When the 501st had less than 1 parsec to go, all of the gunships were in place and ready for takeoff. Squadrons were starting to load up, and the many teams were going over their part again, the leaders of the group relaying the instructions Commander Tano had given them. All of the pilots knew exactly where they were going, with or without the coordinates. The Padawan commanders knew what their team was going to accomplish and were running emergency case scenarios over in their heads.

Rex stood by one of the gunships that would be traveling down with his squad and Ahsoka. All of his men were accounted for but Ahsoka was still making rounds, checking in with every team, and talking to the troopers. She paid special attention to the shinies, who were still unaccustomed to her.

The captain smirked to himself. A lot of the rookies were a little overwhelmed by the teenage Togruta, who had shown up and immediately taken charge of the Legion. Their training on Kamino hadn't covered what you were supposed to do if a civilian started ordering everyone around. What was even more confusing is that the orders she was giving were making sense. If the new troopers hadn't heard anything about Ahsoka Tano before the mission, they certainly had by now.

Not to mention that all of the veterans were following her lead and completing her orders to the letter. No one who had met her before doubted a word she said and complied with her instructions just as well as, if not better than, if General Skywalker himself had given them. Even the other commanders, who were Jedi, yielded to Commander Tano.

Ahsoka, who had just finished encouraging a few shinies in O'Mer's group, began to walk over to Rex and his squad. She had left her jacket in the room she had slept in because it provided no protection, and might catch on something during the mission. Besides, she didn't want to damage it. She needed to have a full range of motion for this, so the jacket had to stay on the ship.

She walked up next to Rex, standing by him and looking out over the rest of the hangar. "All of the other teams are ready to load up," she updated him, her face set. "Is everyone from your squad here?"

"Waiting for your orders, sir," he affirmed, and Ahsoka activated her comlink.

"All squadron leaders, check in," she commanded and waited for the responses to come.

O'Mer replied first. "Slave squad, in position."

"Tower squad, ready," Caleb followed, climbing into his gunship with Jesse.

Ahsoka followed her own order. "Extraction team, in position."

From the next hangar over, Jinx lowered the hatch of his fighter. "Bomber squad, ready. Hey," he scolded R2-D2, who was not happy to be flying with someone other than Anakin. "No need to complain."

"Artoo," Ahsoka threatened, "cooperate, or I'm giving you an oil bath after this is over........I don't care if I'm not Anakin, I'll still do it!"

Rex stifled his laughter as the other components of the plan checked in. "Med bay, completing preparations," Kix said, also trying not to laugh.

"Backup squad present," Appo added, although his team technically didn't have to be ready yet.

Dogma spoke into the microphone in the intelligence center. "All teams are in position. Intelligence center on standby."

"The cruiser will exit hyperspace in three minutes," the bridge alerted the rest of the ship.

That was what Ahsoka was waiting for. "All squadrons, load up."

Those who had been waiting outside the ships boarded and the doors closed them in. Ahsoka, of course, was standing right next to Rex. Six troopers were in their gunship, and the other eight were in the second ship that would bring the Jedi back.

Rex hesitated before putting on his helmet. "It's been a while since you've been here for this," he commented, looking down at her. "Is it any different than you remember?"

Ahsoka stared off into space. "The stakes feel higher, for some reason. I know it's always been this dangerous, but somehow, I know that there's more to lose now than I ever could before."

"I think we finally figured out why we shouldn't be here," he suggested, looking down at this helmet. "Now that we know this whole war is a sham, maybe none of this is right anymore."

"If something goes wrong," she added quietly, "if we lose people, we know Palpatine can't be blamed for it. It's on us from now on."

A pregnant pause hung in the air until Rex rested a hand on her shoulder. "So we take the blame and we keep going." She looked up at him as he went on. "It's all we can do right now, but we still have a job to do."

Ahsoka nodded, clearing her mind, and settling into the Force. "Then let's do it right."

Putting on his helmet, Rex went over their part of the mission one last time. When the cruiser jumped out of hyperspace, the gunship fired up its engines and he grabbed onto one of the straps, resting the other hand on one of his blasters.

Even if this mission failed, at least he was with Ahsoka one more time. It was the least that had gone right today. Now it was time to make everything else right.

~

Because of the position the cruiser took when it entered Lokori's orbit, O-Mer, Fox, and the rest of the slave squad had the farthest to fly to reach their coordinates. Fox had a feeling that they might not make it back to the ship first due to their travel time, but they could deal with that later.

When their gunship did touch down, O-Mer pulled out his lightsaber, not igniting it just yet, and led the squad silently to the ridge where some of the troopers would be sniping from. He held up a fist to signal for a stop and crept over the edge of the rock formation in front of them.

Fox kneeled beside him, and they both saw what was going to be a challenge for them: Ahsoka had testified that the last time she was here, there were about 20 slaves working in the fields. Now, there were at least 100 of them, all spread out, nurturing dull, grey soil that no longer had any nutrients.

"That's a bit more than we were expecting," O-Mer pointed out, hiding behind the ridge again. "It's going to take at least five trips to get all of them to the villages, if not more."

"We can still take out the guards, though," Fox argued, cocking his sniper rifle. "Besides, Commander Tano prepped a backup squad for a reason. Once we take care of these droids, we can worry about the slaves."

"I'll let Dogma know," he told the clone. "I'm going to take some of ours to the other side anyway, since it's more vulnerable. By the time they get down here, we'll be ready for them."

Fox nodded, turning to the rest of the squad. "Half of you go with Commander Majal, he'll cover you when the shooting starts."

O-Mer led half the squad around the farms. As he made his way over, he whispered back to the clones. "I get why we're saving them, a hundred people is a lot, but why did Ahsoka want to do this if she thought there were only twenty of them?"

One of the clones who was immediately behind him answered. "No one here really likes slavery. Most of it comes from General Skywalker, and Commander Tano just fits the mold, I guess."

"Huh," he replied, activating his comlink. "We're going to need that backup squad. There are almost a hundred slaves here, and more than we can fit into two gunships."

"Copy, sir," the clone at the command center responded. "Appo, head to the coordinates for the slaves."

While O-Mer settled into position, the clone named Appo confirmed the order. "Copy that, we'll be down there in a few minutes."

All of the snipers were in position. O-Mer made eye contact with Fox across the fields. Well, as much eye contact as he could make with a helmet on. "On your mark, sir," the clone told him.

"Caleb," he spoke over the comlink, "we have clear shots. Is the base going to notice if their guards fall?"

"I doubt it!" came the raised reply. "They're pretty focused on us, we've already taken out two towers, go ahead and take your shot!"

O-Mer smirked. Caleb was probably taking blaster fire, wherever he was. "Take your marks," he ordered the troopers, and they raised their rifles to aim at the droids on the edge of the fields.

After a moment, Fox spoke again. "Targets acquired."

"Fire."

Droids began falling by the tens, hardly seeing the shot that fried their circuits. A few realized what was happening and turned on the nearest slaves, but O-Mer lifted them with the Force, bringing them to him and slicing their robotic heads off. They never stood a chance. The 'fight' was over in seconds.

The slaves were hesitant and frightened at the gunfire, but it didn't take them long to realize exactly what the shots had hit. A few cautiously examined the guard droids, wondering if this was a new protocol Scarlet Haven had initiated for some infringement they had committed. When none of the droids rebooted, however, they looked around to see where the fire had come from.

Fox scanned the fields quickly to double-check that they hadn't missed any guards. "All clear, sir."

"Bring the gunships down here," he ordered their pilot and started making his way down the ridge. He deactivated his lightsaber and clipped it to his belt, showing the slaves that he had no intention of using it on them.

The slaves gathered together at the edge of the field. They knew better than to stand in the middle: If they had to run and accidentally damaged the crop, they wouldn't make quota and everyone would be punished. Huddling together near the carts instead, where the crops were loaded, they watched the strange human walk down to them and awaited whatever new horror they would have to face now.

O-Mer caught a glimpse of the gunships coming their way and opened his mouth to tell the slaves the good news, that everything was okay. When he saw their faces, though, he stopped.

They didn't seem to recognize what he was. Despite their captors being shot down and destroyed, they still seemed very afraid. They were huddled together, the stronger men and women protecting the elderly and the children behind them. O-Mer saw them glancing back at the clones, in particular at their weapons, and eyeing his lightsaber despite it being off. Actually, a lot of them were looking at his lightsaber. Why? he thought. Have they never seen one before?

So instead of victoriously announcing their new freedom, he calmly spoke, making sure not to startle them. "I am Jedi Padawan O-Mer Majal, a commander of the Republic. My squad and I are here to take you back to the villages."

The slaves looked at each other, doubtful. They had heard that before, but none of the others had been dressed like him. Still, his weapon did not look friendly.

"We cannot leave," a man in the front confessed, bowing his head. Or did he have back problems? O-Mer couldn't tell. "If we try to escape, others will be punished. We must take the burden set upon us."

"By Scarlet Haven?" O-Mer asked. "The rest of the 501st Legion is destroying it as we speak. No backup is coming from there. Nothing will, ever again."

A woman carrying a child shook her head. "They always come back. More droids to take us, and take our families."

O-Mer was getting frustrated. How could he convince these people that it was really over now? Then he remembered his comlink. "Command center, can you get me a visual of the progress on the base?"

He lifted his wrist up as a projection of the base appeared. True to Caleb's word, two of the five towers were reduced to debris, and the third one was already taking some damage. The slaves approached the Jedi, still not quite believing, but hopeful for the first time in years. Was it finally over?

"We can take you back to the villages in these ships," he explained, pointing to the gunships at the top of the ridge. "You can go back to your families, and neither you nor they will have to go back to Scarlet Haven. In fact, there won't be a Scarlet Haven to go back to."

"There are prisoners in the base," an old man warned him. "Men and women dressed in robes, but I don't know who they are."

O-Mer nodded, grinning slightly. "That is why the Republic is here. They are our generals, but we've come to help you escape too. Everyone wins today, except for the droids."

Realization dawned on the slaves, who were slaves no longer, and they started embracing those around them. Several started crying, rejoicing at the sweet bliss of freedom, and the able-bodied started helping the weak mount the hill up to the gunships. If this really was over, then they had no time to waste. All of them needed medical treatment, and quickly. Slavery had not been kind to their bodies.

As O-Mer escorted them up, his foot came into contact with something on the ground. He looked down, thinking for a second that he had dropped his lightsaber. This was different, though. He picked it up and noticed the droid that had been holding it until it was shot. Lettering was engraved into the hilt: 'ELECTRO-WHIP 200'.

Huh, he wondered. What's that doing here? I thought this was a field, not a fathier ranch. He dropped it and gave it no further thought.