Order 66 - Blog Posts

Summary:

What if Order 66 happened differently... but the Clone Wars ended on a somewhat sour note? But with a galaxy united? This series aims to explore that. Like I said earlier... I made another failed Order 66 AU.

Would you believe me if I said this is the third time I've done this?

Not me making a list of all the Clone centered episodes SW: The Clone Wars Series because it's one of my favourite comfort shows and I love the clones more than anything in the franchise. Nooooo definitely nooooot meee

So there's Star Wars: The Bad Batch right?

But after watching it I realized that it's just a bunch of different dads taking care of one kid.

IT'S JUST A GROUP OF DADS

(that are not actually biological dads, just a bunch of adopted ones)

AND I AM SOO HERE FOR IT

Please give me more

The Bird Song by Noah Floersch but it's just codywan and order 66

Sadly beautiful. 💔

ever wonder about the afterlife?

codywan song

Was listening to ‘Brave Enough’ by Lindsey Stirling while planning the second chapter for my fic Children of War and thinking of Cody and Obi-Wan, post Order 66, with flashbacks to the Clone Wars. I’m sad now.

It's time to read more star wars crack fics.

Because if I read one more cannon compliant fanfiction, I'm going to cry myself to sleep.

did anyone tell anakin about the inhibitor chips or were his last memories of the 501st handing them off to ahsoka and then them proceeding to try and kill her

do u think he blamed himself.

do u think he did the same "well she left the order a while ago" that rex pulled.

do u think he kept ahsoka's lightsaber along with the padawan strand in a drawer on the death star.

do u think luke ever reminded him of her.

did anakin ever get to grieve ahsoka.

To be fair considering there were presumably a couple hundred Jedi running around killing most of them is great. Plus the rest of them being forced into hiding and incredibly disorganized is also really good.

And finally a good number of escapees are either elders who are gonna die soon anyways or padawans who have little training and are unskilled

Anyway Order 66 wasn’t that effective huh

We’re lead to believe in the original trilogy that Obi-Wan and Yoda were like, the only two to make it out. But then you watch the shows, read books and comics, play Fallen Order, and you’re like. Now hang on just a minute. Because Ahsoka Tano and Kanan Jarrus make it, Cal Kestis and Cere Junda make it, Grogu survived as a BABY, all of the inquisitors technically, now Gungi, and according to wookieepedia my beloved

Master Kirak Infil'a

Master Coleman Kcaj

Master Obi-Wan Kenobi

Master Taron Malicos

Master Jocasta Nu

Master Oppo Rancisis

Master Luminara Unduli

Master Uvell

Master Quinlan Vos (presumed)

Master Yoda

Knight/Jedi Temple Guard the Grand Inquisitor

Knight Cere Junda

Padawan Ferren Barr

Padawan Caleb Dume

Padawan Gungi

Padawan Cal Kestis

Padawan Trilla Suduri

Unidentified Rodian Jedi youngling

Former Master Eeth Koth

Former Padawan Naq Med

Former Padawan Ahsoka Tano

Zubain Ankonori

Selrahc Eluos

Fifth Brother

Grogu

Khandra

Ka-Moon Kholi

Mususiel

Masana Tide

Nari

Nuhj

Seventh Sister

Kira Vantala (According to legend)

So that’s 33 confirmed individuals and god only knows how many else ???????

All I’m saying is Order 66 was not that effective

Aw, I'm still amazed we made the most popular ships list again! ❤️ ✨

Reunion

(I’m not 100% sure what the etiquette is for formatting, so my apologies if this looks awful.)

Warnings: Angst? Yeah, angst. The usual Order 66 feels. Rex being soft.

This is a character I came up with during the Bad Batch weeks, and I might be posting little ficlets about Miah and her clones, because her heart is full. Enjoy :)

_______________________________________________________________

Miah’s reunion with Captain Rex came mere weeks after Order 66, a time fraught with peril for any who held ties to the Jedi, let alone a Jedi themself. She didn’t know what planet she landed on, only that it had enough people for her to hide amongst. The terror and uncertainty caused by the Great Purge fractured the remaining Jedi, so Miah travelled alone, unsure whether there were other survivors out there, somewhere in the Galaxy. Even the fate of her Master, Obi-Wan, was a mystery to her.

Walking the busy streets in the evening, Miah reflected on what led her there, as she often did; what else existed for her to dwell on, except the past? The present seemed so dark, so bleak and shattered - so far from what it was supposed to look like. 

Underneath the folds of her cloak, Miah’s hand found the amulet Echo gave to her; she screwed her eyes shut, coming to a stand-still in the rain as another wave of grief and pain threatened to topple the young Jedi. These feelings, powerful, and dangerous, acted as constant companions that swarmed to fill the void left in the Force where her friends should be. They made her feel less alone.

She slowly opened her eyes again, tearing them away from the star-dotted sky above, her mind desperately wondering where did we go wrong? 

The wind blew through the street at a howling pace, many bypassers losing their hoods. Miah’s stayed up, and she hoped it wasn’t too conspicuous. Across from her, a man hurriedly tried to cover his head again, but not quickly enough; she watched him turn, saw the flash of blond hair and all-too-familiar features, immediately recognising the man she’d been honoured to call Vod. 

Elation caught her tongue, swelling inside her chest until it was bursting. Finally, Miah thought with a smile, a friend who isn’t dead.

Then, as Rex’s gaze locked with hers, a light sparking in them, Miah’s memory caught up with her emotions. Cold fear dropped into her stomach like a ten-tonne weight, and the smile vanished in an instant. Before she could think about his expression, the way Rex had acted, the clearly out-of-place circumstances they’d reunited under, she turned and fled into the marketplace. 

Concentrating in order to avoid panicking, Miah cursed when she heard his heavy-booted steps falling close behind. Years spent together on battlefields meant he knew her every trick, could predict her every move. The icy hand of dread once more clutched at her heart, but Miah refused it; she would not be responsible for the death of another Clone. Especially not him. 

“Miah! Wait!”

She ducked under a passing merchant cart, continuing to run without any real idea as to where she was going. But this proved to be a fatal mistake when the alley became a dead-end, and Miah stood at the wrong side.

Hands shaking under her cloak, fingers grazing the cool metal of her lightsaber, she turned around - hoping beyond hope she somehow lost him in the crowd. But, no; at the other end of the alley stood Captain Rex, someone Miah used to gravitate toward, now she shrunk away from him.

“Please,” she whispered, holding her hands out as they quivered, silently asking Rex to stop, “don’t...I can’t...not again. Please. Don’t make me do this.”

If Miah had been able to look at the former trooper, she might have noticed the softness in his eyes, the way his steps faltered as Rex saw her fear, and his devastation at seeing his friend so distraught by his presence. But her eyes refused to settle on him, to see the face of a million men, the faces of the Clones she struck down on Coruscant. Her friends.

“Miah,” he said softly, “I’m not going to hurt you.”

She made a sound that could have been a sob, but it got stifled and bitten down. “Don’t try and trick me, Rex. I don’t want this. Leave me alone, please, brother.”

In the darkened alley, rain fell heavily on them both: the Jedi who fought for so long, she no longer had the energy to raise her lightsaber in defence of her own life; and the Captain who had been turned into an enemy by circumstances beyond his control. Neither moved, and neither was willing to harm the other. But the tension, the shared knowledge of recent occurrences between the former comrades kept them on edge, reluctant to act in case something went wrong.

Finally, Rex slowly raised his hands in the air, his brow furrowed and a deep frown on his face as he took a cautious step forward. “Vod’ika, I swear to you, I’m not a threat. My Inhibitor chip was removed by Ahsoka.”

Miah blinked, almost looking at him. “...Ahsoka?”

A tiny flicker of hope appeared in her voice when she nearly let herself believe it, nearly allowing herself to believe there was one other Jedi alive, because even now, after everything, Miah struggled to think of Rex as anything but trustworthy and loyal. Which he was, but how did she know his chip wasn’t active?

“Yes,” he said, seeing an opportunity to calm her, “Ahsoka survived. I helped her get away. The chips caused it all, the Clones, we didn’t mean to do it, Fives-”

“I know,” she said, “I remember. A purpose bigger than any of us could comprehend.”

Rex nodded, hesitant and unsure of his next move. “I don’t know how to make you believe me.”

Miah finally looked him in the eye, resisting the stinging in her own. “Neither do I.”

Stuck on the path back to each other, they continued to stand in the rain, away from the bustling city crowds and the heaving market. They seemed to exist on the very edges of the throbbing veins of society, which stung when memories of when they were front and centre, back to back, in the very midst of it all crept into their thoughts. A curious thing, how two people so intimately tied to actions determining the fate of the Galaxy could pass unnoticed, two lonesome figures in the evening downpour, nameless faces to be forgotten. 

And yet, to them, forgetting the other’s face was an inconceivable thought; how could they, when the clearest years of their life were spent building an iron trust, a bond forged in battle? Rex had been one of the men to give Miah her name, a gift she never took for-granted, not for a second; and so, placing her faith into that bond, she reached out into the Force, the first time since the shock of Order 66 caused Miah to cut herself off from it, searching for the truth.

“Rex...you’re not lying to me, are you? I really don’t want to hurt you, I can’t…”

The former Captain shook his head, a soft, reassuring smile making its home on his lips. A familiarity surrounded the expression, helping to convince her. “I swear, on the memory of Fives, my inhibitor chip is gone, and I am not going to try to kill you.”

Miah hesitated only a moment, the solemn vow carrying enough weight to lower her defensive stance. She stepped forward, holding out her arm for him to grasp. “I’m sorry, Rex. I know Clones whose chip have been activated don’t speak like this, I just had to be sure…”

He clasped her forearm tightly, reaching over with his free hand to grasp her shoulder. “You have nothing to apologise for, Miah’ika, I understand.” Tears gathered in his eyes, and Rex bowed their foreheads together. “You have no idea how happy I am to see you again.”

Miah laughed softly, cradling the back of his head. “I think I might have an idea, Vod.”

Aliit

Somewhere along the way, the Bad Batch picked up not only Omega, but another young girl too, though older than the female clone. She reached just below Hunter’s shoulder, and wore a drastically severe, short haircut, that not long ago included a braid.

A former Jedi Padawan, survivor of Order 66, cast into the Galaxy with no protection, and her previous allies, her friends, sent out to hunt the girl down. By some miracle, she managed to avoid them long enough for Clone Force 99 to stumble across her, and none of them had the heart to abandon the rather reckless, passionate little Jedi. So, she became one of their own; an elder sibling to Omega, and a second adopted child to the group.

But the girl, whose name was Mai Kryze, (she claimed the name had no connection to the former Duchess Satine, but Echo thought she looked eerily similar to Obi-Wan-Kenobi,) did not have Omega’s innocent disposition. Mai had seen the war, watched her people slaughtered, and been on the recieving end of the clones’ persecution.

One night, aboard the ship, the crew rested after a particularly arduous mission. Most of them by now were asleep, apart from two: Mai, and Hunter; however, he was only awake because the quiet sniffling from the cockpit refused to be ignored. He tossed and turned for ages, feeling guilty for leaving the girl alone, but unsure of how to help. She gave him a run for his money when it came to keeping emotions close to her chest; though he supposed it was the Jedi way.

Eventually, once the sniffling turned to sob, Hunter left his bunk and carefully worked his way through the ship, not wanting to disturb the others. Especially not Omega. When he reached the cockpit, he saw Mai’s hunched form in one of the seats, curled into a ball as her shoulders shook.

“I know you’re there,” she mumbled, head buried between her kness.

Hunter sat down next to her, awkwardly leaning on his thighs. He knew how to comfort Omega, now he had practise, but Mai never seemed to need any reassurance or comfort. Though he knew it had been an act, sometimes they all forgot, despite being a Jedi, Mai was only sixteen.

She wiped her face, head angled away from him as she tried to control her breathing. “M’sorry if I disturbed you.”

“Don’t be. I’d rather know something was up than sleep while you cried. Wanna talk about it?” Hunter asked, remembering a piece of advice Cut gave.

For a moment, Mai held his eye, uncertainty crossing her own. Then she brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, staring out into space. “During the mission, I...I saw a wanted poster for the Jedi. Only two of the faces hadn’t been crossed out; Master Yoda, and my Master, Obi-Wan. The rest...so many. Even Master Windu.”

Hunter watched her expression contort, an array of emotions flashing across it in an instant. His eyes widened at this, as she never let anything truly register on her face, and now...

Blazing anger reared its head, and Mai clenched her jaw, her hands gesturing wildly. “They’ve destroyed my people, my culture, everything! They’ve taken everything from me, and they won’t stop. Not until every single person in the Galaxy hates the Jedi, until they tarnish our memory forever. I will never be safe, safe enough to practise my beliefs, to help and to be who I trained to be my whole life. I can’t do anything. For anyone.”

She took a breath, calming herself, using the techniques her Master taught her. Anger came rarely to Mai, but when it did, she needed to work hard in order to control it. Brushing hair from her face, she glanced at Hunter.

“I know the Jedi aren’t perfect, believe me, I know. But so many of us were just good people trying to do what was right, to save lives and...I don’t know, try and bring hope to the Galaxy. Everyone makes mistakes, even Jedi, so we didn’t always get it right. But we truly care for each person in the universe, would lay down our lives for them; and yet, this is how the Jedi fall? Betrayed by one of our own, and hunted down by our friends. Sometimes I wonder if the will of the Force isn’t just some joke made up to make us feel better when things fall apart.”

Hunter wished he could take this pain away from her. The way it tore across her face, dug into her heart...she felt differently to others, he knew that. Force users connected with the world in a strange way, more deeply, and when something hurt, that pain ripped them apart. “Kid, I...I don’t think there’s anything I can say to make this any better. I saw Order 66, what happened to our Jedi...we cannot imagine what it was like for you. I’m sorry, truly sorry. The only thing I have to offer is...us.”

Mai raised her eyes to him; they glistened with tears, but her confusion at his words momentarily halted their fall. “What do you mean?”

“You lost a family, your people,” Hunter said, grasping her shoulder gently, “and we can never replace them. But we can offer you a new home, a new family, one where you are still free to be a Jedi. None of us will ever think less of you, or try to change you. Us lot may be a bit odd, but we’ll do our best to look after you, Mai.”

In the dark cockpit, their faces only illuminated by the stars outside, Hunter felt a connection, something had reached out and touched him in the silence. It took seconds for him to realise it was Mai; he recognised the presence, and smiled. She returned it, albeit shyly, and fought back a yawn.

“Thank you, Hunter. I don’t think you know how much it means to me that you all care so much. And I’m sorry I don’t really show how I feel in return...it will take time for me to get used to you guys. You bear your emotions so freely...that was a downside to the Order. No matter how deeply I cared for the people around me, I could never say it.”

Hunter hesitated a moment, then carefully pulled Mai into his arms, cradling the youngster with as much care as he would give Omega. She tensed, and he wondered if he had gone too far, then her arms wound around his middle and she clutched onto him. The way Mai clung to him, Hunter realised she’d probably never been hugged in her life, which only made him hold tighter.

For her part, Mai couldn’t have been more thankful for them. With these men, her new family, she might get the chance to heal, to continue her training in peace, knowing she was protected and cared for, so that one day, she could save them, as they had saved her.

Holding onto Hunter as if he’d vanish if she let go, Mai smiled, recalling a word in Mando’a Cody once taught her. Aliit. She had one of her own, now.

Dogma Post 66

Picture this:

Dogma, having Slick as his prison-mate, and finding out what exactly happened to Tup and subsequently, Fives.

The rule follower, who killed a Jedi traitor, and instead of being reconditioned or decommissioned, gets locked in a cell.

Having regular conversations with Boba Fett (who tried to kill a Jedi) and Slick (THE traitor clone) while constantly coming into contact with the Coruscant Guard (Who have all kinds of bad going on).

Then Order 66.

I see Dogma’s name becoming even more ironic than it already is. Anarchist!Dogma burning down Empirical bases.

Walking through doors that say “Do Not Enter”, waving for others to follow him.

He becomes a legend in The Rebellion. Very few know that he’s a clone.

He’s known for never respecting authority… which makes it all the more shocking to others when he respects and follows Captain Rex without complaint.

Maintains a good relationship with both Slick and Boba.

Totally where’s a black leather jacket.

The loss of his twin (Tup) weighs heavily on him in quiet moments of seriousness.

Takes to starting riots against the Empire.

Great at riling up support for the rebellion.

He's with the rebellion right now, but once talk of a new republic seems feasible, he leaves. People say it's because an agent of chaos cannot flourish in peace. In reality, he remembers the republic he lived in. He has trauma.

Our Own Choices

Chapter 14

Typing: "I shouldn't have called Rex "father" in Mando'a. That just made the goodbye a lot harder."

I'm currently trying to take a shit in the toilet, and it's been half an hour since I went in because I'm typing out how I just joined the batch on my datapad. I hear Wrecker literally banging on the toilet door.

"HEY, HOW MUCH LONGER YOU GONNA BE IN THERE FOR!?"

I roll my eyes and groan. 

"ALMOST DONE!" I shout back. We usually take a shit in the urinals, and then put it in a bag and then just throw it out when we arrive on a planet or something. I remember toothpick boi literally left his shit in there once, and when I went in I had to pressurize my helmet to make sure that I don't pass out. 

I returned the favor by sabotaging his shower water. Totally did not burn half of his hair off for a while.

Then Crosshair goes to hog the toilet for like an hour when he knows I seriously need to take a piss. And then I push him off a cliff on one of our missions. And then he shoots me in the shoulder "accidentally" on another missions.

Hunter literally has to step in and make sure that we don't kill each other. 

Still, he started it. Not me.

We've returned to Kamino once since Echo and I joined the batch. The regs definitely hate us for some reason. I wasn't that hated in the 501st, but the moment I joined the batch, a lot of the other regs started to dislike me. Probably jealous.

At least Kix and Jesse don't mind me. 

We had a cafeteria fight that one time we returned to Kamino, and I didn't really wanna beat up the regs, so it wasn't until one of them interrupted my knife spinning that I decided to throw a tray at him.

As I finish bagging up my shit and walk out of the toilet, Wrecker literally runs in, I'm guessing he really needed to take a piss, and I toss the bag into the trash chute.

"I assume that you have constipation, from the extended period of time that you take to...do your business," Tech says, pressing some buttons on his datapad as we fly through hyperspace.

Wrecker comes out from the toilet. "Oh man, it really stinks in there," he says. 

"Surprised?" Crosshair asks, and I glance at him for a moment, knowing that he probably has a smirk on his face.

"We're arriving up on Kaller," Tech reports.

I look out of the window as we land on the snowy planet in a small clearing, big enough for the Marauder to land in. Jedi Padawan Caleb Dume told us that he'd meet us here. 

We put on our helmets and walk out of the ship, and expected, we see Caleb in front of us, who shows us to an area which overlooks the battlefield where General Depa Bilaba and other clones are fighting against some tanks and B1 battle droids.

"Looks easy enough," I cross my arms as I look down. 

"We're right behind you kid," Hunter says as Caleb slides down the hill to join up with his Master and the other regs.

"Wrecker, rockslide, Crosshair, up top," Hunter says. Crosshair nods and heads to a position where he can snipe some clankers.

"If you shoot me this time, I swear I'm gonna mess with your sniper," I warn him before heading over to the others.

Wrecker pushes a big rock down the hill in the general direction of the battle droids, and we follow it, running down the hill behind it as it crushes a bunch of battle droids. 

"Make a hole!" Wrecker shouts and we get to work. I manage to steal a few of Tech's kills, slicing off a clanker's head before he can activate the stun grenade on its back.

"That was unnecessary!" Tech shouts as I throw a knife at a droid's head, and stab another one that just came up behind me.

I see some droids getting shot down from above, and I can safely assume that's Crosshair. One shot whizzes past my shoulder, and I take that as a warning not to mess with his sniper.

"Crosshair, let's get these tanks moving," I hear Hunter say over the comms.

"Sir, yes, sir," Crosshair replies, shooting some stuff that links the tanks together, and Wrecker pushes the tanks over the edge while I take out the remaining clankers.

Tech manages to explode the last 4 battle droids with a grenade and I stay out of the way, because I don't make the same mistake twice.

When all the clankers are dead, we walk out of the smoke, Hunter and I sheathing our knives. Hunter takes off his helmet, Crosshair slides down the hill and joins us, and Wrecker rips off the head of that last remaining droid that he slung over his back.

We walk over to the other regs and the kid, and General Bilaba, I'm walking behind with Wrecker and Crosshair.

"If you're done hiding down there I suggest you launch a counterattack," Hunter says. "Another droid battalion's approaching."

Well, where's our "thank you" at?

"The General is the one who gives the orders around here," the reg who I assume is the captain says. 

I cross my arms.

"He's right, Captain. This is our chance. Launch the counterattack," General Bilaba says.

"Yes, General," the reg captain replies. "All right men lets go!"

General Bilaba, Caleb and the reg captain walk up to us, and the rest of the batch, besides Tech, take off their helmets. Probably for Tech to hide his receding hairline.

"There you are, little Jedi," Wrecker says, looking down at Caleb. "You missed all the fun."

"Watching your team in action was the fun," Caleb replies.

As it should be.

"Care to introduce your new friends, Caleb?" General Bilaba asks.

"Yes Master. This is Wrecker, Hunter, Echo,"

Echo salutes.

"Tech,"

Tech's looking down at his datapad and gives a small wave.

"Crosshair,"

Toothpick boi takes out the toothpick from his mouth and gives a downwards nod of respect.

"And Aris."

I give him that signature move of mine with my helmet still on.

(That's not Aris that's Tech who steals her signature move in season 2 episode 4)

"While I'm not sure "fun" is the sentiment I would express, I agree with my Padawan," General Bilaba says. "Your exploits were quite impressive."

"Exploits?" Wrecker can be really dumb sometimes.

"Don't overthink it, Wrecker," Crosshair and I say at the same time, and he glares at me before walking to another position, probably to get me out of his sight.

"Now, would one of you please explain where my actual reinforcements are?" General Bilaba asks.

"Rerouted to the capital," Hunter replies. "We're all you're getting."

"Ha! We're all you need," Wrecker says confidently.

"Actually, if my intel is correct, the general will not need any of us," Tech speaks up. "The Clone War may soon be over."

"Better tell that to the clankers headed our way," the reg captain says.

"I am referring to the encrypted comm chatter," Tech looks down at his datapad. "Clone intelligence is reporting Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi has found and found and engaged General Grievous and Utapau."

Engaged as in which type of engaged?

"If he captures or kills Grievous, the Separatist command structure will collapse," Echo says, and because I'm getting slightly bored, I walk away to join Crosshair.

I see Hunter and the others heading off, so Crosshair and I run and join them, with Caleb following.

Mid-run, we notice that Caleb's lagging behind, and when we look back, we see the regs firing blaster shots at General Bilaba.

I hear "execute order 66" through my comms, but I don't know what it means, and I don't think the batch know either.

We see General Bilaba get shot down, and I am more confused than the time Tech forced me to memorize hand signals.

Caleb's running away from the regs, and the batch and I run up to him.

"Stay away from me!" he shouts, before running off into the forest, lightsaber ignited.

"Kid, wait!" Hunter shouts in a futile attempt to stop him.

"What-what just happened?" Echo asks.

"The comm channel is repeating only one directive," Tech says. "Execute Order 66."

"Yeah, I heard that too," Wrecker says. "What's Order 66?"

"I am not certain," Tech sighs.

"Echo, Tech, talk to the reg captain. Find out what you can. Crosshair, Aris, we'll track down the kid and make sure nothing happens to him. Wrecker, stall anyone who tries to follow us," Hunter says, and Echo and Tech run off to talk to the captain. Hunter, Crosshair and I run into the forest, sliding down a few slopes and running past some trees. I split off slightly from Crosshair and Hunter, but keeping them in my line of sight, looking for Caleb.

I see some snow falling down to the ground not too far away, and Hunter and Crosshair seem to notice that as well.

Crosshair runs up a rock to get the high ground and Hunter signals for us to stop. "He's close."

Crosshair scans up the trees for the kid and I do the same, hoping to find Caleb before him. 

"There," Crosshair says, and I look in the direction that he's looking in. I see Caleb up in the trees, and I mutter, "Great." under my helmet.

That's what you get for trying to compete with a dude that has optifine zoom irl.

"Come on down, kid," Hunter says. "We're here to help."

And then Crosshair adjusts the scope on his rifle and shoots at Caleb, who deflects it with his lightsaber. 

"Liar!" he shouts, before jumping into the air and out of our sight.

"What are you doing?!" Hunter asks, probably half-shocked. Crosshair jumps down from the rock and lands next to me.

"Following orders."

"We don't even know what the order is. Stand down until we know what's going on," Hunter says, shoving Crosshair by the chest slightly.

Flashback

Fives appears on the holotransmission in front of me. 

"Hey ad'ika," he says. "I'm on Kamino right now, and we're tryna take out Tup's inhibitor chip. There's something seriously wrong with him. He shot General Tiplar and keeps saying "Good soldiers follow orders", I'll be back in a few days to do a Battle Royale duo in COD with you, alright?"

I nod.

"Cya Fives. Don't do anything too stupid or I'll hack your account and spend all your COD credits."

"Don't worry ad'ika. When have I ever done anything stupid?"

The holotransmission ends.

Tup's not behaving normally. So there's a possibility that they'll terminate him. Troopers don't usually say...

Flashback ends.

"Good soldiers follow orders."

My breath hitches, and my eyes widen under my helmet.

Crosshair runs off to join Hunter, and I follow behind.

Good soldiers follow orders...the inhibitor chip...

"Hunter, you've got regs inbound," Wrecker says through the comms as Crosshair and I scan the area for Caleb as we run.

"We have a situation," Tech's voice comes in. 

"Tell me something I don't know, Tech."

"It appears the regs have been ordered to execute the Jedi."

"What? Which Jedi?"

"All of them. They're saying the Jedi have committed treason."

"That would explain things," Crosshair says.

Mhm. The clones wouldn't usually turn on the Jedi so easily, but because of their inhibitor chip, they have no choice. It forces them to follow orders. 

"Good soldiers follow orders."

Crosshair's chip is working.

We have to take it out. Just like how Fives did. 

"It doesn't begin to explain things," Hunter replies.

"I suggest you get back here," Tech says.

"Can't. Haven't found the kid yet."

Crosshair, still scanning the area, holds up his rifle and shoots a branch which Caleb's standing on, and Caleb falls to the ground along with the branch.

He ignites his lightsaber and runs at us, Crosshair shooting at him and Caleb deflecting the blaster shots. I take out my pistol and start shooting at him as well, because if I wanna get Crosshair's inhibitor chip out, I'll have to earn his trust. I'm not trying to hit Caleb though, I'm just shooting in his general direction.

"Crosshair, Aris, stand down!" Hunter orders as Caleb jumps from one rock to another, and Crosshair takes out his pistol and shoots at him. Caleb slashes at Crosshair's rifle and it's damaged. 

Then he kicks Crosshair who goes rolling backwards into a tree, and is knocked out, and then I'm still firing in Caleb's general direction, and he slashes at my arm with his lightsaber and kicks me into a tree as well.

Before I pass out, all I can feel is the burn of the slash wound in my arm. 

A few moments later, I open my eyes and see Crosshair standing up, rubbing his head. I stand up as well, grabbing my pistol with my good arm, and we run to a cliff where Hunter's looking across to the other side.

"Where's the Jedi?" Crosshair asks.

"I stunned him when he jumped. He didn't make it," Hunter replies. 

Crosshair and I look down the cliff where Caleb supposedly fell, and I turn on my heat visor looking for the body.

There's nothing there, so I can safely assume the inhibitor chip doesn't affect Hunter.

As the regs arrive, Crosshair and I walk away, and I try to ignore the burning feeling in my arm.

We head back to the others and we board the Marauder, I sit in the seat next to Crosshair and plan out my next few moves. I'm receiving a bit of a weird look from Hunter as he occasionally glances at me and Crosshair.

The chip could affect any one of us. It may not be just Crosshair. Just keep on acting until you get the chance to take his inhibitor chip out. Maybe when he's sleeping, just stun him and drag him to the medbay.

Wait...if every clone is following order 66, then...

Rex. Rex could also be a victim of the chip. 

Don't think about that.

Don't think about that.

Just focus on your mission now.

 i cry

MAY THE 4th BE WITH YOU

Ok,ok, now that we saw Rex in the recent Bad Batch Episode….I WANT TO SEE COMMANDER WOLFFE AND GREGOR TOO!

I mean we now that they somehow end up together, since we see them in Star Wars Rebels. I wanna know what they did immediately after Order 66 and how they managed to get into contact with Rex!

Jedi Temple March - Revenge of the Sith

Does anyone else ever think that Obi-Wan thought Ahsoka was killed during order 66?

The last time we know he saw her was before the Siege of Mandalore, when she went off to kill Maul. She was on a deadly planet with a Sith Lord, legions of Mandalorians, and a legion of clone troopers.

Year later, on Tatooine, during the Rebels series, Maul hunts down Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan would have seen this as Ahsoka failing to capture Maul, meaning that as far as he knows (in canon thus far) she was killed on Mandalore. Either defeated by Mando forces, killed by Maul, or shoot down by the clone troopers she had been raised alongside.

Luke, after making grogu relive the most traumatic event in his life: … okay but seriously WHY DID HE TALK LIKE THAT?

Angst! Echo x OC (Dawn) Unspoken Love (pt. 1)

Y’ALL THIS IS MY FIRST FANFIC EVER!!!!!! I am so excited to finally publish my first story on Tumblr. I have been inspired by everyone in the The Bad Batch community to write this story <3

@zoeykallus​ is one of my favorite creators on this website! I was inspired by her to work on this. 

Warnings: Mentions of death and grief (takes place during Order 66)

Word Count: 700

Summary:  Echo and reader knew each other before Order 66, and kept a long distance friendship (although they both had feelings for each other). After Order 66, the reader goes silent - leading the Empire to file her as deceased. Echo was devastated by this information. Rex recruits reader and the Bad Batch for a mission. Echo and reader are reunited after many tribulations. 

DECEASED?

"Dawn S. - DECEASED."

Echo couldn't believe what he was reading on his holopad. He began to pace around the Marauder; Hunter could feel Echo's blood pressure and heart rate increase.

Echo's chest rose with every breath he took. Tears are rolling down his prominent cheekbones onto his chest plate. His breaths were becoming louder and uneven, which concerned Hunter. His bodily strength gave out. Allowing himself to finally feel- his tears turned into a river, sounds of a broken man escaped him, and the pain he felt covered his entire being. Consumed by the grief of not only losing the woman he loved from afar but also losing the last best friend he had before the Citadel.

Omega, not understanding his grief, wanted to reach out to him. Her small hand making its way to his shoulder was abruptly held by Hunter. Looking up at him with a confused expression, she saw her brother looking at her with caution. Silently communicating with her that it was not the right time to comfort Echo. Behind Hunter, Omega focused on her other two brothers. Tech kept looking at the ground while Wrecker was shedding tears on behalf of his brother's loss.

Echo's legs were spread while his back was arching into the lower bunk. The painful sobs he released were felt by every soul in the Marauder. His squad allowed him to let out the pain he felt, which he was thankful for in the future.

Not knowing that his other half was alive.

- - - - -

Coruscant (Order 66)

Dawn found herself at the Jedi Temple while Clone Force 99 assisted Kanan Jarrus at the last minute. She enjoyed seeing younglings grow stronger and was fascinated by their relationship with the force. Her loving gaze turned into one of concern as she heard clones running into the room armed. As she was about to ask whether the temple was under attack. The clone trooper attempted to shoot at the closest youngling by his side. The Jedi master and Dawn were too late to save the youngling but made their way to the clone trooper- easily defeating him, he fell to the ground. Dawn had her blasters out, shooting at the Clone troopers from behind while the Jedi master took the front clone troopers. The Jedi master and Dawn were ushering the children out of the room.

The clone troopers were too much for the Jedi to handle all alone. They kept this method for quite a while until they encountered too many at the front. Dawn finished them off and reached for the dying Jedi. The last words she heard were, "Protect them… run away … far from here."

Dawn's head looked down as she felt a weight on her lap. The Jedi master entrusts her with the lives of her younglings by protecting them with their lightsaber. Dawn doesn't hesitate to turn on the lightsaber as she and the kids run away. They found a window where they could go down and hide (the fall is pretty high, but they are using force). She stayed in the back, ensuring each child would go down safely. She heard shouting from afar and ran towards the noise, fighting back against any who tried to harm her and the children. She was wounded by three shots but kept up the fist fight she began with a clone. Her back was facing the window, which gave the clone the idea to push her through the window.

Her scream was deadly as she flew. Feeling the pressure from gravity surrounding her prompted her to close her eyes. Waiting for the deadly impact at the bottom of the Jedi temple. A place where she began working and developed multiple friendships with the people who attempted to kill her that night. Remembering the good times she had with a particular clone, someone to who she never had confessed her love. The biggest regret she had at that moment.

Dawn abruptly felt the force hug her as she landed peacefully on the cement. Looking around, she found the eyes of the kids she swore to protect.

---

Dun, Dun, DUN!!! How is it so far? Any feedback??!! 

Honestly, I kind of want to see Maul saying "I told you so" to Ahsoka when clones attack them.

Because that would do something a little good to my shattered heart. I'm so not ready for tommorow's episode :___:

Meet Kandra Halcard Jedia padawan and her Jedi Master Ca’Triss Nok(this is a rewrite of Kandra another SWs OC of mine because she didn’t have a real story)

Nok is a Togruta fairly obviously but Kandra has been made into a fan species made by @milkcioccolato and I love them. Maybe I just like my aquatic characters, but still!

Ca’Triss is only a Knight not a full on Master but Knights can still have Padawans and that’s how he got little Kandra. She’s about 5 or 6 went order 66 happens and everything goes to shit. Thankfully Nok was with her when it happened and he got her out with him. They left and returned to Kandra’s home world. Nok takes her as a padawan and continues her teaching while she lives with her aunts in hiding. That’s the short of it I think :3

I still remember the first time that I watched TCW...my first thoughts were:

• Since when was Anakin a knight? (Keep in mind I had watched RoTS a hundred times.)

• Anakin has a padawan? This can't be right, whoever thought that this would be a good idea?

• Is Anakin still Obi-Wan's padawan or not? Because I feel like he is.

So, my conclusion is that Anakin is in fact still a padawan and Ahsoka is just along for the ride, and Obi-Wan needs a drink. But we all already knew that.

do you think the birth families of the jedi mourned when they heard the news about order 66. do you think they worried and that they weeped when the clone wars began and they heard that their children were going off to fight in it. do you think they looked at their calendars and kept track of how old their children had become every birthday. do you think they knew that their child was only 10 when they were murdered during order 66. do you think any jedi went out to find their birth parents after losing the only family they really knew. do you think any families sheltered other escaping jedi, knowing what likely happened to their own. do you think the families cried. do you think they mourned. do you think, even though they hadn't seen their children in years... they still weeped?

Order 66

“War on Two Fronts” pt.7

Captain Rex x Reader x Commander Bacara

War had a way of compressing time—days blurred into nights, missions into months. And somewhere in the quiet pockets between battles, between orders and hyperspace jumps, something had bloomed between the you and Bacara.

It wasn’t soft. It wasn’t easy.

But it was real.

They didn’t speak of love. Not openly. That would be too dangerous. Too foolish. But in the stolen moments—fingers brushing during debriefings, wordless glances across a war room, a hand on the small of her back as they passed each other in narrow corridors—it was undeniable.

He wasn’t good with words, not like Rex had been. Bacara showed his affection in action: the way he checked her gear before missions without asking, or how he always stood between her and enemy fire, whether she needed it or not. He never said “I love you.” But when she bled, he bled too.

She caught herself smiling as she boarded the cruiser for Mygeeto. Her datapad buzzed with her new orders—assist Master Ki-Adi-Mundi and Commander Bacara for the Fourth Siege. The final push.

She hadn’t seen Bacara in weeks. The campaign on Aleen had separated them again, followed by a skirmish in the mid-rim, but her heart pulled northward like a magnet toward Mygeeto. Her fingers tightened around her travel case as she stepped aboard the assault cruiser, heart quickening.

When she entered the command deck, Bacara stood over a strategic map display, armored and severe as ever. Mundi stood beside him, still every bit the stoic Master she remembered, though his greeting was warmer this time.

“General,” Mundi said with a nod. “Good to have you back.”

Bacara said nothing at first, just glanced up—his expression unreadable. But then, a flicker. The tiniest softening in his eyes that only she would notice.

“General,” he echoed in his clipped tone, nodding once.

Later, when the debrief was done and the hallways had quieted for the night, she found him waiting near the barracks. They stood in silence at first, just listening to the hum of the ship, the distant thrum of hyperdrive.

“You came back,” he said.

“Did you think I wouldn’t?”

He gave the barest of shrugs, then looked at her. Really looked.

“I missed you,” she said quietly.

His jaw flexed. “We can’t do this here.”

“I know.” She stepped closer, close enough to feel the heat from his armor. “But I needed to see you before everything starts again.”

There, in the half-shadowed corridor, his hand brushed hers. A silent agreement.

That night, she didn’t return to her quarters.

They didn’t speak of the war. They didn’t speak of what might happen next. They existed only in that moment, a breath of peace before the storm.

In the dim lighting of the officer’s quarters, he kissed her again—firmer this time, as if grounding himself in the only certainty the war hadn’t taken from him.

When she fell asleep curled into his side, Bacara stayed awake for hours, staring at the ceiling.

Because tomorrow, they dropped on Mygeeto.

And nothing would be the same after that.

⸻

Mygeeto was a graveyard.

Shards of glass and collapsed towers jutted from the ice like bones. The wind howled endlessly, scouring the broken streets with frozen dust. The Fourth Siege had begun days ago, and already the Republic’s grip was tightening.

The reader moved through the war-torn ruins beside Bacara, her boots crunching through frost, her senses prickling with unease she couldn’t name.

Even Bacara seemed quieter than usual.

Their squad had pushed deep into the southern district, routing droid forces and holding position near the abandoned Muun vaults. Mundi was coordinating an assault to breach the city’s primary data center. Every minute was another layer of pressure, another reason her gut twisted tighter.

And then, the transmission came through.

It was late. The squad had returned to their mobile command shelter to regroup and patch injuries. Bacara was at the long-range transmitter when the encrypted message chimed in. She approached just as he turned, helmet off, eyes dark.

“It’s confirmed,” he said.

“What is?”

“Kenobi.” A beat. “He killed General Grievous.”

The words didn’t register at first.

The breath in her chest caught. “So… it’s over?”

“Almost.”

She sat slowly, bracing her elbows on her knees. “We’ve been fighting this war for three years. And now it just… ends?”

Bacara didn’t sit. He stood near the entrance flap, staring out into the howling cold.

“I don’t think it ends. Not really.” His voice was low. “Something’s coming.”

She looked up at him. “You feel it too.”

He nodded.

The Force was thick, oppressive. The kind of quiet that comes before a scream.

“Have you heard from Mundi?” she asked.

“Briefly. He wants us to hold until his unit circles back to regroup. We deploy again in the morning.” He paused, then added, “He was… unsettled.”

That alone chilled her. If Mundi was unsettled, it meant something was very wrong.

That night, they didn’t sleep.

She sat beside Bacara outside the tent, cloaked against the wind, their shoulders brushing.

“Whatever’s coming,” she said, “we’ll face it together.”

He looked at her for a long moment.

“No matter what?”

She didn’t flinch. “No matter what.”

And somewhere far away, across the stars, a coded transmission began its journey to clone commanders across the galaxy.

Execute Order 66.

But it hadn’t reached them yet.

Not yet.

⸻

The morning was bitter cold.

Frost crackled beneath their boots as they moved out in formation, the clouds above Mygeeto hanging low and grey, like a lid waiting to seal the planet shut. The reader walked just behind Master Mundi and beside Bacara, her cloak drawn tight against the wind.

Mundi was speaking, his voice cutting through the comms. “This push will be final. The Separatist defense grid is thinning—we press forward, clear the vault entrance, and signal the cruiser for extraction.”

The reader nodded slightly. Bacara said nothing, but she could feel the tension in him—coiled tighter than usual.

They advanced through the ruins in a steady column. Mundi led the charge across a narrow bridge, lined on both sides with jagged drops and half-fallen towers. The droids emerged first, as expected. The clones fanned out, taking cover and returning fire in sharp, well-practiced bursts.

It felt normal.

But something was wrong. She didn’t know why, didn’t know how—but the Force around her buzzed like lightning trapped beneath her skin.

Then, it happened.

A static shiver through the comms. A code, sharp and cold.

“Execute Order 66.”

Her head snapped to Bacara. He was silent. His helmet was already on.

Mundi turned. “Come on! We must push—!”

The first bolt hit him in the back.

She froze.

The second bolt pierced Mundi’s chest, dropping him to his knees. He reached out, shocked. More fire rained from above, precise, emotionless, cutting him down mid-step.

The clones didn’t hesitate. Bacara didn’t hesitate.

Her breath caught in her throat, the world slowing to a nightmare crawl. “Bacara—?” she whispered.

He turned.

And opened fire.

She moved on instinct. A Force-shoved wall of ice rose between them as she leapt off the bridge’s edge, tucking and rolling onto a lower ledge as blasterfire trailed her path.

No hesitation. No mercy.

Her squad. Her men.

Him.

She fled, ducking through ruined alleys and broken vaults, chased by the echoes of boots and bolts and the question clawing at her chest:

Why?

Nothing made sense. No signal. No warning. Just sudden betrayal like a switch flipped in their minds. Like she’d never mattered. Like they’d never fought beside her.

She kept running until her legs burned and her heart broke.

Mygeeto burned around her.

The vault city trembled with explosions and echoing blasterfire. The sky had darkened with the smoke of betrayal, and her boots slipped on shattered crystal as she ran through what remained of the inner ruins.

She had no plan. No backup. No Jedi.

Only survival.

The Force screamed through her veins, adrenaline burning hotter than frostbite. Behind her, the clones advanced in perfect formation—ruthless, silent, efficient. Just as they’d been trained to be. Just as she’d trusted them to be.

Her saber ignited in a flash of defiance. She didn’t want to kill them—Force, she didn’t—but they gave her no choice.

Two troopers rounded the corner, rifles raised. With a spin and a sharp, choked breath, her blade cut through one blaster, then the clone behind it. The second she disarmed with a flick of the Force, sending him slamming into a pillar. He didn’t rise.

“Forgive me,” she muttered, but there was no time for grief.

She sprinted through the lower vault district, rubble crunching beneath her. Her starfighter wasn’t far—hidden in a hangar bay northeast of the city edge. She was almost there.

Almost.

Then he found her.

Bacara.

He dropped in from above like a specter of death, slamming her to the ground with brutal precision. Her saber clattered across the ice. His weight bore down on her, a knee to her chest, his DC-15 aimed square at her head.

His visor glinted in the frost-glow, his silence more terrifying than a scream.

She stared up at him, panting, hurt. “You were mine,” she rasped.

No answer.

His finger moved toward the trigger.

The Force pulsed.

She thrust her hand upward and a wave of raw power flung him off her, launching him into a support beam with a sound like breaking stone. He dropped, groaning, armor dented, stunned.

She didn’t stop to look. She grabbed her saber and ran.

Two more troopers blocked her path to the hangar. She deflected one bolt, then two—but the third she sent back into the chest of the clone who fired it. His body fell beside her as she charged the next, slashing his weapon before delivering a stunning kick that sent him flying.

The hangar doors groaned open.

She threw herself into the cockpit of her fighter, fingers flying over the controls, engines screaming to life.

Blasterfire pinged against the hull as more troopers swarmed the bay. She closed her eyes, guided by instinct, by pain, by loss—and took off into the cold, storm-choked skies.

Mygeeto shrank behind her.

And with it, the last pieces of everything she’d trusted.

⸻

The stars blurred past her cockpit like tears on transparisteel.

She didn’t know how long she’d been flying—minutes, hours. Her hands trembled against the yoke, white-knuckled, blood-slicked. The silence in the cockpit was deafening. No clones, no saber hum, no Bacara breathing just behind her. Just the thin rasp of her own breath and the stinging wound of betrayal burning behind her ribs.

Mygeeto was gone. Bacara was gone.

They were all gone.

She barely made it through hyperspace. Her navigation systems stuttered, and she’d been forced to fly blind, guided only by instinct and muscle memory.

The planet she chose wasn’t much—Polis Massa. An old medical station and mining outpost on the edge of the system. Remote. Quiet. Forgotten.

Safe.

Her ship touched down with a shudder, systems coughing and sparking. She slumped against the controls, body aching, mind fractured.

She stumbled out into the cold, sterile facility. No guards raised weapons at her, no sirens screamed Jedi. Just quiet personnel, startled by her bloodied robes and wild, hollow stare.

They gave her a room. She didn’t ask for one.

The medics patched the worst of her wounds. Someone gave her water. A blanket. A moment.

She didn’t remember falling asleep.

When she woke, everything hurt. Her skin, her bones, her heart. She sat upright on the small cot, still in half armor, saber clipped loosely at her hip. Her communicator blinked on the nearby table—flashing red.

Encrypted message.

She nearly dropped it trying to pick it up. The code was familiar. Old. Republic-grade clearance. She swallowed and activated it.

The holoprojector buzzed—and then there he was.

Kenobi.

His projection flickered in the dark, singed, exhausted, speaking quickly and low.

“This is Obi-Wan Kenobi. I regret to report that both our Jedi Order and the Republic have fallen. With the dark shadow of the Empire rising to take their place…”

Her stomach clenched.

“…The clone troopers have turned against us. I’m afraid this message is a warning and a reminder: any surviving Jedi, do not return to the Temple. That time is over. Trust in the Force.”

He paused, breathing hard.

“We will each find our own path forward now. May the Force be with you.”

The message ended. Just a small flicker of blue light, fading into silence.

She stared at the projector long after it dimmed, her face unreadable. Then she whispered, as if the stars might still be listening:

“…What did we do to deserve this?”

⸻

Coruscant.

The city-world pulsed under a grey sky, its endless towers casting long shadows over the Senate District. Republic banners were being torn down and replaced with crimson. No one called it the Republic anymore. Not truly. Not after the declaration.

Bacara stood at attention in a high-security debriefing chamber, helmet under his arm, armor still caked in the dust and ice of Mygeeto. His face was unreadable, but something in his eyes—something usually precise and locked in—seemed… dislodged.

His mission was complete. Jedi General Ki-Adi-Mundi was dead.

He had reported it cleanly, efficiently. Nothing of hesitation, nothing of how she escaped. Only that she turned traitor, resisted, killed his men. That she was lost in the chaos of the siege.

The brass accepted it. They always did. Too much war. Too many traitors.

He was dismissed with a curt nod from an officer in dark new uniform. The Empire moved quickly. No more Jedi. No more second guesses.

He exited the chamber with stiff precision, walking the stark halls of the former GAR command center—now flooded with black-clad officers, techs, and white-armored troopers with fresh paint jobs. A few bore markings he recognized, some didn’t. The old legions were being divided, repurposed. Branded anew.

He turned a corner and nearly collided with two familiar faces in a side hallway.

“Commander Wolffe. Cody.”

Wolffe gave him a once-over, eye narrowed. “Bacara. You’re back from Mygeeto.”

“Confirmed. Mundi is dead. Target neutralized.”

Cody didn’t smile. He rarely did these days. “And the other Jedi?”

“Escaped,” Bacara said curtly. “Presumed dead. Ship went down in atmosphere. Unconfirmed.”

Wolffe raised a brow, but let it go.

The conversation would have ended there—cold and flat—but a datapad in Cody’s hand flashed. He frowned, tapped the screen, then muttered, “Damn…”

“What is it?” Bacara asked.

Cody handed him the pad.

“Captain CT-7567 — Status: KIA. Location: Classified. Time: Immediately post-Order 66.”

Bacara stared at the words, his throat tightening before he could stop it.

Wolffe crossed his arms, jaw tight. “It’s spreading fast. Some say Ashoka killed him. Some say it was Maul. No one knows. But there were no survivors.”

Cody shook his head. “Doesn’t matter anymore. He’s gone.”

Bacara looked away, jaw grinding. Rex was dead. That’s what the record said.

He should’ve felt… nothing. Relief, maybe. One less problem. One less thorn in his side.

But the silence between the three of them said otherwise.

“Shame,” Wolffe muttered. “He was one of the good ones.”

She loved him.

The thought hit Bacara like a gut punch, but he gave no sign.

He offered a stiff nod. “He did his duty.”

And walked away.

⸻

The Outer Rim.

No one looked twice at the battered Y-wing that landed half-crooked in the backlot of Ord Mantell’s grimiest district. The ship hadn’t flown since. She’d let the local rust take it. A relic no one asked about. One more ghost among the debris of a fallen Republic.

Three months.

That’s how long she’d been hiding on this dusty, low-grade world, tucked into the shadows of a run-down cantina operated by a sharp-tongued Trandoshan named Cid. Cid wasn’t friendly—but she wasn’t curious either. That alone made her safer here than anywhere near Coruscant.

The cantina was dim, the stench of stale ale thick in the air. Smoke curled from a broken vent in the ceiling. Old Clone War propaganda still clung to a wall like a molted skin. No one talked about the war anymore. They drank to forget it.

She moved quietly between tables, clearing empty mugs, wiping down grime, keeping her head down. Her once-pristine Jedi robes had been traded for utility pants, a threadbare top, and a scuffed jacket a size too big. Her lightsaber was hidden—disassembled and buried in a cloth bundle under the floorboards of her bunk behind the kitchen. Sometimes she reached for it at night, half-asleep, still expecting it to be on her belt.

Every day she woke up expecting to feel the warmth of the Force beside her.

And every day, she didn’t.

She missed them. All of them. Even him.

Bacara.

His face still haunted her. The betrayal. The way his blaster hadn’t even hesitated when he gunned down Mundi. The way he’d turned on her—stone-faced and unfeeling, as if their moments together had meant nothing. She hadn’t had time to ask why. Only to run. To survive.

And Rex… she didn’t even know if he was alive. The transmission from Kenobi hadn’t mentioned him. The Temple was gone. The Jedi were gone. She was gone.

No one had come looking. Not the clones. Not the Empire. Not Bacara.

Not Rex.

Not even Mace—though maybe she’d never expected him to.

At first, she’d been sure someone would come. That the galaxy couldn’t forget her so quickly. But three months had passed. No wanted posters. No troopers sweeping the streets. No shadows at her door.

Nothing.

She was no one here.

She wiped the same table twice before realizing she’d been staring through it, lost in memory. The war felt like another lifetime.

But even the Force had gone quiet. As if it, too, had moved on.

“Hey!” Cid’s sharp voice cracked through the cantina. “You forget how to carry a tray, or you just feel like decorating my floor with spilled ale again?”

She blinked. “Sorry.”

Cid snorted. “You’re always sorry.”

She didn’t argue. There wasn’t much of herself left to defend anymore.

The streets outside were quieter than usual. A dust storm had rolled in from the western flats, coating everything in a layer of filth. She stepped out back after her shift, sitting on a crate and staring up at a sky smothered by clouds.

It was strange how peaceful nothing could be.

No orders. No battles. No war.

No one looking for her. No one needing her. No one remembering her.

It should have felt like freedom.

But it didn’t.

⸻

The bell above the cantina door jingled.

She didn’t react. Not visibly. But her breath hitched in her chest. She heard the unmistakable weight of clone trooper boots on the wooden floor—too heavy to be locals, too careful to be drunks.

She didn’t need to look. She knew those steps by heart. Years of war had taught her how clones moved—each one slightly different, and yet the same at the core. And somehow… somehow they were here.

In Cid’s.

In her nowhere.

She ducked behind the bar a little more, scrubbing the same patch of wood with trembling fingers, her face hidden beneath a cap and the dull glow of the overhead lights.

“Cid?” a calm, steady voice asked.

That one—Hunter.

Cid didn’t even look up from her datapad. “That depends on who’s asking.”

“We were told you could help us.”

“By who?” Cid’s tone was suspicious, as always.

“Echo,” Hunter said, motioning slightly.

She froze. Her heart stopped for a moment.

Echo.

She dared a glance over her shoulder.

There he was—taller now, armor more modified, with half of his head and legs taken by cybernetics. He looked different. Paler. Haunted. But it was him. And he was staring.

Right at her.

Her stomach dropped.

But he didn’t say anything. His expression barely changed, just narrowed eyes and a twitch of something she couldn’t name. Recognition, maybe. Or disbelief.

Either way—he wasn’t saying her name. And she didn’t dare say his.

She ducked her head again and retreated to the back counter, trying to blend in.

The squad spread out, letting Cid do her usual banter. Tech scanned things. Wrecker picked something up and nearly broke it. Omega stood in wide-eyed awe of the dingy place.

And then, like a quiet ripple in the Force, she felt Omega’s presence behind her.

“Hi,” the girl said.

The reader turned just slightly, trying not to panic. “Hi.”

“You work for Cid?”

She nodded, hoping it was enough.

“I’m Omega.”

The girl was painfully sweet. The kind of pure the galaxy hadn’t seen in years.

“You got a name?”

“…Lena,” the reader lied smoothly, her voice steady despite the burn behind her eyes.

“That’s pretty,” Omega said, hopping up onto the stool across from her. “Are you from around here?”

“Something like that.” She kept her eyes down.

Omega tilted her head. “You feel sad.”

That startled her. “Excuse me?”

“I just meant—your eyes look sad,” Omega said quickly. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

The reader forced a smile. “You didn’t.”

Echo walked by again. His gaze lingered on her for one long second. But again, he said nothing.

She didn’t know if he was sparing her or trying to figure her out. Maybe both.

She went back to cleaning.

And for the first time in months, her hands wouldn’t stop shaking.

⸻

Echo watched her from the corner of the cantina as she quietly wiped down a table in the far back, avoiding all eye contact, keeping her presence small.

Too small.

He leaned slightly toward Tech, lowering his voice so Cid and the others wouldn’t catch it. “Do you recognize her?”

Tech didn’t even glance up from his datapad. “The worker? No.”

“She looks familiar,” Echo said, arms crossing over his chest plate. “I’m not sure from where, but… I think she’s a Jedi. Or—was.”

That got Tech’s attention. He looked up, eyes narrowing slightly behind his lenses. “A Jedi?”

“She fought with the 501st a few times. A long time ago,” Echo said. “I was still… me.”

Tech considered that for a long moment, then looked over toward her discreetly. “You’re certain?”

“No. That’s what’s bothering me. I can’t tell if she’s someone I actually remember or if it’s a glitch in my head from… everything.” He gestured vaguely to his augmentations.

Tech nodded slowly, turning his attention back to the datapad. “I’ll run a scan. Discreetly. If she is a former Jedi or officer, her face might still be buried in the Republic’s archived comm logs. Assuming the Empire hasn’t wiped everything yet.”

Echo nodded once, still watching her.

She never once looked back.

Tech sat back slightly, the datapad in his lap casting a faint glow on his face. The scan had taken time—far more than he liked. Most of the Jedi archives were either firewalled or fragmented. But a clever backdoor through an old 501st tactical log had revealed what he needed.

The image was slightly grainy, pulled from a recording during a battle on Christophis. A Jedi—young, lightsaber ignited, issuing commands beside Captain Rex.

Her.

Tech adjusted his goggles, double-checking the facial markers. Ninety-nine-point-seven percent match.

He glanced across the cantina where she was wiping down a counter with feigned disinterest, like she hadn’t felt the moment his eyes landed on her. But he knew better. Jedi always felt when they were being watched.

He stood and approached casually, careful not to spook her. “I take it this isn’t your preferred line of work.”

She stiffened slightly, then looked over at him with cool neutrality. “Not really, no. But it’s honest.”

“Curious,” Tech said. “That honesty would be your refuge. Especially for someone like you.”

She paused. The rag in her hand stilled. “Someone like me?”

“A Jedi Knight,” he replied plainly. “Confirmed through tactical footage of Christophis. You served alongside Captain Rex.”

Her throat worked once, jaw tightening. “You shouldn’t be looking into me.”

“I’m naturally curious,” he said, calm and even. “And cautious. After all, fugitives tend to attract the Empire’s attention.”

“You’re fugitives too,” she said flatly. “Aren’t you?”

He didn’t deny it.

“Then why out me?” she asked, voice quieter, with the weight of exhaustion clinging to it.

“I didn’t say I would. But perhaps… we could be of use to each other.”

That made her blink. “You want to align with a Jedi?”

Tech pushed his goggles up slightly. “You have experience. Strategic value. And the Empire has already labeled us traitors. I see no logical reason not to align with someone equally hunted—especially someone who once fought for the same Republic we did.”

She didn’t answer right away. Her fingers tightened around the rag before setting it down.

“I’m not who I used to be,” she said.

Tech tilted his head. “Neither are we.”

⸻

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter