sanerontheinside | Prompt Title: All That We've Lost

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One of my earliest posted works was inspired by punsbulletsandpointythings' TINDD au. This follows after Quiet Talks and Troubled Dreams:

Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon are slowly growing closer together during the Clone War, but haven’t really considered a relationship as such. Qui-Gon continues to have trouble adjusting to the new reality after his 12-yr timeskip, not only because of the war, but also because of the absolutely bizarre state of the Council. It was bad enough before Naboo, but now? Qui-Gon is frequently more and more appalled by their judgement, and it hurts to see that even when Obi-Wan becomes a voice of reason, he is either ignored or told ‘this and nothing else, there is no other way’. This mounting frustration culminates with Ahsoka’s sham of a trial.

Ahsoka is saying her goodbyes to Anakin, at which point Qui-Gon looks over at Obi-Wan and tells him he’s had enough. It doesn’t take much convincing to get Anakin to come with them, especially when he sees that Obi-Wan is also leaving, and when he hears that they’re heading for Naboo. Rex and Cody find them first - right as they’re trying to leave Coruscant - question them extensively as to the reasons, then insist that this is ridiculous, of course they’re leaving with their Generals, ‘for their safety’. Sinker, Qui-Gon’s Commander, seemingly ‘blunders’ into them on Naboo and casually joins them.

If three of the Republic’s best-known Generals - and their commanding officers - were to somehow vanish into thin air, people would start wondering what the hell is going on. So the Order tries to keep it under wraps for as long as possible. But the 501st, 212th, and Qui-Gon’s 59th get suspicious - obviously, since they’re being temporarily reassigned to other Jedi. After Umbara, no one is actually comfortable with that arrangement, thank you very much.

Rex, Cody, and Sinker are fairly discreet about their Generals’ choice to defect. They still come back to their men, but they can’t just - not say anything. Basically the same way Anakin and Padmé’s relationship was an open secret amongst the troopers, so is the Generals’ quiet life on Naboo. Not that this would stop anyone bothering them now and then.

The Generals settle down quietly at Varykino, for about a month. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon finally get together - which, in the midst of all the fuss of settling down in a new place and figuring out how to stay off the map, nobody notices. Which is a damn shame, because that’s what everyone’s been waiting for all this time. Anakin and Padmé totally ship it, but they missed the moment that ship set sail. Rex and Cody definitely called it - a month late.

Then clones just start showing up randomly, sometimes nine or ten at a time, sometimes a more quiet two or three. Pretty soon, just for the hell of it, Qui-Gon starts poking at his old disreputable contacts. Most of them, unsurprisingly, are not that hampered by the war. So without that much actual prompting, it turns out that the Generals are mildly bored just chillin’ on Naboo, so they lead a few - surprise! - dazzlingly effective campaigns, without the Council/Senate telling them what to do. So much for quietly defecting, but all the same, it’s somehow not as oppressive. For once it actually looks like they’re actually making a difference.

When Fives finds out about the chips, the first person he goes to is Rex, who drags him off to Naboo, where Qui-Gon and Anakin are currently holding Obi-Wan almost by force because he went and got himself injured again and they are so done. All three immediately issue the order to have the chips removed.

There is still the worry that if whoever orchestrated this chip conspiracy finds out the GAR is removing them now, they might activate them sooner. Kix has a brilliant idea: he essentially fabricates a pretty believable epidemic, ‘traces’ it back to the chips - basically sitting at the lakeside surrounded by datapads, cackling with glee and telling General Kenobi to sit his ass back down every now and then or he’ll pull stitches. He then sends this report to every medic and straight to Kamino with a message that essentially boils down to ‘fuck this shit, I’m done waiting, and I’m certainly not sitting on my hands until I get your approval, I am getting these things out of their heads’. (The Kaminoans agree. Nobody asked them, but they agree. Every clone on Kamino has their chips removed.)

Qui-Gon contacts Mace directly to inform him about the chips and explain what they’re doing, also please don’t go announcing this to everyone. Mace settles down to do some investigative work and file-digging, only to come up with a series of nastyass transactions that appear to indicate the Chancellor’s involvement, which is - really fucking weird. Meanwhile Rex and Fives go to see the Chancellor and question him about the chips, but when Palpatine dismisses the Coruscant guard (whose medic already got the word) and requests to be left alone with Rex and Fives, pretty much everybody in the room goes a bit tense. Commander Fox privately sketches a hand-gesture that - just in case - tells Rex and Fives the best chance of getting out of the room.

They certainly need it. Palpatine tries giving them the order to assassinate the Chancellor, but that doesn’t quite work, since they’ve already had their chips removed. So Palpatine falls back on good old-fashioned acting, accusing the clones of an assassination attempt even though he attacks them first in almost full Sith mode. Rex and Fives run right into Mace while trying to make their escape - he was going to question the Chancellor about the chips himself. Instead, he turns around and takes Rex and Fives back to the Temple.

There he collects a bunch of Jedi and goes after the Chancellor, who has just enough time to issue Order 66. It has a lot less of an impact than he would like: the 501st marches on the Temple, sure enough, but then turns around and guards it. Unfortunately no one has had the chance to figure out that Skywalker can countermand the order until they get to Coruscant where a few clones still have their chips, so we do lose some Jedi and clones - those who, by virtue of distance and being in active campaigns, haven’t actually seen Kix’s [fabricated] report yet.

Mace collects the Adi, Kit, Plo, Yoda, Qui-Gon, Anakin, and Obi-Wan (who is just fine, Kix, thank you - bloody liar) to go and arrest Palpatine, who has now declared the Jedi to be traitors and names himself the Emperor (what the fuck). The Wolffe Pack tags along because ‘With respect, General? No way we’re sitting here’. Rex and Fives and Cody tag along because ‘Haha what you really thought we’d stay?’ Half the 501st don’t outright say they’re coming along, but they manage to fill the entire Senate building because ‘We got the orders to storm the Temple and kill everyone in it. We got orders to kill children are you fucking kidding no way we’re just gonna sit and wait for you to arrest, he is ours too’

Basically the moment the fight moves to the senate dome, clones start pouring into every single pod and shooting the one dude in the middle of the room. Most of the Jedi have the sense to duck for cover, so Palps is all alone on in the Chancellor’s/Emperor’s pod when he explodes.

(I think this is the end for now, but consider: Sidious, clones, and essence transfer………)

*sidenote: I’ve decided: since we have Qui-Gon in this AU during the Clone Wars, Adi doesn’t die on Florrum. While Obi-Wan and Adi are busy fending off Maul and Savage, Qui-Gon was a little late to the party but shows up like Maul's worst nightmare.

Prompt Title: All That We've Lost

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