Chapter 9: Family Reunion and Farewell

Anthony, Chris and Lorenc, had just finished a covert mission for the Republic. A certain senator had betrayed the Republic and allied themselves with Count Dooku. They had to go undercover and befriend the senator. Eventually they would reveal themselves and arrest him for treason against the Republic. Their mission went surprisingly well because Dooku didn't show up this time. They were now on their way to rendezvous with Anakin and Obi-Wan's fleet when they received a transmission from Skywalker.

"Hey Master, what's up?" greeted Anthony as his Master appeared as a hologram.

"Coruscant is under attack." said Anakin getting straight to the point.

"We're redirecting now." said Anthony in a serious tone, as he began to chart the fastest way to Coruscant.

"Don't bother. Obi-Wan and I can handle Grievous." reassured Anakin, "I need you three to go to Mandalore and help an old friend."

"Ahsoka!" gasped Anthony. Anakin gave a smile and a nod in response. Anthony quickly dropped the ship out of hyperspace, causing Chris and Lorenc to be tossed around in the back of the ship. Anakin was stunned by his padawan's speed as he spun the ship around, found the fastest hyperspace lane, and put the ship back into the blue tunnel.

"We'll be there within the hour." smiled Anthony.

"Not if you kill us!" yelled Chris from his folded position on the floor, causing Anakin to laugh.

"Just don't do anything stupid." ordered Anakin. Anthony felt there was a double meaning behind his Master's words though.

"Don't worry we won't do anything you would do, Master." replied Anthony, smirking at his joke.

"And look out for each." continued Anakin.

"We will, Master." responded Anthony.

"And-" continued Anakin but was cut off by Anthony.

"Master, we'll be fine. You go stop Grievous. I'll help Ahsoka." smiled Anthony, closing the transmission. As he closed the holo-call it hit him. This was the end of the war.

The three came out of hyperspace above Mandalore. Anthony guided their small ship to the Republic cruiser that was stationed above the tormented world. They flew in the main hanger and parked the ship on the left. Stepping out they checked in with clones on the bridge. Getting the all clear from them they jumped onto a Gunship and went down to the Capital City of Sundari.

"Rex! We just entered the atmosphere." said Anthony to a hologram of the now Commander Rex.

"You missed the fight. " said Rex teased. "I'll meet you at the docks."

"You seem happy." noticed Chris, who was listening in on the conversation.

"Well things are getting back to normal." claimed Rex smiling underneath his helmet.

"Alright, we'll see you on the surface." said Anthony and closed the transmission with a heavy sigh.

"You good bro?" asked Lorenc.

"This war is going to end and end fast." started Anthony as he sat down on a crait in the hull of the gunship they were in. "I don't know if we're prepared for it."

"Hey we can deal with it together, like we have been for the past two years." stated Chris putting a hand on his friend's, his brother's, shoulder.

"Coming up on the Docks, Commander." said the pilot.

"Thanks, Spitfire." called back Anthony.

The three passengers felt the LAAT Gunship curve into its landing cycle. They felt the ship touchdown and were hit with blinding light as the hull doors opened. Letting his eyes adjust, Anthony stepped out and saw Rex stand with a Mando. Anthony knew exactly who it was. He knew practically this whole event. It was something that kept him up at night. Something that he feared. He started getting these nightmares when Ahsoka left. They started slow and increased nightly to the point of where it was like he was basically rewatching the final episodes of the clone wars. Knowing these days would come and what would come at the end. He tried to prepare his friends for the end of the Clone War.

"Countess Wren." announced Rex bringing Ant back to the war, "Meet Task Force 52577. They are one of the best strike teams in the Republic and personal friends of mine."

"A pleasure to meet you Countess." bowed Anthony. "I'm Anthony and these are Arc Troopers Lorenc and Chris."

Ursa gave a nod to each of them and then turned and walked back to the command room her men had set up.

"Not much of a talker." whispered Chris to Lorenc. Lorenc only gave him an eye role in return.

"How is it going?" Anthony asked Rex.

"So far we have pushed them back, but still Death Watch needs all the help they can get." stated Rex in a low tone so Ursa couldn't hear him. "They asked some pirates for help."

"Worse than I imagined." whispered Anthony as they came closer to the command room.

"I have even seen some no older than twelve or thirteen in a fire fight or two." claimed Rex as they entered the command room.

"Well, they are a warrior race…" said Anthony but he felt a presence and stopped his conversation. He stood in the doorway scanning the room for what caused the force to reach out to him.

Chris and Lorenc stopped behind, almost as if they felt the same tremure in the force. Imitating their friend, they looked upon the mandos in the room. Anthony glanced from person to person, briefly feeling their force signatures. Each one he felt had only one intention, to free Mandalore, but then he felt it again. The force was trying to tell him something. He glanced at a group in a corner and felt their signatures to be different from the rest. He started to stare at the group. Noticing this Chris tapped Lorenc and pointed to the corner. They saw one of the members, a young Mandalorian, turn and look at them. The room became very quiet when everyone heard the sound of mando and clone helmets hitting the floor. Followed by two sets of footsteps quickly pounding on the metal.

Everyone in the room turned and saw the Prince of Clan Wren tightly hugging the Padawan of The Jedi. Tears of joy streaming down both their faces. The group in the corner couldn't believe their eyes, the same went for Chris and Lorenc. They all quickly came back into the moment and joined the hug. Stretching their arms as far as they could, trying to feel everyone kneeling on the floor. Smiles on their faces, warmth in their hearts, nightmares fading away in their heads. No words were needed to be spoken. They all knew that, after 2 years of thinking each other was dead, they had found each other.

After a few minutes of embracing each other, they got up and collected themselves. They still didn't speak. They just stared at each other. Looking at how much they changed over the two years. Since none of them were speaking, Ursa spoke.

"Mind letting me in on what's going on here, brother?" Ursa asked Andrew.

"Brother!" yelled Anthony looking at Ursa than back to Kid. "She's our sister?"

"Half-sister. You're looking at an heir to the throne of Clan Wren." smirked Kid.

"Alright Kid." cheered Chris. He tried to pick up Kid from behind, but every mando in the room drew their blasters on him.

"Stand down!" ordered Tom, but no one itionally did it. "As your Captain I order you to stand down!"

"You should step outside." Ursa told Tom as the mandos lowered their weapons and went back to work. The Comrades stepped outside as one whole group, finally together again.

Once the door closed TR went straight for Anthony. "You stuck-up, kriff head, nerfherder!" he yelled in Anthony's scared face. He surprised jedi with a hug, laughing at his shock.

"Good to see you too, TR." embraced Anthony, "I thought you were all dead."

"So did we." replied Sorin, "We woke up just on hot ground, without you guys or a ship."

"Same for us. Except ours was cold ground." commented Owen.

"And you three look like you didn't get the short end of the stick, Master Jedi." pointed out TR.

"Yah, we ended up over Coruscant with the ship intact." smirked Chris.

"Wait, is the ship here?" asked Sorin, secretly wanting to fly that Pearce of junk that got them all here.

"Stripped for 'research purposes'." said Lorenc.

"I'm sorry I didn't look for you sooner, guys. The war took most of my time." apologized Anthony.

"Are you kidding. You became a kriffing jedi… wait who's your Master?" asked Kid noticing Anthony's padawan braid.

"Anakin actually." smiled Anthony. He had noticed his little brother had grown up quite a bit in the past two years.

"So was there no Ahsoka?" asked TR courously.

"No, Anakin had two padawans for a time. Both Ahsoka and me." explained Anthony. His eyes gave a small twinkle as he remembered her. "She's the reason why Chris, Lorenc and I are here and not fighting over Coruscant."

"Wish you were in his shoes don't ya, Kid." teased Dom as he couldn't help but notice Andrew not hiding his jealousy as good as he was.

"I guess the force runs in my family then." snikered Kid.

"What do you mean?" asked Dom.

"Well, just don't tell Ursa I showed you but…"said Andrew, as he reached out and pulled his brother's lightsaber into his hand with force. He ignited the blade and impressed the rest that hadn't been with him for the past two years.

"When we came out of hyperspace, I felt another presence other than Ahsoka." laughed Anthony. He pulled his lightsaber back with the force and clipped it to his belt, "I'm happy it was you."

"Well I guess the Force was good to us." stated Owen.

"What do you mean, bud?" asked Ant curiously.

"Well, it's the only logical explanation. The Force separated us to find lives of our own, to help where we can and make things a little more brighter, and to ultimately bring all of us back together here in this moment. Though, have the feeling that our stories are just beginning." stated Owen, causing everyone to look at him in wonder and awe.

Owen's speech reminded Anthony of something. He had been so caught up in seeing his friends again, he forgot about the something that he wished would not come true. With the way things have gone in the past few months it was inevitable and it was going to happen by next sunrise. Looking at his surroundings, checking if anyone was near he decided to bring up the topic.

"Guys, Owen's right. Our stories are just starting, but they don't have to start with this siege. You could leave right now and explore the galaxy." he said hoping his friends would take his offer.

"What do you mean, Ant." asked Dom.

"Well, we all know how this will end right?" he asked. Most of them said no.

"It ends with Order 66. Which means the clones will turn on Ant and whoever helps him will be sentenced to treason." said Kid, cutting to the chase.

"Wait why will the clones hunt, Anthony?" asked Owen.

"Because he is a jedi, Owen, and Order 66 means that the Jedi have betrayed the republic and must be killed, alongside anyone who helps them." answered Kid.

"Then we will just have to make sure he doesn't get killed." stated Owen.

"Yah." claimed TR, "We just got back together and you're not just going to break us apart because you have to act like a jedi."

"I don't want any of you to do this. I have been haunted by my dreams, because I thought I lost all of you. I'm not losing you to my fight." ordered Ant. He looked at his friends and he saw how each one had found a life in this vast galaxy. He didn't want to take that away from them like how he took away their lives on Earth.

"You can't order us around." said Tom, "Well maybe Chris and Lorenc, I don't know how that works, but not the rest of us and I think I speak for all of us when I say this. We now know Order 66 is coming and we just have to be on our toes. We have three mandos, a couple of pirates and troopers, and a jedi. We can handle it."

Anthony gave a nod to Tom in thanks. 'Maybe he is right. Maybe we can handle Order 66.' he thought.

"I wasn't going to leave anyway." said Kid, causing everyone to laugh.

Suddenly Ursa burst through the door. "They're making their final charge and Clan Onyo is inbound." she stated.

The comrades quickly rushed to prepare for battle. They rushed into the command room to assess the oncoming threat, leaving only Ursa and Andrew outside.

"Ge'sol vod?" questioned Ursa almost sounding sad, if Andrew didn't know any better.

"You're only a half-sister to him, but he is my family." said Andrew, getting a death glare from Ursa. "But you will always be my sister."

Ursa rolled her eyes at her brother's attempt to not get killed by her. "I don't trust him, even though he is your family."

"I trust him the same way I trust you." stated Kid, "Isn't that enough for you?"

"I simply can't trust him because he is your brother or that he is a jedi." answered Ursa.

"When I wasn't your brother, you still trusted me. And when we found out I had the Force you didn't call me darmanda." commented Andrew

"You always had a way with me, didn't you." smiled Ursa, as put on her helmet. "Come on brother. We have a planet to win." Andrew did the same and followed her into the command room.

Maul's forces were something different from the separatist's. Lord Onyo had pledged his allegiance to Maul and Andrew had told Anthony that his Clan was one of the toughest. Almost as brutally tough as Clan Saxon. That accusation was proven true during the battle. Anthony would normally be able to lead an offensive charge against battle droids, with the 501st behind him. However he was mostly on the defensive in this battle. The Clan Onyo Mandalorians had jet packs and fought in the air, which grounded him to only deflect blaster bolts back at the flying targets. However Andrew, Tom, Owen, and Clan Wren dealt with the flying hostiles with their own jet packs.

Anthony caught small glances of his brother gracefully soaring through the air, shooting now his people out of the sky. It took Anthony everything to not yell at Andrew to find cover and stay hidden until it was over. But watching him fight alongside Ursa, he knew that he could more than handle himself. Being a mandalorian for two years had changed him, Tom, and Owen.

He looked behind him at TR, Sorin, and Dom. They were grounded like him. He watched them fire at the ground and air forces, and came to the conclusion that being a pirate had taught them something. He made a metal note to ask them what they actually did for Hondo. He found it funny if they were doing the thing that the Republic thought of as illegal and he had stopped once or twice.

Looking next to him he saw his brothers in arms fighting alongside the clones on the ground. In their ARC trooper armor, they lead their squad in engaging the mandos. He watched Lorenc shoot mando after mando with his dual pistols. While Chris hung in the back, precisely snipping their jetpacks blowing them out of the sky.

The battle had started to die down as the Clan Wren forces gained the upper hand. This gave Anthony the ability to go on the offensive. He pushed forward to force the enemy to surrender. He couldn't go mindlessly killing them like he did with battle droids. It went against his beliefs and the Jedi's.

He pushed up to a very stubborn mando, who wouldn't surrender. He fired at the Jedi as he rushed him. Anthony deflected his blaster bolts back at the mando, disarming him of his pistols and knocking him to the ground.

"Stay down, if you know what's good for you." ordered Anthony as he pointed his blue lightsaber at the man's neck.

The mando was about to take on the padawan but Andrew swooped in and landed next his brother.

"Ah, Lord Onyo." said Andrew as he took off his helmet.

"Wren. Of course you filth would have allied themselves with this jetiise. Your old man was weak to have such a darmanda daughter take his place." spat Onyo. Without another word Andrew punched Clan Onyo's leader in the face, knocking him out cold.

"Careful now Onyo. You're not the only one who can be abusive." fired Andrew at the slumped body, shaking the pain out of his hand. Andrew looked at his brother, who looked at him with shock.

"What?" questioned Kid.

"That was a little much, wasn't it." said Anthony pointing at the body. "I know he just insulted Ursa, but was that necessary?"

"You really are a jedi." shrugged Kid and he put his helmet back on. He started his jet pack and flew off leaving Anthony to carry the uncousince Lord of Clan Onyo back to the Command center, where the other prisoners were being held.