Emperor Palpatine shuffled down the ramp of his exclusive shuttle. Draped in his murky black robes, his nose sniffed out the crisp, clean air of Mandalore. His hunched stance and glaring beady eyes stabbed people in the heart with fear. A long line of expensively dressed Mandalorian Royal Guards greeted him with a bow of respect. 

Lurking behind the feared Sith Emperor was a collection of guards dressed in flowing red robes and sleek yet featureless scarlet masks. Palpatine's personal guards - The Red Guards. Armed with Force Pikes, the elite guards stormed right past the Mandalorians, followed by a platoon of Shock Troopers.

Palpatine's villainous shuffle and glares brought order to the walk way, just the way he liked it. After walking for 10 metres, his hosts came into view. 

Proudly standing, Duchess Satine Kyrze, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Padme Amidala bowed with respect to the galaxy's most rueful ruler. "Greetings, Emperor." chorused Obi-Wan and  Satine as she effectively hid her nerves.

"Thank you for agreeing to host the Gala." replied Palpatine, carefully studying them. The ginger man looked a bit like somebody he used to know...a certain Jedi who taught Darth Vader. Kenobi, snarled his mind. But it wasn't. "It's been too long since I've been here. It seems so...peaceful."

"It's all thanks to the Imperial Academy and your magnificent Army and Navy." responded Satine, trying to charm the old wrinkle sack. "Without them, Death Watch would still be terrorising Mandalore and be a threat to your glorious Empire, your Majesty."

"The Empire will maintain it's policy of keeping law and order, and spreading peace across the Galaxy for many decades, Duchess." He turned his attention to a woman stood behind the Duke and Duchess. "And who might you be?"

"I'm Governor Scarlett Lennox, your Majesty." Padme bowed her head, relieved she had been able to come up with a new name on the spot. "I'm the Duke and Duchess' personal Advisor."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," replied Palpatine, wondering why she almost looked like Padme Amidala who had died 3 years ago.

"The pleasure is all mine, your Majesty." Padme flashed him a smile. "Thank you for everything you've done since the formation of the Empire. Everybody's lives have improved. I hope Mandalore can pull of a celebration worthy of its saviour."

"Scarlett, you are excused to get ready for this evening." reported Obi-Wan. This was code for get the children and get them to safety.

"Thank you, sir." replied Padme, bowing. She turned to Palpatine one last time. "Good day, your Majesty."  Turning around, she walked away from the Royals and made her way to Luke and Leia's quarters.

*****************************************************

Sitting on the floor, Luke Skywalker had a crayon in his hand. Carefully scribbling the hair of his adopted father, on the floor, he could hear the footsteps of what Padme called his and his sister's "babysitter". He looked up as a neatly shaven man approached.

He had sleek black hair with a scar running down the right hand side of his face. His worn and tanned skin was complimented with his golden brown eyes. He wore a black skin top with black combats and white boots. Protecting himself, was a slightly incomplete set of armour. It was orange and white, complete with a small jetpack.

"I'm going to be in so much trouble....." he sighed as he saw Luke's artwork. Kneeling down to Luke's height, he smiled at him. "Luke, that's some amazing work but don't you think it would look better on actual paper and not the expensive flooring?" Seeing the paper he had given Luke 15 minutes ago, he placed it in front of Skywalker's offspring.

"Ok." Snatching the paper from the sitter's hand, Luke began to scribble his next Master peace. He was dressed in a blue jacket with grey trousers and boots.

Relived that Luke wouldn't be drawing on the walls for the next few minutes, the babysitter's attention turned to the little girl with her biological mum's sass and her father's love for flying.

Quietly sat next to the window, Leia was fascinated with a new pop up book all about aircraft. She was on a double page spread dedicated to Y-Wings. Seeing her babysitter walk sit beside her she looked up at him. "Do you know about Y-Wings?" she asked. 

"Yes I do." smiled the babysitter. "They were some of the best fighters around during the Clone Wars. They were very easy to use and they were fast. I've always wanted to fly one."

"I'm going to won and fly one when I'm older."  Leia smiled as she imagined herself flying around the galaxy. She looked back at her book and eyed a picture of a clone pilot with his helmet by his side. She looked at the babysitter and then at the picture and back at the sitter. "Are you a clone?"

"You are one smart girl, Leia." he began. "My name is Cody but my birth number is CC-2224. I was a Commander during the war but now I'm just here and there running errands and delivering supplies to those in need."

When Order 66 had been executed, Cody had turned against his General. With Good Soldiers Must Follow Orders echoing through his mind, he had caught Obi-Wan Kenobi off guard. Kenobi was lying on the ground, half dead. Taking the opportunity to destroy the traitor, he found himself with a blaster against Kenobi's head. With most of his free will stripped from him, he was prepared to pull the trigger but the small amount of free will he had left fought off the command. Throwing the blaster away, he couldn't believe what he was about to do.

Fives had been right all along.

The door to the twin's quarters opened, revealing Padme, dressed in a plain white flight suit with her hair pulled back into a tight bun.

Luke and Leia both ran over to her, before hugging her legs.

"Its nice to see you both." she smiled hugging her own children. Thinking about the fact that all three of them had the capability of using the Force frightened her. What is they were captured? What if the twins were used and turned to the dark side? What if Darth Vader found out about his children? Putting the thoughts in the back of her mind, she released the twins. "Go and play for a few minutes. We're going on a trip."

She watched as the twins released their grip from her. They returned to their activities without any arguments.

Cody stood up from his seat and saluted. "Commander Cody reporting for duty, Ma'am."

"At ease, Cody." replied Padme. "There's no need to do formal greetings or titles. We're all equals here."

"Right." nodded Cody, taking in what she was saying. "I'm just glad to see that you and General Kenobi are alive."

Padme gave him a small smile. "Shall we get going?"

"That would be an idea." agreed Cody. "The sooner we go, the more chance we have escaping and tracking down the Rebellion."

"Luke, Leia!" called Padme. They immediately dropped what they were doing and came over to her. "We're going on a trip now." She picked up Luke.

Cody picked up Leia. He liked this little one. "Where are we going?" asked Luke.

"Into space." replied Padme. "Now, lets go." Walking to a wall near Leia's window seat, she pressed a concealed button.  An escape hatch opened. She entered it, as Cody followed.

"Are mummy and Daddy coming?" asked Leia to Cody.

"They'll join us when they get a chance to." Cody responded, not knowing what else to say. He was new to this child care business. He eyed Padme who gave him a small nod.

Walk-running, the two adults navigated the passage way successfully.

Seeing a small red light, Cody walked towards it and pressed it in. A door magically slid open, revealing a brightly lit hangar. "What ship are we taking?" He asked as he saw 4 small and 2 medium ships docked and ready for take off.

"We're taking the Shadow." replied Padme.

Cody instantly knew the ship she was talking about.

Hand built from scratch by Ahsoka Tano, Kenobi's Padawan and himself, the Shadow was built for speed, stealth and destruction. It was armed with four ion canons, two turrets and a rocket launcher, as well as bombs. It was equipped with the best military hyper drive available during the war and had a cloaking device as a countermeasure. On the inside it had a small medbay, a cargo handling system, five cabins with bunks, It was customised with battalion markings, quotes, tallies, art and paint splatters. It was tradition to leave your mark on that ship.

The last time he saw it was just before the Republic fell to the Empire.

"So this is where she's been hiding." He said to himself. His eyes studied the ship's current state. It's paint work had seen better days yet it still stood out from the other ships. His eyes jumped to Padme's position.

Standing next to the ramp of the ship, Padme pushed a concealed button. It activated a retina scanner.

****************************************************************************

Forty eight hours ago, the Executor had touched down on Mandalore but Darth Vader hadn't made his grand entrance. He had concealed himself to his private quarters. As soon as he had entered the atmosphere, flashbacks of the Clone Wars has phased through him.

Forcing the flashbacks out of his mind, Darth Vader pulled his cloak hood over his face. With anger swelling up in his mind, he charged to the secure prison cells that held one of his VIP guests.

"Leave us." he ordered four of his new and useful stormtroopers, as he entered the cell he could see what the clones called their "little sis".

Pinned down on an angled table and surrounded by torture droids, her tired and limp body forced a smile onto her face. "Hey, Anakin!"

"Shut your mouth, sleemo." responded Darth Vader with a short fuse.

"Ok...I see you are having one of your silly moments." Her eyes lurked around the room to see that all of her security cameras were watching her every move, just like they always were. "Anyway...My name is Jade. How can I help you in this fine dark cell?"

"I don't have the patience for this, clone." snarled Vader. "If you want to help me then you can give into these droids and let me use you as a way to track down Kenobi, your old Master."

"Obi-Wan died in my arms." replied Jade, letting an old cursed memory play. "A week after your stupid Emperor, Sheev, decided to say the magical number and convert the Jedi Temple on Coruscant into his personal palace." Her colourless face followed the Sith as he paced around the room.

We'll see how cooperative you are after this." A grin lurked across his face. His luminous eyes glowed even more. He was powerful. He could use his power to break anybody he wanted to, yet things were different with this clone. Physically she had been broken, literally, but mentally she was strong and still had that annoying attitude problem.

Placing his hands on her shoulders, he summoned all of the rage and pain the memories had caused. Using the pain as a weapon, he forced it through his arms and into her body. Increasing his grip on her shoulders he closed his eyes and sank into the Force. It was strong with her but he was stronger than her. His mind yelled at the Force to crush her mentally. He released his grip. He opened his eyes to find her in a myoclonic seizure.

Her muscles twitched like mad. She had no control over her body. Something was attacking her. It wasn't Vader. It was something that felt like him but it felt far away but it was so close. It was almost as if she was being attacked by a parasite. But why?

Feeling a dark force eating at her mind, she knew what Vader was trying to do. He wanted her other half. "I won't...." she panted as she refocused her energy on holding off the dark force swelling in her mind. "let you summon...her."

"I'm not the one summoning her," replied Vader, now walking towards the steps of the cell. "You are." With a swish of his cloak, Vader ascended the steps and vanished around the corner.

Not wanting to unleash her destructive alter ego, Jade reached down for her final source of power. It was what connected all of the Elemental Powers. Yelling out in agony, she unleashed it.

A green aurora surrounded her. 

She felt the darkness inside her cooling off. Feeling the pain going away, she felt stronger than she did before. 

The aurora faded away into thin air.

".....take it to the Cube." She heard Darth Vader's voice order. Instantly knowing where she was, she sighed with relief but feared the dreaded Cube. It was where Satine was held against her will when that Prime Minister of hers framed her.

Suddenly, six Death Troopers entered the cell. One of them lowered her table so she was facing the plain black ceiling. She felt the table move as the troopers began to escort her to her new home.  

"This should make sure you don't attempt to mess up my ship." she heard Vader smirk as he walked past.

Ignoring her old mentor, she scanned the trooper's minds. They were all clones but she didn't recognise any of them.

Around the corner, they came to one of the many turbolifts that connected the busy life of the bustling crew members. Entering the lift, the troopers surrounded her. The lift doors closed.

One of the troopers raised his gun and shot the camera that was watching them. Another began to unstrap her form the table.

What was this? Was this Ahsoka's Rebellion? Or was it a trap?

Sitting up she eyed the trooper that had released her. "Who are you?"