the Rebellion might have given this place a shot,” Mara said as they continued their descent. “The Empire might have just… not paid much attention to what was going on here on the planet.”

A Rebellion and an Empire. That tracked for Anakin, based on what he’d heard tell of. But there were other, more pressing matters to think about. “How much further do we have until we reach the holocron?”

“We should be reaching the catacombs…” Luke began.

Before he could finish speaking, the stairs leveled out, and the stairway again opened into a room. Instead of a massive space, however, the walls were only a few meters away on either side, the ceiling a few meters higher than it was in the stairway. And on either wall, stacked three high, were carved stone caskets, what must have been their occupants carved into the lids in remarkable detail.

Looking around as they walked, the occupants of this chamber were diverse in their racial makeup, humans a minority next to dozens of alien species, the light of the sabers casting shadows across their stone bodies and faces.

“Alright,” Obi-Wan said slowly as they continued down the hallway, “are we about to plunder a grave to find this holocron?”

“No, this won’t involve any desecration,” Cal replied. “If this is who I think it is…”

Luke paused in front of one of the middle caskets on their right, at about chest height with them. The others gathered around and regarded the figure depicted on the lid of the casket, a reptilian with a crest emerging from its head. They were dressed in what was unmistakably Jedi robes.

“A Vurk Jedi,” Anakin said as he studied the casket. “I think that’s the first easily recognizable Jedi I’ve seen here. How did they know to come here?”

“Or maybe the better question might be what they were hiding from,” Obi-Wan mused as Luke deactivated his saber, Dan and Elle helpfully aiming their flashlights at the base of the casket as he crouched to consider it. After a moment, Luke held a hand over a decorated section of the base, likely applying the Force to it.

Finally, a click accompanied a box a little larger than Luke’s hand popping out, Luke nodding slightly as he slid out the compartment fully to reveal perhaps the most strangely shaped holocron Anakin had ever seen in his life.

The holocron was a strange, lopsided trapezoid, like two five-sided pyramids stuck together offsides at their bases, that was a deep shade of green. Anakin didn’t feel anything overtly malicious from the holocron in the Force, just something… strange. Not the usual feeling he’d had around the holocrons he’d interacted with in the Jedi Temple.

It didn’t seem to faze Obi-Wan, either, the man just quirking a brow as he looked at the holocron, Luke allowing the two to get a good look before stowing it away.

“Our job is done here,” Luke said. “Let’s get back to the surface.”

“Yes,” Obi-Wan said with a nod. “We do still have a battle to prosecute.”

. . .

Ahsoka Tano was fairly sure that the 501st had found the primary droid transmitter.

Her lightsabers were a blur of brilliant green, deflecting a pouring rain of incoming blaster bolts back at the fortress from atop one of the command vehicles of the assault, a massive Juggernaut.

Ahsoka, in some sense, was satisfied with how outstanding of a target she was. The more fire came at her, the less her troops would take, giving them the time and ability to do their jobs.

‘They wouldn’t defend a place this strongly if it wasn’t the transmitter,’ Ahsoka mused, her state of mind almost trance-like as she let the Force guide her.

“Ahsoka. Do you copy?”

Ahsoka ducked behind the turret on the driver’s module. “I hear you, Skyguy. What is it?”

“We’re on our way to your position. What’s the status of the assault?”

“Going alright,” Ahsoka replied. “Could be pushing a little harder, in my opinion.”

“Just hold your position,” Obi-Wan’s voice cut in. “The 212th has just finished its assault and is on its way to your position. We’ve confirmed that your position is the strategic transmitter.”

“Then why wait?” Ahsoka asked. “We’re so close, I can feel it!”

“We’ll be able to ensure that this goes easily with the 212th there,” Anakin replied. “The more we have, the less we risk losing.”

“And if we just hold back, that gives them a chance to regroup and take us out before Master Kenobi’s troops can arrive!” Ahsoka retorted. “We can’t afford to hold back.”

“At least let us get there first, Ahsoka!” Anakin argued.

“We’d certainly appreciate the help!” Ahsoka said, killing her comms and getting back to protecting her comrades. There were still a lot of droids to take apart, and the walls were so close…

. . .

Anakin surveyed the carnage that surrounded him as he and Obi-Wan picked their way through the wreckage of the fortress, scorched metal and bodies scattered around them. Smoke rose from blaster marks and explosion sites that dotted the walls, textured the hulks of vehicles that were silent, save for whatever flames might still be burning.

Such smoke had stopped rising from smaller targets hours ago by this point. The remains of droid soldiers were mingled with the bodies of clone troopers, a sea of white and blue that never failed to make Anakin’s stomach clench.

Ahsoka had decided, quite evidently, to keep pushing, despite warnings to hold back and wait for the 212th. And the price she’d paid was equally evident.

Finally, they found her, talking with Commander Appo in the rubble-strewn path that led into the command center proper.

Appo noticed them first, turning and saluting to them. “Sir,” he said to Anakin, “I’ve got reports on the battle almost ready for you to review.”

“I’ll see to them later,” Anakin said quietly, looking over at Ahsoka, who glanced away from him with a somber expression. “I’d like to talk to Ahsoka.”

“Sir,” was Appo’s only reply as he walked away. Silently, Obi-Wan turned away as well, leaving the two Jedi alone amongst the carnage.

Anakin considered his Padawan for long, silent moments before sighing quietly. “You broke the chain of command,” he said simply.

“Master…” Ahsoka began. “We were so close. I made the decision I felt was right. And it worked. We won.”

“When we could have saved lives taking this place on with the 212th,” Anakin retorted. “Look around you. How many of these soldiers would still be alive right now?”

“I don’t know,” Ahsoka replied. “But holding them back and waiting would have been a mistake. You were coming, but what about the droids? We saw how they got reinforcements too. They even got here just before you did. If we didn’t have fortified positions here to hold out in while you arrived, how many more would be dead?”

Anakin didn’t know. And that was the worst part of this entire war.

Again, he sighed, heavily now as he turned and began to walk to their new command post. “I’m not sure I want to find out. For now, we’ve got other things to worry about. Master Vos and his clones are coming to take charge of the mop-up operation. We’ll be receiving our new assignment after we get done hunting commander droids.”

“Alright,” Ahsoka said, following after. “And…”

She paused for a moment, glancing around to ensure that they were alone. “What did you guys find out there?” she said quietly.

“A holocron,” Anakin replied. “Of what, we don’t know. I don’t think we’ll be opening it here just yet, though. Something tells me…”

“Tells you what?”

“Something tells me there’s a reason the Jedi we found it with took it to their grave.”