After a few hours in hyperspace, we dropped out in the middle of nowhere. Immediately, we landed the inside the , the massive central hangar bay easily fitting the freighter inside. Once we were secure, we debated on what exactly we could do with Mara Jade.

  "We cannot bring her to Vercopa," Ahsoka pointed out. "Not with how strong her potential connection is to the Emperor. We stripped her down and scanned her for anything worrying, but we can't stop that connection."

  At this point, Ahsoka knew everything I did about Mara Jade, including that, before I came along, she ended up marrying Luke. I was a bit hesitant to share future knowledge with her, but I needed her to understand why I was so reluctant to throw her to the wolves, and why I was so nervous about her Force-powered plot armor.

  "I have a solution for that," I admitted, catching the attention of everyone. "A secret project I sent Clan Syr and some of the salvage fleet on. But it won't be ready for another week."

  "So let's just keep her unconscious until then," Tatnia said with a shrug. "Have the medics put her in a medically induced coma until we are ready for her."

  "I… would that work?" I asked, looking at Ahsoka. "Could you wake yourself up from that?"

  "A coma? I don't think so," She admitted. "I know examples of Jedi being injured and slipping into comas and being stuck in them until they healed. But a medically induced one? I couldn't say."

  "A week under is not that big of a deal, at least not with a medical droid on hand to watch over them," Julus pointed out. "It would make anyone watching over her much safer, especially considering how nervous about her you are, Boss."

  Julus said the last bit teasingly, and I couldn't help but be a bit annoyed.

  "Guys, you've been taking me at my word on so much of what I've said since we met, from the truth about the Empire to things we have to watch out for," I pointed out, rubbing my eyes. "But suddenly, because she is what, a woman? Attractive? You suddenly decide that I'm overreacting? Trust me, Mara Jade is worth worrying about."

  My words, plus Ahsoka's agreeing nod, seemed to finally get through to them, Julus wincing and Tatnia reluctantly nodding her head. Nal, who had never doubted my concern, simply nodded.

  "Thank you," I said, giving Julus one last look before focusing. "I think keeping Mara under for a week is a good idea. I say we also turn the cargo bay of the into a temporary prison cell. The ship is burned anyway. We can activate the ship's medical droid, have it monitor her condition. Then we fuel up the ship and have it bounce around a bit, killing time in deep space, where the Emperor will struggle to track her regardless of beacons or the Force. Then we have whoever is watching her meet up with the Salvage Fleet and transfer her over. Just in case, we will wipe the of Nirn's location, in case anything happens."

  "So the only way the people on the can get back is by the Salvage fleet?" Vaz asked.

  "Well, they could always just call us," I pointed out. "But we would have to pick them up, rather than just giving them the coordinates."

  We debated a bit more, before setting the engineering team on the , quickly turning the cargo bay into a prison cell. Considering the was now burned as a smuggling ship, I had the engineers go all out, creating two cells, basically copying the layout of the brig, though had them use both electronic and physical locks, just for an extra layer of security. A few days of unwinding on the , and the construction was done.

  Mara was moved into one of the cells, and Tatnia, Julus, and Nal volunteered to watch over her, as a sort of penance and apology for not taking me seriously before. Knowing my crew was keeping an eye on Mara made me feel a lot better about watching them leave the hangar and make the jump to lightspeed. Once they were gone, it was time to finally head back to Nirn.

  The trip took two days, and when we arrived, all of us were on the bridge, including Cal. I was watching him, wanting to see his reaction to the planet, as all Force-sensitives tended to have a strong reaction, especially for the first time they arrived there. As we dropped out of hyperspace, Cal's jaw dropped.

  The 3rd fleet dropped out a decent distance from the very outer reaches of Nirn's gravity field, so we could pull into position around . Our four remaining stations orbited the large capital ship, which in turn floated far above the city of Vercopa. There were dozens of starships floating around the capital ship, floating in between it and the planet, as well as 2nd Group, who were grouped up to the side. Between 3rd Group drifting into place, the massive Lucrehulk, and the fleet of cargo ships and shuttles, it was an impressive sight.

  "It… it feels like Tanalorr… but more at peace," Cal said, eyes wide as he took in every detail. "Alive and vibrant and… By the Force, it feels like it's welcoming me home."

  "Yeah, a lot of your people have said similar things. I think even those of us who aren't noticeably sensitive can feel it," I admitted, the man glancing at me for a moment. "The world feels alive. Not quite sentient, that's something different, but like it's teeming with life, vibrant and visceral."

  He nodded in agreement, watching as we approached the stationed ships. The sheer scale of the Lucrehulk became clear as we flew over it, the starship dwarfing the completely.

  "You know, I spent a long time tearing down ships like this one on Bracca," Cal said. "Flying around on a functioning Venator again… after Order 66… it's a strange feeling. Had to stop self from pacing a few times."

  Like a thunderclap, both Ahsoka and I spun to look at each other, both of us having the same realization at the exact same moment. We quickly turned to the rest of the bridge, fervently searching the crew, letting out a slow sigh that none of them were clones.

  "Listen, about that," I started, moving to stand next to our new friend. "There is something you should know about that. Order 66 was one of a long list of orders built into a bio-chip that every clone trooper had. When it was activated, the clone was forced to comply."

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  "Forced?" Cal asked, turning from the stunning view outside the ship to focus on me. "What do you mean?"

  "I mean, their autonomy was stripped away from them," I explained. "They were forced to follow the order, forced to do whatever they could to kill every Jedi they saw. No matter how close they had gotten. Out of the whole clone army, only a handful of them were even able to offer token resistance."

  "I… that's horrific," He said, sounding disgusted. "We… Damn it, we should have realized…"

  "A lot about the Clone Wars was horrific," I agreed, shaking my head. "The good news is that the chip can be removed. And, the clone's rapid aging can also be cured. We have around forty cured clones working for and with us. Actually, these clones never even received order 66, since they were in… You know what, that's not important. What's important is that if you see clones around, they aren't the enemy, not any more at least."

  There was also the huge group of them currently stashed on the , whom I hadn't had the chance to officially pitch recruitment to. My people had been working nearly around the clock to help them, but they still had a good chunk to go. Lucky, Cal wasn't headed to the , but to Vercopa.

  I would make my pitch to the clones once Cal was settled in.

  "They... Damn, that's not going to be easy..." Cal admitted, having chewed through what I said. "You're sure they are safe?"

  "They are free sentient beings," I explained. "I can promise you that they are free from control and happily working with us or for us. Beyond that, I can't assure you of their behavior any more than I can anyone's."

  "Right... I suppose I will have to get used to it," He said, looking back out at the planet, now much closer. "I won't start anything."

  After the was in her proper position, we hopped in a shuttle and rode it to the surface. Unsurprisingly, Amescoll was waiting for us as we landed, as were a few other Jedi. When Cal stepped out on in particular, Malua Var'Samallo, the Balosar we were familiar with, rushed him, giving him a huge hug.

  "Cal! I can't believe you survived!" Malua said happily, releasing the slightly older Jedi with a smile. "When Amescoll told us about his vision, he had to keep half of us from borrowing a ship and coming to help."

  "Malua! It's great to see you!" He said with a genuine smile. "By the Force, it's been so long, how are you?"

  "When the order was given, we were on the Gathering," She explained, gesturing to a few of the other Jedi, most of whom I recognized from being with Amescoll when we first came to Nirn. "We beat out our escort and came here to seek shelter. We ran into some native trouble, but Master Amescoll kept us together and alive. Admiral Deacon arrived more recently and helped us move here."

  Cal looked over his shoulder at me, his smile not dimming for a moment.

  "That's incredible," He said, looking back over at the familiar faces. "I'm so glad to see you are all alright. I… we have some more survivors as well, my fiance-"

  "You found a girl who would put up with you?" Malua asked, thumping his shoulder. "That is great news, Cal. Are they coming here?"

  "That's… what I'm here to find out," He admitted, scratching the back of his head. "If I'm honest, I was not prepared for all of this. What Deacon described did not sound as impressive as I am seeing."

  "Admiral Deacon is the last person you should ask to find out all he has done for us," Amescoll said. "He gathers followers and builds the impossible as easily as Jedi get into trouble, but refuses to accept that it is impressive."

  "Oh yeah, badmouth your leader," I said, shaking my head. "I outrank you, old man."

  "And if I was worried you would punish me, I might have said something different," He responded, before answering Cal's unspoken question. "The few Masters that call Vercopa home agreed that, during this time of strife, Deacon may lead us as he does the Skyforged. He mostly leaves us to our own devices."

  Amescoll and the other Jedi guided Cal away, the redhead looking back at us a bit anxiously, before finally giving up and following them willingly. Ahsoka gave me a kiss on the cheek before following after them, most likely to keep Cal from being overwhelmed.

  Seeing as my job of getting Cal settled and introduced to everyone was now someone else's problem, I walked back into the shuttle, telling them to take me back up to the . When I arrived, after a short briefing on the current general situation, I made my way down to the holding area for the now bio-chipless clones. We had about seventy of them at the moment, living in a cordoned-off area of the Lucrehulk.

  We were trying to make them as comfortable as possible, feeding them well and giving them books and other stuff to keep them occupied, but there was only so much lipstick you could put on that particular pig. They were locked up, being kept from seeing outside the ship, so on the off chance they got a look at the stars, they wouldn't be able to use them to pinpoint our location.

  I walked into the central gathering room that the cordoned off area was connected to, and immediately, nearly thirty or so clones turned to look at me. I could see dozens of them instinctively reaching for weapons that weren't there, while others looked behind me, at Lieutenant Rider, the leader of one of 2nd Group's ground teams, which was made up of clones. We were wearing nothing but our uniforms, only armed with our blaster pistols on our hips.

  "Hello everyone," I said, scanning to look at the crowd. "My name is Deacon Roy. I am the leader of the Skyforged Vanguard, the group that took you. I am certain all of you have noticed that something has changed? I don't pretend to know exactly how it feels, but I can imagine you can feel the difference, now that the control chip implanted in your brains have been removed."

  "It's like stepping onto a ship with standard gravity, after being deployed on a gravity planet," One of them spoke up, a clone with a tattoo under his left eye. "Why did you remove them?"

  "Because it was the right thing to do," I said simply, ignoring the several scoffs from further into the room. "If there is any reason that the Republic deserved to be crushed, it was the creation and purchasing of six million clone slaves. When any decent person has the opportunity to correct something like that, they take it. Our attack on the deep space storage station was not intended as a rescue mission, but the moment we realized you were clones, that is what it became."

  "Are you CIS then?" one of the closer clones asked, narrowing his eyes. "This is a CIS ship, I can tell that much."

  "It's a Lucrehulk," another added, with a few others nodding in agreement.

  "No, we are not CIS," I answered, shaking my head. "We are an anti-Imperial mercenary force. This is a Lucrehulk, but it was stolen from a CIS depot."

  "And who is that?" A separate clone asked, nodding back at Rider. "I don't recognize him from the station."

  "I am CT-4478, Lieutenant Rider," the clone responded, stepping forward. "I am the leader of one of the Skyforge's ground teams, a clone unit part of our second combat group. We were rescued from deep space by Admiral Deacon's team."

  The crowd, which had grown considerably since I first began talking, absorbed that information, with several different emotions playing across the group's faces. After a long minute, another voice called out.

  "So, you're not CIS then?"

  I shook my head and rolled my eyes, letting out a sigh at the question. Thankfully, it seemed that it had at least partially been a joke, as a few chuckles and snorts spread through the crowd.

  "Alright, clear a spot," I said, heading towards a central table, surprising the group by so casually walking among them. "This is clearly not going to be a short conversation, so I might as well sit. Should get something to drink sent up as well."

  I sat down at one of the larger tables, Rider sitting right beside me, before launching into a full explanation of who I was, and what we had been working towards. About thirty minutes in, several dozen containers of beer arrived, along with some fresh food and snacks, to go along with my storytelling.

  By the time an hour had passed, I was no longer just talking at them. Instead, we were trading stories back and forth, sharing our histories and victories over food and beer.