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Chapter Text

Plo Koon was woken by the feel of the Force surging around him, sitting up in surprise as it came to a lull. That surge could only mean that something had been set in motion, as it hadn’t tried to communicate with him. The only thing was that Plo wasn’t entirely certain if it was a Force wide surge or confined to his ship, so he slid out of bed and reached for the light switch.

The sound of loud crying caught his attention. It sounded like a young child and the Kel Dor stroked his chin in confusion. There wasn’t supposed to be a child on the ship and Plo momentarily worried that his boys had tried to smuggle one aboard. Several other voices joined the crying and Plo grabbed his robe and saber, hurrying from the room.

He followed the sound of the crying to the barracks, feeling more and more concerned as he walked the halls with no sign of any of the guards. He kept his saber in hand as he opened the door to the barracks…and froze in surprise, slowly lowering his unlit saber as he stared down at a bawling infant with a cybernetic eye, sitting in a pile of clothes that used to fit an adult body on the floor. 

Of all the things that he expected in the wee hours of the morning, a magically babified Wolffe never entered the realm of ideas.

He then registered that the other voices were coming from the bunks around him and realized that every clone in the barracks appeared to be in the same state as Wolffe: that is, somehow turned into babies of various stages. Most seemed to have been set off by Wolfe’s cries while others could’ve been crying for any number of reasons. Plo suddenly realized that he was alone in the ship with hundreds of infants, since he had a sneaking suspicion that this wasn’t confined to the barracks. 

First step was to calm everyone down as best as possible. He took a step forward and knelt before Wolffe, who looked up at him with tear stained cheeks and reached up his chubby little arms, soft cries and hiccups still escaping his chest. 

“There, little one, let it out. I have you.” The Kel Dor carefully lifted the baby into his arms and held him close to his chest, mindful of his claws even though they had their covers. Wolffe’s now small head rested against his shoulder and he slowly started to relax now that he was in arms that he recognized as safe. 

With Wolffe balanced on his chest and calming down, Plo sent a wave of calm through the Force throughout the ship, something that proved rewarding as most of the rest of the cries quieted, the other babies all on their bunks and looking around with big, golden eyes. They’d all kept any tattoos or hair color that set them apart as individuals. Boost still had two red strips of hair, but seemed fascinated with playing with a button on his old uniform. Sinker, with a head full of white baby tuffs, looked like he was about to cry until Plo used the Force to pull a blanket over his trembling form. Then he sighed in contentment and began to suck his thumb. 

The next hour or so was spent trying to soothe the others in the barracks, which largely consisted of swaddling the young ones in blankets (as their clothes were far too large now) and rocking them one by one. Wolffe was soundly snoring and drooling on his shoulder and Plo didn’t have the heart to move him. The Jedi knew that they didn’t have any supplies to take care of infants on board, including food, so they would need to find a place to stop or head back to Coruscant.

Since everyone in the barracks was settled, Plo left the room--Wolffe still on his shoulder--to investigate the rest of the ship. The situation was, perhaps unsurprisingly, even more chaotic throughout the ship. There were suits of armor collapsed on the ground, their now tiny occupants trapped and confused. Plo painstakingly freed them all and carried them back to the barracks, not without an inconsiderable amount of Force usage to juggle more than two babies. 

The bridge held the majority of the clones who’d been up that night and it was probably the loudest of the areas, with wails of distress bouncing off the walls. Comet crawled towards him the moment the door opened, but tripped over a small dip in the floor and smacked his face into the metal. It wasn’t that hard of a hit, but tears still welled up in Comet’s eyes and his lip trembled.

“Come here, little snowball, it’s alright.” Plo used his free hand to pick the little clone up, soothing him as best as he could while assessing the situation of the other children. He could sense a faint disturbance in the Force from the barracks and realized that some of the children must be awake and unhappy about it.

He needed reinforcements. With a careful balancing act, Plo managed to make his way to the holotable and punch in Obi-Wan’s comm, knowing that The Negotiator was only a couple of systems away.

The call opened to show a very harried looking Obi-Wan trying to juggle two rambunctious infants while another that bore Cody’s trademark scar sat on his shoulder and pulled at his hair. The two Generals looked at each other with some relief and dismay, clearly realizing that no help could come from the other ship and that between the two of them, they already had about 1,000 mysteriously infantized clones on their hands.

Obi-Wan broke the silence. “I think we should contact the Council.”

Chapter Text

“ Sir. Sir! Wake up, General.”

Obi-Wan slowly sat up, blinking away the sleep from his eyes and realizing that he’d fallen asleep on his desk—again. Someone had shaken his shoulder and he looked up to meet the eyes of his faithful friend and commander, Cody. 

“Cody, good morning. Or is it good evening?” He fumbled for his comm link to check as he asked, “Is something the matter?”

“No, sir. General Unduli tried to comm you a few moments ago to verify our rendezvous point, but I took care of it. We are only two parsecs away though, so I thought I should wake you.”

“Ah, thank you, Cody.” He determined that it was in the middle of the night and groaned, pulling himself to his feet. He then spotted one of the tea cups that he kept in his quarters sitting on his desk and raised an eyebrow. “What is this?”

“Trapper and Wooley, sir. They wanted to surprise you themselves, but had to report to the bridge. They came up with a new blend that they wanted you to try.”

Touched, Obi-Wan picked up the cup and sipped the brew. Ever since Trapper and Wooley had discovered his love of tea, they’d taken it upon themselves to find new blends in the various worlds they fought on or to experiment themselves. Most of the time, the homemade blends were completely indigestible and once or twice Obi-Wan had had to point out the “not for typical humanoid consumption” label on the exotic blends that they bought. But sometimes, they came up with a win and those times alone were enough to encourage them. Obi-Wan suspected that this distracting endeavor was why the light in Trapper’s eyes hadn’t completely gone out after being the sole surviving clone on their gunship on Geonosis and why Wooley’s smile still came easily.

This brew was one of the wins and Obi-Wan hummed in satisfaction. “I’ll have to thank them when I reach the bridge. Let us go now. Have you also gotten some rest?” Cody didn’t answer and Obi-Wan turned back to see that Cody was pale and grasping the desk. “Cody!” He quickly strode back over, but Cody seemed to be recovering.

“Sorry about that, General. Just a dizzy spell. I’m alright now.”

“Are you sure?” There was no lie he could sense and Cody’s Force presence felt mildly disturbed, but not alarmingly so.

“Yes sir. Let’s get to the bridge before they make the jump from hyperspace.” Cody grabbed his helmet from where he’d placed it on a nearby chair. Though still concerned, Obi-Wan trusted his commander to tell him if something was actually wrong and opened the door for them both to exit.

They were halfway to the bridge when the Force surged around them, knocking Obi-Wan to his knees with a dizzy spell. He had never felt a surge so powerful before and had heard it meant a Force intervention, though those were quite rare. Something quite big must be happening.

When he shook the dizzy spell off, his thoughts immediately went to his men. Clones weren’t Force sensitive, but they still would’ve been knocked off balance and likely quite confused. “Cody? Are you-” He turned around and cut himself off.

Cody’s suit of armor was on the ground and his helmet was rolling nearby. Instead of his commander’s…well, usual sized body, he saw a baby with a shock of dark hair and golden eyes staring at him. Cody’s trademark scar ran across his face, the only thing convincing Obi-Wan that he wasn’t mostly insane.

“I-Cody?!” 

Cody blinked at him slowly, then his face scrunched up as if he was about to cry. Before he could, a wail sounded from beyond the next turn on the winding hallway and Cody’s head jerked in that direction. He then began crawling with a seriousness that only a Marshall Commander could exude, even when babified. With haste, Obi-Wan scooped up Cody’s undershirt and wrapped the baby in it, picking him up.

“Let us find out exactly what happened, shall we?”

-

Around two hours later, Cody was sitting on Obi-Wan’s shoulder, babbling away excitedly as he tugged on fistfuls of Obi-Wan’s hair. The Jedi Master couldn’t spare the energy to care, as he was currently holding Waxer in one arm and Boil in the other. Both clones were simultaneously trying to climb him like a jungle gym and trying to reach for each other. There wouldn’t be much issue if they weren’t at danger of falling and too likely to knock Trapper or Wooley over if they did, the two other babies playing with a remote for the blaster doors. They were the only calm and awake clones, the others on the bridge and through the ship in some stage of fussing, crying, or (on rare occasions) sleeping. Obi-Wan dearly wished that he’d brought Anakin with him. The only officer he’d brought with him was asleep in the barracks most likely and he hadn’t needed more, since it was only a search and rescue mission.

Just as he was trying to form a plan, his comm chimed and he saw that it was Plo Koon’s link. Ignoring the repeated opening and closing slams of the blaster doors behind him, he accepted the call with relief, only to find the Kel Dor Master in much the same predicament as he was in.

“I think,” Obi-Wan stated, barely catching Waxer as he lunged towards the control panel, “that we should contact the Council.”

Plo made a noise of agreement, but Obi-Wan’s comm chimed with another incoming call. He answered it while keeping Plo on the line. He started out, “Luminara, I apologize for the delay. We’ve had a slight…” He paused as he took in her current state. “...incident.”

“Yes, I do believe we’ve had the same one.” The Mirialan Master stated dryly, a sleeping clone on her shoulder and another sucking his thumb while resting on her hip. She seemed in a far better state than he was until she called out, “Barriss! Don’t drop him!”

“I’m trying, Master!” Barriss dashed in and out of the frame, struggling to hold onto one baby as she chased down a crawler that held something in his hand.

Plo and Obi-Wan shared a look and Obi-Wan asked, “Join us in a call to the Council?”

Luminara looked slightly relieved. “Please.”

***

Mace Windu was not entirely certain what had happened. One moment he was discussing with Ponds the best way through the looming debris field and the next moment he was knocked off balance from a surge in the Force. At the same time, every single clone around him dropped to the ground as one.

He quickly picked himself off the ground and knelt next to Ponds, taking away the man’s helmet only to see nothing at all. Before the sense of panic inside of him could grow, a cry sounded from within the rest of the armor. He bent further and tilted his head to peer into his Commander’s armor, only to be greeted by a pair of large, golden brown eyes in the shaved head of an infant. The baby and Mace blinked at each other before the baby--Ponds?!--opened his mouth to let out a highly distressed wail.

Mace would like it known that he adored kids. He just didn’t know what to do with them before they could at least talk. 

Before he could make any move, another wail joined Ponds’ from a nearby set of armor. Mace was typically more aware of his surroundings, but the entire Force felt off balance around him. He would use that explanation to explain to anyone who asked (not that anyone was around who would) why he jumped about a foot into the air with surprise. 

Mace scooped Ponds out of the armor, hastily wrapping him in the undershirt that now dwarfed the clone, and moved to check the others on the bridge. Sure enough, every single clone was now an infant. Mace had a suspicion that it could potentially be fleet or even Force-wide (which he was more inclined to think). If it was fleet-wide, since his full fleet was in the system with him, it meant that between all three of his ships he had around 15,000 infant clones to worry about (with roughly 5,000 clones to a Venator). If it was Force-wide…well he still had the immediate issue of 15,000 children to look after. 

Even with the natural-born officers on each ship (the nat-borns, as Ponds and the others had called them), they needed serious reinforcements. He raised his comm link as he tried to catch Razor, who was trying to crawl over the control board.

The blue holo image of Master Yoda appeared and with it any faint hope that he had that the Force wanted only him to have a bad day. The little green Master was holding a baby almost as large as he was and looking entirely too calm for the situation. 

“Master Windu. Having Force surprises too, I see.”

“That’s one word for it. Master Yoda, I have three Venators almost fully staffed with clones and only a few officers per ship. I need reinforcements to help take care of these men. Babies. Whatever they are.”

Yoda chuckled and shook his head. “Get in line, you will. Already called for help, Masters Kenobi, Koon and Unduli have.”

At that moment, Razor crawled over a section of keyboard that had his little hand hitting the emergency alarm button, causing sirens to go off throughout the ship. His brothers, startled out of their armor, began to wail frantically.

As Ponds said daily, karking Force osik.

***

As soon as Master Windu’s holo faded away, Yoda let out another slight chuckle before looking at the baby blinking sleepily in his arms. A surprise, it was to be sure, when Rys had suddenly toppled over almost on top of him while delivering a message. Yoda had felt the Force surge, of course, but found it very interesting that the Masters he’d spoken to so far reported immediate transformation of the clones after the surge while Rys had de-aged almost 25 minutes later.

Rys also appeared to be younger than most of the reported ages. Obi-Wan, Mace, Luminara, and Plo all appeared to be reporting about babies at least 6 months old and up, but Rys was now no more than around 3 months old. Yoda had seen enough babies in his long life to be fairly sure of that.

Strange, this was. Something in the Force niggled at his consciousness. It was elusive, just out of reach. Yoda had no time to meditate now, not with Rys to look after. With Rys, Yoda sensed the key was. The clone had been traveling to the Jedi temple when the surge had happened, being assigned to the Senate. 

Hmmm. The Senate. Strangely quiet, they have been. Surely, the Coruscant guard, they have noticed.

“Rys,” Yoda said out loud, looking down at the now napping infant, “To the Senate, we go. Find the answers, we must.”

Almost as worrying as the Senate’s silence was Skywalker’s.

Chapter Text

Displeasure…Worry…Determination… NO MORE …

Anakin jolted out of his meditation as the turmoil in the Force slowed to a halt. He did not know the details of what he’d experienced, but he did know that all the turbulence he’d felt in the Force for the last 24 hours appeared to have finally reached its climax. It still pulsed around him, feeling almost…satisfied. 

Wanting to know exactly what had happened, Anakin pulled on his robes and hurried from his room. He didn’t have to go far to find something wrong. The guard that was always outside his door was gone, a pile of armor in his place. Anakin froze. Where was the guard? Where were the usual nighttime wanderers in the halls? Was this an attack? Had the Separatists finally figured out a way to dispose of the clones without a trace? His men…

There was a sniffle nearby and Anakin looked around, trying to locate the source. He soon realized that it was coming from inside the collapsed suit of armor and quickly bent down, shifting parts of the plastoid around until he uncovered…a baby. An infant with a miniature V-shaped tattoo on his head and rivers of tears rolling down slightly too thin cheeks. He stared at Anakin with watery brown eyes and whimpered in distress.

Anakin did not squeak, “Dogma?!” The baby gave no answer, but his face grew slowly more flushed and his lip trembled, clearly about to bawl.

“Um…I-” Anakin had done creche duty once at age 15 and Master Kreila had shoved him out after three hours and had kindly asked him to not return. Apparently he was enabling the young ones’ mischief. It wasn’t his fault that the entire creche had decided to play “Mustafar” and had leapt from furniture to furniture to avoid the lava floor, resulting in the destruction of no less than three priceless artifacts.

Ok. It may have been a little bit his fault. But who kept priceless artifacts near children?

Back to the present time, it meant that Anakin had little idea of what to do with Dogma, who promptly began to cry great, heaving, gulping sobs.

“I-no no, don’t cry, come here, c’mon…” Anakin hastily freed the baby the rest of the way and rested him against his shoulder, awkwardly patting his back. Dogma didn’t calm, exactly, but his crying slowed a little bit. Anakin felt oddly accomplished, if not still very lost. 

“Master!” Ahsoka tore around the corner, looking around worriedly. She relaxed when she saw Anakin, though her eyebrows shot up as she spied the baby trooper. “Skyguy, is there something you want to tell me?”

Anakin rolled his eyes and turned his body so that his Padawan could see the face of the infant. “It’s Dogma.”

“Dogma?” Ahsoka looked shocked. “What? But how? He’s a baby?”

“So it would appear! The Force just-” Anakin froze as he realized something. “The bridge.” He hastily shoved a startled Dogma into an even more startled Ahsoka’s arms and took off towards the bridge, where he could still feel the highest concentration of Force energy.

It was nothing short of chaos. 

Babies, babies, all across the room. Many were crying (did all babies cry so much?) whilst some…well, there was Fives, crawling with a scowl on his face to a very alarmed looking Admiral Yularen with Echo hot on his heels. Hardcase was--attempting to bite his own feet? Jesse and Tup were poking at R2-D2, who Anakin could almost sense was feeling longsuffering. And Rex…

A surprising tiny, blonde haired baby, Rex was crawling with purpose towards Anakin, avoiding Coric and Kix who were trying to see his skinned elbow. Medics attempting to wrangle their commanding officer to the very last, it would seem, even as babies who didn’t know what they were doing. Wait, did they know?

Anakin didn’t take the time to ponder that big question, scooping Rex into his arms just as Ahsoka caught up to him, Dogma much calmer now but still looking fussy.

“Uh…Master?” Ahsoka’s eyes were wide, looking around the bridge with awe and worry. “Why are all of our men babies?”

“I-I have no idea.” At least they weren’t in battle. Anakin awkwardly shifted Rex to his right arm, who was playing happily with a string on his robes. “We should call Obi-Wan. Surely he’ll know what to do.”

At that moment, they heard a surprised shout and turned to see Admiral Yularen tip over backwards, tripped by the trouble twins. Instead of a rough landing on the floor, he made an even rougher landing onto the communications panel, smashing into the instruments. 

As the lights on the panel began to blink oddly and nothing but static could be heard from any surrounding comms, Anakin and Ahsoka let out simultaneous groans.

“I guess…we’re on our own, Snips.”

***

A long time, it had taken, to get close to the Senate. Rys slept through the entire thing, which surprised Master Yoda very little. He could sense an exhaustion in the infant that disturbed him greatly. The speeder ride was at least fairly smooth, allowing for Rys to snore peacefully.

As they neared the Senate, Yoda spotted a disturbance below them and drifted lower to investigate. What was before him invoked a twisted anger that he’d fought back long ago.

A patrol of Guards had been de-aged in the middle of a street. The civilians, ever hateful towards the Guards in red, had started to gather and advance on the babies, who’d fallen out of their armor. Small stones were being thrown and heavier weapons were in hand, threatening to seriously harm the wailing children, who were confused and frightened. 

Yoda brought his speeder to a halt mid air and did a flip out of it, landing next to one of the clones. One hand raised and the townspeople and would-be assailants were pushed back, while the other gently lifted the infants by twos into the hovercraft above them. By the second batch, the assailants had caught on and tried to push their assault on the hovercraft. Yoda snatched the last two infants up and jumped into the craft himself, speeding away and leaving the jeering crowd behind.

The whole incident had woken Rys up, but he did not cry, instead looking at his brothers with wide eyes. The new infants, all around the same age as Rys, looked up at Yoda with even wider eyes, still distressed but very slowly starting to calm down.

“Let them hurt you, I will not.” The old Grand Master said calmly, releasing his anger for the time being. He sensed that his findings on the streets of Coruscant were far from the worst thing he’d see that day and his mind needed to be clear. The Force was getting darker the closer he got to the Senate and all he could feel was anger and fear. He could use some of the other Masters right about now, particularly Mace and his shatterpoint sensitivity. Something else was at play that he couldn’t pinpoint and it bothered him, like something drifting just out of reach.

As he got closer to the Senate, he sensed, and soon saw, that it was absolute insanity. Throngs of people were on the streets and collapsed suits of armor were spread out at various points along the roads, more appearing closer to the Senate. The throngs were divided into those attempting to protect the baby clones and those trying to press an attack. Yoda had known that compassion towards the clones was greatly lacking in Coruscant, but not to this degree. How had this been bubbling to the surface without anyone knowing?

The Force did not tell him that any of the clones had been killed or seriously injured, but Yoda knew that it wouldn’t be the case for too much longer. The compassionate civilians were protecting them for now, but they were too outnumbered and sooner or later the aggressive party would go through their fellow man.

He redirected the speeder behind a nearby shop and parked it, out of sight of the road. He closed his eyes briefly until he sensed who he was looking for. “Come out, you must. Do something, we need to.”

A light pair of feet landed beside him. “And what exactly do you suggest? I’ve been scoping the whole thing out since it started; there are too many for the both of us to fend off alone without anyone getting killed.”

“No need for death, there is. Direct confrontation, the way is not yet, Master Vos.” Yoda looked up at Quinlan expectantly. The other Jedi had one eyebrow raised, but wasn’t trying to butt in, so the Grand Master of the Order continued. “The safety of these children, our main priority is. Safe, the Senate is not. Take them to the temple, we must.”

“I agree, Master Yoda. But how do we get them out of there to begin with?”

“Do this alone, you and I cannot. Reinforcements, I will call. Act, we must, before someone is killed. Wrong around here, something is.” Quinlan’s face looked only grimmer at that statement. “Feel it, have you?”

“I spend a lot of time around here, Master. The Senate has not felt right for a long time. The guards are quiet, subdued. They are not like their fellows on the front. Something is oppressing their very Force signatures. I’ve been trying to scope it out every time I come here, but each way is a dead end. It feels like-”

“Like something doesn’t want to be found, hmmm?” Yoda suggested, a deep furrow in his brow. “Blinded, the Jedi are. Trustworthy, the Senate is not.”

“We’ve never regarded the Senate as particularly trustworthy, Grand Master. Obi-Wan does rather have most politicians pegged correctly.”

“A corrupt politician, there has always been. Blocked, the Force has never left us. Suspect I do, that on Coruscant, the real battlefront has always been.” And what that implied, Yoda didn’t like. “Come, come. Our work, pressing it is. Guard this ship, you must. Find these children, no one can. Need you later, I will. For now, more help I will summon.”

“Yes, Master.”

Yoda stepped away and raised his comm.

***

Jocasta Nu was just typing up the last revision on a newly translated document when her comm chimed, as did any other Knights’ or Masters’ that were in the library. Her brow furrowed and she raised it to see a holo recording of Grand Master Yoda, looking troubled. 

“Emergency, I declare. To the Senate, I call all available Jedi on Coruscant. A few, I ask to form search parties. Babies, all clones appear to be turned into. Will it, the Force has. Led attacks on them, the civilians have. Patrol, and rescue any stray Guards or troopers. Everyone else, to the Senate, you must come. Little lives, in mortal danger, they are. Save them, I cannot alone.”

The moment the hologram faded, Jocasta was on her feet, along with almost any Jedi who was a Master or Knight. Yes, there were those within the Order who viewed the clones as little more than flesh droids. But for the most part, the Jedi recognized the continual sacrifice of the troopers under their command. And no true Jedi could ignore the threat to children. Little ones were sacred and must be protected.

“Call the temple guards! Some must still stay to protect the young ones. Leave some creche masters too. The rest of us must go.” Jocasta called out as she left the library. Just ahead of her was a familiar face, striding with purpose. “Master Kreila, you are coming as well?”

“There aren’t many Jedi in the temple at the moment. Too many are deployed and some cannot leave even if they’re here. Besides, if the guards have been turned into children, a creche master or several are definitely needed.” The Twi’lek answered, hoisting a bag over her shoulder.

“We need to bring large speeders! Small enough to move around with ease and speed but large enough to carry as many babies as possible.” Master Allie called, hurrying down the hall and clearly instructing a group of Knights hurrying after her. “We need medical kits too!”

“I have some.” Vokara Che strode up to them with several other Healers bringing up the rear. “We must hurry; we do not know the full situation.”

“Reports are that civilians are at a standoff.” Cin Drallig, Head of Temple Security, appeared next to them. “Some natural-born security guards are trying to intervene--and doing terribly-but it is distracting them, for now. Some civilians are trying to sneak the children that are outside of the Senate away from the crowd, but only those on the edges of the confrontation are succeeding. The Senate doors are being protected by a few remaining clones, but they are quickly all transforming into children themselves.”

“Any word on casualties?” Vokara asked the question that all of them were afraid to. 

“None, but no one can get a good enough look. I’ve been getting reports for almost 20 minutes from various scouts, but didn’t have any clue of what was really going on before Master Yoda’s call. It is chaos out there.” Cin climbed into a speeder alongside Vokara and Stass Allie. Kreila and Jocasta climbed into a nearby one.

“Well here’s to making it worse.” Master Allie said grimly. “May the Force be with us all.”

Chapter Text

Yoda could hear the speeders heading towards the Senate impressively soon after his hologram went out. The Grand Master of the Order was relieved at the speed with which the temple appeared to have reacted to his summons. Having been in deep meditation for the meantime, Yoda could sense the light that remained in the Force around the Senate weaving its way through the crowd beyond. Answered a lot of questions, it did. 

A speeder, ahead of the others, came to a stop next to him. Inside it were Stass Allie, Vokara Che, and Cin Drallig. They were three of the people he’d hoped most to see, for their skill sets were desperately needed.

“Master Yoda, there are several other speeders just behind us, waiting for instructions. What is the situation?” Master Allie was in full general mode and Yoda had a moment of nostalgia for the time when she could barely walk around the creche. Perhaps the oddest part of living over 800 years in the Jedi Order was seeing so many young ones come and go, as young ones they would always be to him.

Shaking off his reminiscence, Yoda brought his mind back to the matter at hand. “On our side, the Force is.”

“I can sense it.” Cin replied, frowning. “It has weaved itself around the little ones, protecting them.”

“Their attackers’ movements, stilled they are by the Force. Weak minded and weak willed, the Force can stop. Bought us invaluable time, it has, but move we must. Soon, break past the barrier, the more determined will.”

“Are there still civilians protecting the clones?” Stass asked curiously. 

“Yes. But enough, they will not be, to stop those who can break past the control of the Force. Saved, the Force wants the clones, and by us. Act, we must, before our window is lost.”

Quinlan silently approached from nearby, carrying an infant with a certain stiffness that belonged to those that hadn’t visited the creche for a long time. Admittedly, the majority of their younglings came in at least after their first year of life. “Some civilians managed to rescue around 10 kids that were closer to the outskirts of the crowd. I estimate at least another 20 from the patrols and Senate guards further in, probably more. And there’s still the matter of the Senate itself.”

“Handle one thing at a time, we must. Within the Senate, our first priority is not. Move we must on the crowd. Masters, your suggestions, I ask for.”

Stass Allie had a determined and thoughtful expression on her face as she analyzed the crowd around the corner, every inch the General she’d had to become. “Distraction, diversion. We need to get their minds off of the clones long enough for us to interject ourselves into the crowd.”

“I agree.” Cin replied thoughtfully. “We couldn’t get gunships quickly, but I think we can make a proper distraction with our speeders.”

“Remember, little harm we must cause. Anti-Jedi sentiment, stronger it is by the minute. Give them further reason to distrust us, we must not.” Yoda cautioned.

“With all due respect, Master Yoda, I think it’s past that point. No matter what we do, it will be twisted. We must focus on the clones’ rescue by any means necessary and worry about the public later.”

Yoda conceded Stass’s point with a slight head tilt. “Careful, we still must be.”

“I agree. After all, they can twist it any way that they want to, but we must be careful to avoid civilian casualties so that they don’t have anything to back themselves up.” Vokara always did have quite a bit of sense.

“I think,” Quinlan started, returning from checking on their speeder currently occupied by infants that was tucked a little further away. “I have a plan.”

***

Red. Fucking red. On his armor, around the room, all he could see was the horrid color that too often signaled the death of another brother. If he lived through this, he was going to change the Guards’ paint.

Fox writhed on the floor, clawing uselessly at the carpet as spasms shook his body. He wished he had his helmet to hide his expression of pain, but that had been taken from him. Everything had been taken from him and now the Commander didn’t even know what was going on.

“Curious.” The Chancellor’s voice sounded mildly intrigued. “You’re nearing an hour since the surge. The other guards have been dropping like flies since about 20 minutes afterwards. I do believe you might be the last one standing.” A pause. “A figure of speech, of course.”

Fox gritted his teeth as another spasm rippled throughout his body. He wasn’t sure why this was happening to him or his brothers, but to say that he’d been startled nearly into insanity from Stone suddenly becoming an infant in front of him about…oh, 15? 20 minutes ago?...was a mild way of stating things. Just after that, he’d come to the Chancellor’s office, positive that this had something to do with the creepy Sith--Fox held no ability to say it, having tried it before only to have an abrupt seizure and no memory for three days, but he knew deep down that he’d figured out the truth--only to find that the decrepit old man was just as puzzled as he was. Except he was all too eager to watch for when Fox’s body finally gave into whatever the hell was happening.

Stone’s had been quick. So had Hound’s, and Thire’s. Why was he still in his full grown form and in agony? He’d even say that his body wanted to transform but that something was barring it. Karking hells, Fox would welcome Sith lightning over this.

On the next spasm, he finds it harder and harder to think. Palpatine is talking, but he can’t hear a thing over the whooshing sound in his ears. His mind feels almost pleasantly fuzzy now, not registering the pain from the spasms the same way. He catches himself having drifting thoughts not unlike those he had when he was a cadet of a mere 1 year old, 2-3 years old physically. Fleeting, unconcerned, free of burden…

His last coherent thought was ‘ Finally ’.

+++

Sheev Palpatine stared at the wailing newborn infant on the floor in front of him with some horror mixed with fascination. The fascination was purely because of the transformation…the horror because of the thing the commander had turned into.

The chancellor didn’t do babies. They were noisy, smelly, and had absolutely no use to them. Why bother with odd little bundles of flesh when you could have droids? Or clones? No one except the Kaminoans had to deal with them until they were grown enough to fight. So why in all of the Dark Side did he have a clone infant wailing on his carpet?

The crying was going to drive him insane. He gritted his teeth and carefully moved over, reaching out to the newborn--technically former commander. “Do stop that screeching-” His hand moved over the infant’s face, a spell of deep sleep coming to mind.

“OUCH!”

Palpatine jumped a foot into the air and scurried back to his desk, staring in horror at the infant that had just bitten him. He glanced at his hand and was shocked to see blood. Weren’t infants not supposed to have teeth?!

He could swear the little shit was grinning at him before the wailing started again.

Oh he could obliterate the young one so easily…but it would raise too much suspicion. With the Force being so unpredictable, he didn’t want to risk a move that could expose himself.

He grimaced and began to rummage through the drawers. He had to have earplugs somewhere .

***

Vokara could sense the clones’ force signatures in the midst of the crowd. The clones’ signatures had always been surprisingly light, which made them easy to find now. None of them were in ideal rescue locations, but it would suffice.

“I have a read on them.” The healer reported. “We must move now.”

Quinlan’s sharp grin was answer enough and in the background, the whir of many speeders starting up rang through the air.

+++

Several civilians were down with injuries, some more serious than others. The attackers took up a chant of “Bewitched! All the clones bewitched!” as they made their advances. Those who could still stood against them, but they were weakening. Many attackers found themselves distracted, confused, unable to get close to the clones. The Force was holding, but so close to the darkness of the Senate, it was weak. The few with stronger minds fought it and with a cry of “Bewitched!”, one broke through to hover menacingly above one of the guards, who was crying because of all the noise and the fear.

Suddenly, the roar of many speeders descended on the crowd. As the vehicles swooped low, most of the crowd had to duck or run to avoid getting grazed by the undersides. In the confusion, Jedi dropped from the speeders into the crowd. With Master Allie’s cry of “Go, go, go!”, they sprang to action. 

As Quinlan used his shadow skills, slipping in and out of places before anyone could react, Yoda sprang from shoulder to head to shoulder again, swooping down to snatch the clones as he went. Everytime a speeder went by, he passed them onto the designated Jedi who hung half out of the speeding vehicle, ready to receive the children. He could see Master Allie using several Force pulls to bring children to her and while usually he wouldn’t recommend it for such young children, time was of the essence and they all knew how to be careful.

Most civilians were still disoriented from the circling speeders and the wind generated by them, which gave the advantage to the Jedi. Yoda took great pleasure in snatching up the clone who had almost been grabbed by his attacker and if he’d happened to have bounced off of the man’s face as he made his escape…well, it didn’t concern anyone else.

The crowd was so dense, however, that they weren’t sure if they’d spotted all of the clones. The Force signatures knotted together in some areas and it was hard to tell if a clone was hidden there. 

“Master Yoda, we’ve rescued all those we could locate! But there are still areas too thick for us to know if we have them all!” Master Allie called out over comms.

“We have to get moving!” Cin chimed in. “If we do this too much longer, our engines will stall and we’ll have bigger problems.”

“Leave no one behind, we shall. Five minutes, you must buy me.” Yoda instructed them grimly, hoisting himself and his last precious cargo into a nearby speeder. At Cin’s reluctant affirmative, Yoda closed his eyes and entered a trance.

He could detect all the Force signatures around him. So much darkness within these people and the Senate was just a wall of darkness itself. Yoda worried over what that meant, but did not have the time to dwell on it. He carefully shifted through the clusters where it was too crowded to distinguish my normal means. Nothing, nothing…there was one! And another. And another…

“Master Allie, to the sector 3:11, you should go. Master Che, to 4:09, you must hasten. Vos, hurry for 6:07. Cin, take us to sector 2:16.” Four. Four clone infants were still in the throng, but Yoda felt confident that they were the last who needed rescuing from the crowd. 

Speeders whooped down again for one last pass, the crowds starting to regain themselves. They would only have one chance at this. 

“If you’re going to jump, do it now!” Cin called out and Yoda vaulted down into the throng of people, landing right next to where he had sensed the small clone before, only to see that he wasn’t there.

“I don’t think so, Jedi.” A voice from nearby snapped and Yoda turned to see a Rodian standing there with the clone in one arm. He wasn’t holding the baby properly and the youngling cried in distress. “The people of Coruscant have a right to defend against abominations!”

“Infants, abominable, you see them?” Yoda retorted, eyes narrowing in focus. The baby wasn’t held at a dangerous angle, but it was clearly uncomfortable and Yoda would bet that the clone could sense the danger he was in.

“He wasn’t an infant to start with! They were dangerous enough running around unsupervised before; now they’ve got weird voodoo things happening with them!”

Yoda didn’t bother to point out that technically, the clones were far less dangerous as infants. “Voodoo, you say. Will of the Force, it is. Danger, plenty of it, there is. From the clones, none of it is.” He thrust out with the Force and pulled. The baby flew out of the Rodian’s grasp and into Yoda’s arms. With a quick leap, he was inside Cin’s speeder.

“Go, you must!” He called out. He could sense that the others had managed their last rescues. Now, time was of the essence. “At the Senate, leave me!”

“I shall send one of my healers with you, Master Yoda.” Vokara called out over their comms. “We’ll send reinforcements as soon as we offload at the temple.”

Yoda left his charges in the care of Cin and the others in the speeder, leaping off at the steps of the Senate. At some point, a completely blocking shield had been raised, blocking all beings and objects from getting in. Yoda, however, was quite old and therefore had been around to learn many tricks. He knew where all of the old emergency exits along the walls were, parts of the Senate that were long forgotten and not covered by a shield. With a quick wave of the Force and the creaking of an old trapdoor, Yoda and the Mirialan healer quickly disappeared into the Senate as the speeders roared off to the Jedi temple.