As I often did after arriving home from a long trip away, my first stop was the bridge of the so that the captain of the ship could give me a rundown of what had happened while I was galavanting across the galaxy.

  I was not surprised to learn that Intelligence had found 2nd group a new mission, the task force heading out to hopefully ruin a slave operation. Previously, it belonged to and was kept secret by Jabba the Hutt, but after his death, it had lost a good amount of what was keeping it hidden, be it bribes or threats. It was based on a terrestrial moon around a planet I didn't recognize, with a surprising amount of build-up around the operation. The leaders of 2nd Group were hoping to capture not just the ships involved and rescue any slaves on the premises, but also some of the defensive fleet and the resources needed to maintain it.

  Their idea was to take over the base and use our hacker droids to infiltrate their records, which they would then use to that the base was still active and safe. With any luck, they would let them catch any incoming slavers and rescue their cargo without putting them at risk. If it worked, it would likely keep them busy for a few weeks, maybe a full month, but it should be well worth their time, even if they weren't saving slaves.

  We had also received another update from the men and women working on the Venator while I was gone. Progress was going quick, and we were looking at about a week and a half before it would be finished. Again, the messages held a secret layer from Sabine and Ezra, confirming that nothing untoward was going on save a minor scuffle during downtime between a couple of knuckleheads.

  I'm sure that Ezra and Sabine would be happy to learn that their group would have the all-clear to start taking their own missions by the time they returned. Assuming the DP-20 I was assigning them was fully repaired and upgraded by then. I warned Miru that we would be getting that ship plus a Pelta coming in the next few days so she could start saving up parts and purchasing upgrades, as long as she talked to the salvage fleet workers to confirm they were necessary first.

  Once I was done on the I headed down to Vercopa, making the rounds there as well. Construction on the Jedi amphitheater had started, with the foundation dug and built. I could already tell it was going to be an incredible sight when it was done, and I was excited to sit in some of the Jedi lectures.

  After checking out the growing lecture halls, I went on a tour of our farms and production facilities, which were still being added on to, but what was already built was impressive. We were producing a significant amount of our own simple goods, though in admittedly small batches. That would change over time as we continued to increase their size and efficiency to grow alongside our population increases.

  When I was done with that, I visited a special project, one that had started with Miru's team first, and after some work, it passed on to the construction teams. Now, around three weeks after starting, they were just completing the first round.

  While investigating the battlespace where our Venator was found, after the ship itself was shipped off, we discovered something interesting. Apparently, the reason that the capital ship was missing two of its heaviest turbolasers was not because they lacked replacements, but because they hadn't gotten to them yet. Poking around the other Venator wrecks, we found five functional turrets and three worth salvaging for parts.

  This had gotten my salvage teams thinking. While the starships were junk in terms of ever getting them flying again, they were still massive resources, and the fact that they were in space meant that they were incredibly easy to harvest. Even better, the nebula surrounding the battle space meant that, with a little pulling and dragging, these ships were untouchable and basically unfindable, save for people who already knew exactly where they were.

  Since then, either the whole salvage fleet or small portions of it had been working with a small part of our repair teams, as well as a huge chunk of droids since it was mostly simple work, had been stripping the ships of anything useful. While the Hutts had already taken what they needed to repair our Venator, we were much more open to what was useful.

  The five functional had been disassembled, transferred to ships, dragged over to Nirn, and brought down to the surface. They were then reassembled into custom-built turrets around our city. The turrets were massive, raised platforms built from thick duracrete, high enough to fire above the trees. Those platforms were powered by a combination of geothermal energy, which was what a lot of Vercopa ran on, as well as small reactors taken from the wrecks and bought for relatively cheap once those ran out. The towers themselves were heavily armored with hull plating and a superstructure taken from the most damaged vendor. Each tower also had two point-defense weapons built in, to shoot down both missile barrages and starfighters.

  It had taken nearly a month, but with a lot of hard work, a fleet of repair and labor droids, and quite a few trips between the nebula and Nirn, all five of these turret-holding structures had been completed, forming the first steps of a City Defense System. Miru and I had plenty of ideas for more, and I already had the intelligence group looking out for more wrecks or salvage opportunities for us to take advantage of.

  Part of me was tempted to see what was left of the battlespace where we took on Darth Vader, but there was no way that place didn't have dozens of traps and warning systems tied to anyone coming back. If anyone ever set foot in that place again, the Empire would be on them in short order. Besides, in the state we left Vader in, he probably had the executor melt anything he could find before he left.

  As much as I wanted to keep adding defenses and other structures, I was also determined to maintain the beauty of the planet as well. I wasn't about to start buying up repulsor platforms and start making people live like the Ithorians, but I still wanted to keep our footprint small. It's why our production facilities were based in the center of the planet's largest desert, and why we splurged to keep their emissions to an absolute minimum.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  Still, despite my plans for future additions and my fear of scarring the planet, the people working on the first layer of the City Defense System project had done amazing jobs. I authorized a sizable bonus for them, as well as the people who were still harvesting anything else worthwhile from those ships, which we would be storing in an underground complex on the moon. They were easy to make with the right equipment, which we had, and the vacuum would make it extremely easy to maintain the stored parts. The armored hull plating would be stored on the surface inside a crater, so it didn't waste any space.

  Once I was finished visiting and meeting with everyone, Ahsoka and I settled down for an evening together. As I had mentioned during our last mission, it had been a while since we had the chance to spend some time together, without the weight of a mission or task on our shoulders, so just enjoying a home-cooked meal, this time spaghetti and bantha meatballs, was incredibly relaxing. Ahsoka happily helped with the cooking, and the meal turned out pretty well, considering the replacements I had to make for a few of the ingredients.

  Unfortunately, the previous day's good news and fun times did not continue into the next, as we woke up to someone ringing our front door. After quickly getting dressed, I opened it to find one of the young Jedi we had found with Amescoll standing there, looking concerned.

  "A-Admiral Deacon, Ahsoka Tano," he greeted with a bow. "Master Yoda asks you to meet him as soon as you are able."

  "Where is he?" I asked with a frown, feeling a heavy weight start to settle in my stomach.

  "In his home."

  "Fuck. Okay, kid, we will be there in a few," I agreed with a nod. "Thank you for giving us the message."

  He nodded before turning and heading away at a jog, seemingly to find more people. I turned around to see Ahsoka standing there, her eyes wide and her hand over her mouth. I crossed the hall and wrapped her up.

  "I assume you're feeling the same sense of foreboding as I am?" I asked, feeling her nod against my shoulder. "We should hurry. No reason to keep him waiting."

  She nodded, and together, we quickly finished getting ready for the day, before hopping onto my speeder and rushing off.

  Yoda's home was small, smaller than mine by a large margin. Originally, he had one as large as mine, but he rather stubbornly refused to stay in it. They ended up giving the house to a pair of families before building him a small house near one of the many small parks around the rapidly growing city.

  We arrived and stopped the speeder far away from the home, not wanting to clog the area up. Instead, we walked the rest of the day. As we approached, we spotted both Amescoll and K'kruhk standing outside the small, modest home, and what little hope we had about the situation vanished.

  "He's inside," Amescoll said simply, nodding his head. I didn't need the Force to feel the low spirits and worry floating around the two Jedi.

  We stepped inside, looking around to spot the simple bed tucked up in one corner. There was Yoda, being tended to by a Medi droid and nurse, who was wiping his face with a damp cloth. Yoda gestured, and she nodded, both the droid and the nurse stepping away to give us some privacy. Ahsoka stepped forward to sit on the chair while I stood behind her, my hands on her shoulders.

  Yoda looked older than I had ever seen him. His face was gaunt, his skin looked thin and pale, and his breathing seemed incredibly slow.

  "Ah, good to see you, it is," he said, looking at us with a struggling smile. "Glad to see you returned unharmed, I am."

  "It's good to see you too, old man," I responded, giving Ahsoka's shoulder a squeeze.

  "Mmm, yes, old. Much too old, I am," the ancient Jedi Master agreed with a slow nod. "Coming, my time is."

  "I'm sorry, Master Yoda," Ahsoka said, reaching out to take his smaller hand in hers.

  "Your sorrow, I do not need," He said, smiling at her. "To become one with the Force, I am. Never far, will I be."

  "How much time do you have?" I asked softly

  "Two weeks, no more," he responded, sounding strained. "Hold too tightly, I do already, but stay, I will, to say goodbye to those who wish to see me."

  "I'll get in contact with Luke," I assured him.

  "Yes, say goodbye to Luke, I should," He nodded in agreement. "Bring him, more will come."

  I frowned, realizing he was right. Luke wasn't one to lie, especially not to the Rebel leaders who would inevitably ask questions. If he came, then there were likely a few people who would come too, either to genuinely say goodbye or in an attempt to get more information about us.

  "I'll find a way to make it happen," I assured him. "I'll have Luke here within the weak, even if I have to drag him here myself."

  Yoda nodded, opening his mouth to speak, only to cough, the kind of rattling cough that was impossible to mistake for anything other than dangerous. The nurse rushed to his side, some sort of scanner in her hand, before he pushed her back, focusing on me. He took a long, rattling breath, almost visibly pushing the cough to the side to speak.

  "Sleep, for now, I must," He explained, his voice already quiet. "Save my strength, I will. A question I have, before the end. Know his secret, you did. Know our other secret, do you?"

  "The secret that you discussed with Obi-wan, and the person who whisked you away from your final battle with Palpatine?" I asked, Yoda's eyes going wide for a moment before nodding. "I do."

  "Good. Die with me, it will not then," He said, sounding relieved. "Burden you, I must. Sorry, I am."

  "I'll carry it for you, Yoda," I said seriously. "I'll tell them when it's safe, when there is time to understand it. Can I explain it to Ahsoka, when we are alone?"

  "Yes. Without you, my choice to share this with, she would have been," He admitted, looking back down at Ahsoka. "Proud of you, I am. Of both of you. Trust you, Luke, and you, Deacon, to lead the Jedi into the future, I do."

  Ahsoka looked up at me, before looking back at Yoda. Before she could respond, the small, frail-looking alien began to cough again, his body shaking. What little resistance he had managed failed, the cough racking his body. The nurse quickly leaned over and administered something, and the cough quickly faded, though so did Yoda, his eyes closing as he drifted to sleep.

  While he looked less strained as he slept, it was impossible to mistake him for anything other than slowly dying.

  After a long moment, we both stood slowly and left, both of us making it out the front door before Ahsoka leaned against me. I held her close, rubbing the back of her head. After a long moment, she pulled away slightly before resting her forehead on mine.

  "I can't leave here," She pointed out. "The Masters need as much help as they can get with the younger generation."

  "I'm going to start getting things set up. We are going to have to come up with some sort of security to keep the location a secret… Doesn't matter," I said, shaking my head gently. "You are right. They are going to need your support and guidance, so just leave it to me."

  "They will need yours too," she pointed out. "They made you their leader for a reason, even if it's only temporary."

  "I know," I said, cupping her cheek before kissing her forehead. "I'll be close. I don't plan on leaving unless I absolutely have to."

  She nodded, and I stepped away, pulling out my comms. There was a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it in.