Auxiliary Medical Bay 4, The Resolute

“Everyone?” Ahsoka asked. “That doesn’t make sense. Either the Republic wins, or the Separatists win. Does a faction come out of nowhere when we’re weakened?”

Dan shifted to sit on the edge of the table. “You could say that, yes. But, as I’m sure my wife and the others have said, until we can be sure that whatever we say doesn’t reach the wrong ears, we’ll have to be frustratingly vague.”

Anakin sighed quietly. “I suppose you have your own version of op-sec.”

Before he could continue, the doors opened again, Admiral Yularen passing between the arms of two clones in full armor guarding the door. “We’re on our way to Boz Pity, General,” he said. “I suppose I’m here to learn about our new guests, sir?”

“That you are,” Anakin replied. “I’m going to make a call to the Council, inform them of what I’ve heard. Ahsoka, stay here and get friendly. I think our guests might be here for a while.”

He began to turn towards the door, then paused as he looked at Dan. “Are you going to need any mobility aids while you’re recovering?”

Dan looked down at himself and chuckled. “No. And even if I recovered, I wouldn’t need them anyway. I’ll be back to my former age given a couple of days working on myself.”

That raised more than a few eyebrows. “You can… de-age yourself?” Ahsoka asked incredulously.

“Part of the power that allowed us to come back to this time can, at least,” Elle explained. “It allows for control over one’s physiology.”

“So, you aren’t Force-users?” Ahsoka asked.

“Not exactly,” Dan replied.

He paused for a moment as Anakin let himself out, then looked around the medbay silently. “Tell an old soul if you could, which planet did we crash on?”

“We were on Tythelia,” Ahsoka replied.

“That’s a new one to me,” Dan said quietly after a moment of contemplation. “Where’s that near?”

“I guess…” Ahsoka looked over at Yularen, somewhat questioningly.

Yularen looked over at Dan and Elle. “The planet you were found on was rather close to the Separatist capital world of Raxus Prime.”

“Raxus,” Dan said, nodding slightly. “So, Raxus to Boz Pity…”

He glanced at Luke. “Call that 2, 3 days hyperspace travel?”

“Sounds about right to me,” Luke said.

Luke looked over at Yularen. “So, what would you like to learn that we can tell you?”

. . .

“At the end of this war, everyone loses.”

Anakin couldn’t shake the words from his mind even as he waited for the Council, plus Obi-Wan, to connect with his call on the bridge, the doors to the navigation section closed. As vague as the words were, something about them rippled through the Force. They were… ominous. Did that mean they were true?

He didn’t know. And if there was something he hated, it was not knowing.

The holotable bloomed to life, showing Master Windu and Master Yoda hovering somewhat above him.

“Master Skywalker,” Yoda said, smiling slightly. “Your mission a success, I trust it was?”

“Yes, Master Yoda,” Anakin replied. “The northeast front is going to be able to breathe a little easier, now that their refinery has been reduced to so much burning tibana.”

As he spoke, the ever-familiar visage of Obi-Wan appeared, shifting Windu and Yoda to the right.

“Hello, Anakin,” Obi-Wan said. “I’m not sure that calling us about a successful mission, even one as high-stakes as yours was, is entirely necessary.”

He said the words in a slightly chastising tone, with an arched brow followed by a slight smile that said that while he was used to Anakin’s behavior, it would be wise to shift the topic.

“Well, I called to talk about the reason for our success, Obi-Wan,” Anakin replied. “The reason we were able to enter the facility at all was due to a strange shuttle crash. Inside the shuttle were three Jedi and three other people, one of them Dathomiri, who helped us escape.”

“Strange, for a Dathomiri to be so helpful to… anyone, really,” Windu said, cupping his chin thoughtfully.

“That’s not the weirdest part,” Anakin said. “All of them claim to be from the future.”

“The future?” Obi-Wan asked incredulously. “Are you sure that they weren't concussed by the crash?”

“They weren't,” Anakin said. “Malachite cleared them medically, and I did some research before calling you. Of the three Jedi, there aren't any records I can find out here of a Luke or a Mara.”

“What about the third?” Obi-Wan asked.

“That's what convinced me, more than anything they've said yet,” Anakin said. “Because there is a Cal. Specifically, Padawan Cal Kestis, under Master Tapal. They're serving with the 13th Battalion on the Albedo Brave, deeper and lower in the Mid-Rim. But the Cal that I picked up on Tythelia was easily in his 30s, maybe his 40s. He could be a little older, due to how the Force can lengthen lifespans.”

The semitransparent masters looked at each other critically. “Concerning, this is.” Yoda finally said. “Things we may not be meant to know, they might possess.”

“Or things we really should know,” Obi-Wan interjected meaningfully. “Have they said anything that might help us at all, Anakin?”

“They're fairly tight-lipped,” Anakin admitted. “They seem to know that what they know could have some big effects on us. But they have mentioned where they're from. A New Republic.”

“New?” Windu said with a grimace. “Something happens to this one. The Confederacy wins?”

“Not from what they say,” Anakin said darkly. “According to them, both the Republic and the Separatists lose at the end of this war.”

“The Sith, then,” Obi-Wan said, his expression equally dour. “They play the Confederacy and the Republic and take advantage of our weakness.”

“Not unsurprising, that would be,” Yoda said, his brow furled in thought. “Long obscured, our sight of the future has been. To blame, the chaos of the galaxy is.”

“They also tried to prove they were who they said they are by telling us that there's going to be another attack by the Separatists on Kamino, one that might be happening soon, by saying that a defective trooper that one of my soldiers’ knows would be a casualty. It had him pretty shaken up.” Anakin mentioned.

“Another attack on Kamino…” Windu said. “If that is going to be imminent, then we should prepare at least somewhat. If Kamino were to fall, the entire war effort ends there.”

“But if we prepare too obviously,” Obi-Wan retorted, “That might tip our hand to the Separatists. If these people are telling the truth at all.”

“Vexing, the ideas of time travel are,” Yoda said somewhat wearily. “However, warn Kamino, we can. Give them time to prepare.”

“In the meantime,” Windu said, “keep an eye on these people. The last thing we need is a grip of wildcards at the heart of one of our fleets.”

“I doubt they'll be trouble for us,” Anakin said with a shrug. “They seem to want to help more than anything. And at least Luke seems to have some kind of military experience. I'll vet them on my way to you, Obi-Wan. Besides, if three experienced Jedi are willing to help boost our numbers, I can't fully say I'd turn them down.”

“Honestly… neither can I,” Obi-Wan admitted. “I'd like to meet them once you arrive. If nothing else, they've piqued my interest.”

“I'll be sure to introduce the Jedi from the future to you,” Anakin said with a slight smile. “Otherwise, I'm looking forward to wrapping up Boz Pity quickly.”

“We have to actually land on the surface first, my boisterous apprentice,” Obi-Wan said meaningfully. “Their blockade in the orbitals, by starship and station, is remarkably steadfast.”

“We'll see about that,” Anakin said confidently. “I'll be there in about 3 and a half days. There's a pretty big ion storm we're apparently going to have to circumvent in between us and you.”

“I look forward to your arrival,” Obi-Wan said, disappearing as he cut off his call.

“Thank you for informing us about these new Jedi, Skywalker,” Windu said. “Keep us informed on anything else they might say.”

“I'll do my best to, Masters.”

With that, the remaining masters disappeared, and Anakin sighed quietly. This war was already interesting enough. To have people who knew what the end of it was going to look like…

‘I have a bad feeling about this.’ he thought with grim amusement.

. . .

The group was led by the two guards, Sprig and Rynnd, to their bunk room, where 12 bunks, more than enough for 6 people who had, by all accounts, next to nothing.

As the door closed, and they took a moment to take in the silence, Luke looked over at Dan skeptically. “Starkiller? Really? That's what I had to go along with?”

“Would you rather I gave them your real last name?” Dan asked archly, his voice pitched low. “Anakin is already hiding a relationship at this point. To find out he has a son, here? That would cascade things completely out of our control. For now, we feed them information slowly. The easy stuff first. Then the really galaxy-shattering stuff when they're ready.”

With that, Dan made his way to the floor in front of a bunk and sat cross-legged in front of it, closing his eyes and breathing deeply as Luke scoffed softly at what the idea of ‘the easy stuff’ had become.

“Besides,” he said with a slight smile, “where I'm from, it was going to be your name for a little while there.”

Luke arched a brow, then sighed as he shook his head.

“Hey,” Mara said with a wry grin as she gently patted his shoulder, “I would have taken that name too. Even if I would give you grief over how dark and brooding it sounded.”

“I'm not surprised, dear,” Luke said with a slight smile of his own.

They fell silent as they watched Dan begin to glow softly, pinpricks of light, arrayed in several different colors, spreading across his arms and face. After a few moments, they began to lift off, slowly spinning around him as they formed a star cluster of breathtaking spectacle.

Stolen novel; please report.

Luke still couldn't fully believe the depths of his powers. Or Elle’s, as she sat down in the midst of the little galaxy and put a hand on her husband's shoulder, transparent water coalescing around the hand.

His studies of the Force showed that there were miraculous feats that even the Jedi and Sith of this era couldn't match. Things that quite literally changed star systems. But if a Force user could learn even a quarter of what these two could do…

They would be the most powerful Jedi or Sith in the galaxy.

As the pair began their mediation, the remaining pairs made their way to separate ends of the room for some privacy.

Merrin lay on one of the bunks, while Cal sat on the floor opposite of it. It was silent between them for a moment. “About as comfortable as I expected,” she remarked.

“Yeah, that’s… about right,” Cal said quietly.

“Bad memories?” Merrin asked quietly after a moment.

“That too,” Cal admitted. “As horrible as the Purge was… there were good memories too, being on a ship like this. I had a friend in the Iron Battalion. His name was Captain Lancer. We could be more relaxed when Master Tapal was off playing General or diplomat. And he always kept an eye on me when we were in battle together.”

It was silent for a moment, Cal looking down at the ground. Merrin slid out from the bunk, making her way to sit by Cal. After a moment, she took his hand. “Did he…” she began quietly.

Cal shook his head. “No. He must have been somewhere else on the ship when the Purge started. I didn't see him while we tried to escape.”

Merrin squeezed Cal’s hand. “You may not be able to take away the pain that you went through. But you might help us make a better future for this version of you.”

Cal nodded. “Yeah. We can do that.”

They sat there for long moments, simply leaning against each other. “Do you think,” Cal said after a moment, “that changing the past like this could change me?”

Merrin looked past Cal at Dan as he meditated. “That’s a question that I would ask him. We might not remain long enough for such things to matter.”

As Cal nodded, Merrin looked back at him. “And besides, I love you just the way you are. What you've gone through made you strong. Capable. Able to relate to me in a way some high and mighty Jedi knight never could.”

Cal smiled warmly, resting his head against Merrin’s.

The Force stirred Cal, and he looked over at Dan to see him looking back. “Time will not change you, should you change the future here.”

Dan glanced away for a moment, seeming to consider something for a moment. “And, as for if we’ll be leaving… if I know you, and Luke — and myself — well enough… well, I think there’s something you’ve already been thinking about.”

. . .

1 Day Later

Ahsoka found these in-between times when they were traveling somewhere to be at once the calmest moments and perhaps one of the most boring points of being at war. It didn’t help that, on the same ship, there were people who could make life far, far more interesting.

She paced in her quarters, something that was rather… new for her. Skyguy would likely give her some gentle ribbing about meditating and centering her expectations and emotions. Mindful of such Jedi training, she took a deep breath and considered her options.

There were always things she could be doing. Training, maintenance on her lightsaber, finally getting fitted for some sort of armor, speaking with the soldiers that she served with and getting to know them better…

Fives. Fives and Echo. She couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy for them and their friend, 99. Perhaps… there was a way that she could find out a way to change the future?

‘Wait,’ she mused, ‘wouldn’t trying to change the future just cement the event in the first place? Or is that just something epic tragedies use to try and teach a lesson?’

She closed her eyes and sighed. “Time travel…” she muttered, the words tumbling out almost like a curse.

She looked over at her door, pausing where she stood, and standing there for long moments before, at last, she made her decision.

She strode over to the door and opened it, looking out before she made her way towards the medbay where their guests were staying.

The halls were only somewhat busy, the ship having settled into a regular rhythm that she could almost sense in the Force like a heartbeat. It was always fascinating how the clone legions she got the chance to work with not only had such a breathtaking breadth of individuality in their soldiers, but the different imprints that the legions as a whole left in the Force. For her, the thrum of the ‘spirit’ of the 501st was a comfort now, a reminder of bravery and the capacity of self-sacrifice that would make any Jedi who noticed it all the more wise.

She blinked, coming out of her reverie to find two soldiers in her way at a T-junction she meant to turn down. “Fives. Echo,” she said, somewhat startled. “Are you…”

“Going the same way you are?” Echo asked. “Yeah, probably. Fives told me about his run-in with these new passengers. I'm the only one he’s told. Otherwise, these people are still confidential.”

“99?” Ahsoka asked as they began to walk down the corridor.

Echo nodded. “Yeah. I… I have to hear this for myself. At least find out if it's only a few crazy people or if the galaxy really is about to go insane.”

“You talked to these people with the Admiral,” Fives said after a moment of silence. “Anything you've learned since?”

“Well,” Ahsoka replied, “Nothing world-shattering. Luke is, apparently, skilled behind a fighter’s controls.”

“Probably not as good as General Skywalker,” Fives said with a slight grin. “He'll fly circles around the man if he ever gets into a cockpit.”

“He seemed pretty confident of his skills,” Ahsoka replied, “but not overly boastful. His friends backed it up as well. I guess we'll just have to see.”

“Anything else?” Echo asked. “Anything they weren't saying that the Force allowed you to see?”

Ahsoka was silent for a moment, her expression becoming somewhat sad. “Cal, he’s… skittish around clones. I picked it up, and I'm sure Anakin picked it up, while we were on our way back here. Something happened to him involving clones, a long time ago. For him, at least. I'm not sure how much he'll trust you guys.”

“What could have happened to make him scared of us?” Echo asked. “He didn't go rogue, did he?”

“I don't think he went rogue, Echo,” Fives said quietly, his expression dark. “Mara said that people who wore armor like ours would become ‘unpopular’ in the future. What if… we are the ones who go rogue?”

“Impossible,” Echo said almost instinctively. “We wouldn't turn on our commanding officers, our friends, like that. Much less the Republic.”

“Not even if we're ordered to?” Fives asked.

The rest of the walk was taken in a tense, almost fearful silence. One that was only interrupted by coming to a stop at the medbay door, two guards at each side.

“Commander Tano,” one of the guards said. “Are you here to see our guests?”

“I am, Sprig,” Ahsoka replied. “How are they doing?”

Sprig looked over at Rynnd, his helmet obscuring his expression, but the Force revealed both soldiers' hesitation and wonderment. “Well, Malachite’s in there right now. Hasn’t come out since he arrived about two hours ago. You might want to check on him.”

Ahsoka, Fives, and Echo looked at each other with no small amount of confusion. “Is there… something wrong?”

“You’ll have to go in and see,” Rynnd said. “We’re just here to keep trouble from happening.”

Ahsoka nodded. “I’ll go in and make sure for you.”

With that, she opened the door and entered, Fives and Echo coming after her. As the door shut behind them, all eyes, now wide and shocked, were on the sight on the table.

Malachite, who was dressed in his burgundy casuals was, shockingly, talking a mile a minute, poking and prodding at Dan. Dan, also quite shockingly, actually looked younger, his shoulder-length hair, tied in a tail, and beard now gray and silver instead of stark white. His skin was tighter now, almost but not quite free of wrinkles. Now, instead of looking at least 90, he looked to be in his 60s.

It made the scars on his face and arm stand out all the more. Around his left eye, there was a starburst of lines seemingly radiating from his eye. On his right arm, a long line of slightly puckered, pale white began on top of his arm and traced down the middle of it, wrapped through in between his middle and ring fingers, and ended on the bottom where it started above.

The man looked over at the trio with a slight smile. “Miss Ahsoka, Fives, Echo. Good to see you again. And good to meet you, Echo. Something we can help you with?”

“I wanted to check up on you…” Ahsoka began. “See if there was anything new to learn.”

Dan smiled slightly, shrugging somewhat theatrically as Malachite moved away from him. “I’m sure you have plenty of questions, especially now that you’ve seen me in the process of recovery.”

“Where’d you get those scars?” Fives asked. “That a cybernetic eye?”

Dan was silent for a moment, idly feeling the scars around his eye. “No, this eye is real. Not the original, but then again, there isn’t much of me anymore that’s ‘original’.”

Ahsoka pushed aside the intrusive thought of asking what, exactly, was still original. Or what that statement meant. “That doesn’t explain where you got the scars,” she said.

Dan sighed quietly. “I’ll fully admit, you wouldn’t believe me in the slightest if I told you the whole truth. But I did earn them in battle from a particularly vindictive foe.”

“Some sort of Sith?” she asked. “I could see someone that twisted giving you those.”

Dan was silent, contemplative for a moment. “Something worse,” he said quietly.

After a moment, he shook his head. “I can guess why you’re here, Echo. Fives told you about what Elle said.”

“He did,” Echo said, his face drawn tense. “I don’t believe you. You could have accessed documents surrounding us somehow. Sliced into records at some point to try and manipulate us towards whatever end you’re getting at. How can we tell you aren’t spies?”

It was silent for a moment. “You have only our word at the moment. And the assurance that just because 99’s death is history in the ‘when’ which we came from, that here it could, perhaps, be circumvented. Time is far more resilient than you might think. Though trying to restrain 99 in any way is out of the question.”

Echo opened his mouth, then closed it. “You want to protect him?” he asked.

Dan nodded. “If we can. If we’re able to join you in battle, we can promise more.”

He looked over at Ahsoka. “I’m not entirely sure what monitoring you have on us, but we’ve been talking about joining your war efforts.”

“We only have monitoring at the detention centers,” Fives said. “Everywhere else is a private space. You’re guests, and you are suspicious, but you aren’t prisoners.”

“That, at least, is good to know,” Mara interjected. “Especially seeing as you’re all such a nice bunch of people.”

“Thanks,” Fives said, slightly sardonically. “I’m glad the soldiers on the warship keeping you detained are decent company.”

Mara only grinned slightly at the reply as Luke took up the conversation. “Ahsoka here has already learned that I’m skilled in a cockpit. If you have… a spare Z-95 around, I can take part in any space battles. And we’d be willing to put ourselves under your command for any ground battles.”

“I appreciate the offer,” Ahsoka replied. “However, I’d have to clear it with Master Skywalker first. Maybe Captain Rex, too.”

“But three Jedi and three soldiers who know how to fight alongside them is tough to pass up,” Cal said. “Isn't it?”

Ahsoka sighed. “You're not wrong. And I doubt Master Skywalker would say any different. I'll go and talk to him.”

Thank you, Ahsoka,” Elle said. “I'm glad we might be able to help.”

Ahsoka nodded, looking over at Fives and Echo. “Anything else you two might need?”

The two troopers both shook their heads. “No, ma’am,” Echo replied. “I'm not completely satisfied right now… but, but I can work with them if they’ll protect my brothers.”

Dan nodded, looking over at Malachite. “Are any more examinations needed?” he said with an amused smile.

“I think I've reached the limits of what I can see,” Malachite admitted.

Dan nodded, then looked at the trooper’s buzz-cut head, his eyes narrowing slightly. “That scar, on the side of your head. I saw the same scar in the same place on Rex.” he gestured to the top right part of his hand. “It looks old. Remarkably so. Where'd you get that from?”

Malachite’s hand went to where Dan mentioned, frowning slightly as he went to a mirror, peering closely at what was likely an almost invisible mark. “I… don't know. Doesn't feel or look like a battle scar. More like a… surgery mark.”

Malachite looked over at Fives and Echo. “Do either of you two have something like that?”

Fives and Echo both reached up, felt through their hair. “I can't…” Fives began, thenpaused as he frowned. “Wait. Maybe…”

“Come with me,” Malachite said promptly and firmly. “If there's something cranial that was either taken out of or put into us, then I want to know what that is before it might hamper us in combat.”

With that, Malachite walked over to Fives and Echo, shepherding them out of the auxiliary medbay, leaving Ahsoka with the group.

Dan hummed softly, then smiled slightly. “Amazing, what a few words can reveal.”

“Did you just… change something?” Ahsoka asked.

“I would certainly hope so.”

Ahsoka wondered what he might mean. Wondered what Cal’s confused expression meant.

“I'll go ahead and talk to Master Skywalker,” Ahsoka said, beginning to turn the door. She paused for a moment and looked back at Dan.

“I hope your… recovery goes well,” she said, then exited.

. . .

As the group found themselves alone, three pairs of eyes turned to Daniel with some confusion.

“What was that all about?” Cal asked. “Do they have something inside them?”

Dan frowned, then his brows rose as he nodded slowly. “You never realized, did you?”

“What?”

“That many of the clones didn’t have a choice,” Dan said. “How new was your Battalion?”

“We’d just received a lot of fresh troops, but…” Cal shook his head. “What does something in their heads have to do with anything?”

“Insurance, Cal,” Elle said. “For the ones that might be too close.”

“Like Lancer,” Cal said quietly, his head falling into his hands. “Oh, hell…”

Dan nodded. “It’s not much. But it’s a start.”

“A start to what?” Luke asked. “We’re staying here to help, but how far do we go?”

“We’re going to bring Sidious’s entire scheme crashing down around his ears,” Dan said firmly. “One piece at a time.”