Note: I do not own Star Wars or any of its characters. Within this story there will be original characters, but everything else is owned by Lucasfilm and Disney.

15+ Years Earlier

Within hyperspace traveling from the Outer Rim to the Core worlds was a transport ship with the mark of the Jedi Order on it. It wasn't anywhere near Separatist space anymore and its mission seemed to be nearing completion.

On board, in the back room strapped into chairs so they wouldn't go crazy, was about two dozen children ranging from as young as 2 years old to as old as 4 years old. Some were attempting conversation to each other, some were asleep, and two were recovering from tears they had in their eyes. In the cockpit were two Jedi Knights and two padawan learners. This wasn't necessarily a ridiculous thing to see considering their mission.

All of these children were brand new Jedi Initiates, with agreements from their parents that they could be taken away to train under the Jedi order. But it wasn't so simple for that time. The territory these younglings lived in fell under Separatist flags a year or a little more ago. So the four were assigned by the council to find and transport these children safely to the temple. The parents were obviously saddened at the departure of their child, but they wanted their children to have better lives as Jedi. And for the most part the parents had not fallen for any propaganda that suggested the Jedi were evil. There were a few that did, and the Jedi were forced to leave without them.

This still didn't mean the mission was easy. While there was no actual combat involved, they had to be stealthy, and protect the children as best they could. In case any fighting did happen, there was a team of Clonetroopers with them on board. It never led to any combat.

This seemed for the better, they didn't need the Clones after all… but that's what made the next events so much worse.

Spinning around in their chair impatiently, a padawan looked bored out of his mind and was jittering with impatience. It became distracting, and after some time one of the Jedi Knights spoke up, "Lee Wexnan, control your impatience. You're about as jumpy as a-"

"Master I'll stop being impatient when we aren't babysitting anymore." The padawan cut off his master before he could finish, and spun around faster.

The other padawan grabbed the chair to stop it and replied, "At the very least, stop before it gives me a headache."

Lee let out a low grunt of frustration before turning to the two Jedi knights, "Why are we not out on the field. That's what we usually do! Fight some droids, save the galaxy, why aren't we doing that?"

Lee's master rubbed his temples in frustration, he had repeated why over and over again but it just didn't seem to go through to his apprentice. The other Jedi let out a soft chuckle and placed his hand on their shoulder for assurance before turning to Lee, "Do you understand that this job is important? One of the most important jobs you may ever have?"

"How so?" Lee spoke intentionally trying to be irritating, but the master continued calmly, "We are protecting the future of the Jedi Order, all of these younglings in the back may one day grow into padawans such as yourself, and you might even be their teacher one day. And they will grow into Knights and teach padawans of their own."

Lee turned his chair towards the sliding door that lead to the passenger bay that was filled with the younglings and stared at it for a moment. He thought about being a Jedi Knight one day and teaching his own student, and the idea of it made him chuckle to himself. He was only 15 and had a long way to go, but just the thought gave him shivers of excitement.

Lee's master nodded a thank-you to the other knight, and the other padawan stood up and bowed, "Master Bar-Sey, is it alright if I go to the back and help out the kids? I'm sure the clonetroopers don't want to be the only ones taking care of home-sick younglings."

Mone Bar-Sey nodded at his padawan and she turned away and headed off into the other room. Lee's master turned towards Lee and said, "Maybe you should join her, you could learn a thing or two about them."

"Nah. I'll stay and watch the map as we get further and further out of the outer rim." Lee then pulled his lightsaber out of his belt and started playing with it out of boredom.

"Lee, don't do that, if you activate it, it'll go right through your head. Think before you do things."

Lee lowered the lightsaber to his lap but didn't fully put it away as he responded, "Yes master."

Lee's master let out a sigh and Mone turned towards him and spoke, "You shouldn't looked down on your padawan like that."

"I'm not looking down on my padawan, we just have moments like this where we…"

Mone's expression seemed to quickly turn into a bothered one, he sensed something and the conversation he was in the middle of seemed to all but disappear. Something was off, horribly off.

When he heard the door slide open, he hadn't reacted as fast to his feelings as he should have during the blaster fire. He watched Lee's master fall face first into the control panel, but since it wasn't manual they would be fine for some time, Mone quickly pulled out his green-colored lightsaber and deflected the incoming shots.

When the firing seemed to stop, Mone turned to see Lee with his blue-colored lightsaber out and his eyes widened in fear as he stared at the ground. Mone hadn't turned his chair yet, but when he did, he almost wished he didn't.

On the ground were three Clonetroopers, and they were the only possible ones who could have shot at them.

Then he heard the blaster fire in the other room.

Without much time to react, Lee and Mone ran into the other room frantically and the door opened at their will. Mone's padawan had out her yellow lightsaber and was deflecting the best she could, with tears in her eyes as she refused to look at any of the younglings. But she couldn't last. Before they had even entered the fray, a shot went through, the padawan fell, and the Clonetroopers went trigger crazy, firing at her and making sure she was dead.

Lee and Mone ran into the fray and had a hard time taking down the Clonetroopers, who were shooting at them, and shooting at the younglings too. Mone looked over his shoulder and shouted, "Lee, don't worry about the troops, protect the younglings!"

Nodding at the Jedi, Lee backed away from the clones and spent most of his energy on deflecting the shots away from the younglings. Many of them stirred, frightened, and a couple got out of their seats and out of range hoping to hide, but the clones got them when they had no protection.

It was a nightmare that didn't seem like it would end. Lee picked up the downed padawan's lightsaber and turned it on and initiated the best dual combat he could, still protecting the younglings. But at that point Mone had only gotten three of the six troopers.

A blaster shot hit Mone's back, and he fell to the ground. Lee watched in panic, and abandoned his spot in order to save Mone. He leaped over him, and plunged the lightsaber straight into the clone's chest. He hurdled the other lightsaber behind him at another clone, which connected. When he pulled the lightsaber out and the other one rebounded, he realized he was now the attention of the last clone, who was evening out between firing at Lee, and firing at the younglings. Mone held his hand out and pushed the clone back with the force, and Lee ran at it and decapitated it.

The ship was then eerily silent, with the exception of a crying youngling.

Lee looked around horrified at the scene, with tears in his eyes that he couldn't hold back no matter what emotional training he may have had. Mone stood up, holding his back in pain and barely managing to stand. But he was alive, and he knew he could live on, which he secretly wished he could have traded. He wished all of the younglings were still alive even if it meant he had to fall.

Mone had not a clue what was going on, but made sure to get out of hyperspace as soon as he could. He could not figure out why the clones would have attacked. He tried paging nearby outposts with no replies. He tried calling the council to no avail. He needed to know what to do; because despite being a Jedi Knight for many years, he had never had such a thing happened.

The temple was telling him to return because the war was over, but based on what happened on that ship, he refused to go. And was grateful he didn't when he received a message from Obi-wan Kenobi about the Jedi order. He meditated over this, holding back his own tears to keep his mind clear.

Mone walked out to Lee, who was trying his best to console the surviving younglings, which was unfortunately not very many, and he placed a hand on his shoulder and spoke, "We need to leave this place and hide. I do not know if we can take these younglings back without putting them in danger."

Lee turned and hissed, "We shouldn't hide! We should fight back!"

"Lee."

"The Jedi Order is not filled with cowards! We shoul-"

"The Order is gone, Lee Wexnan!"

The padawan turned to see the older master, his eyes holding back tears, as haunted as he. He wiped his eyes and looked Lee straight in the eyes, "We need to protect these younglings, Lee. If the Republic is gone, and the galaxy is against us… I don't want these children suffering. And if we stay here they will come and kill us. Lee, I know you may think yourself too young, but you need to look out for your brothers and sisters right here in front of you, and know we aren't hiding because we are cowards, we are hiding to protect those who need it."

Lee looked at the younglings and back to Mone, he breathed in and tried to maintain composure. It was clear that he understood the weight of the situation, but he was under experienced. He bowed to the Knight and responded, "I understand, Master Bar-Sey."

Before anyone had reached the ship, the survivors on board the passenger ship left in an escape pod and made their way to a place they assumed they could hide. They were in mourning, but pretending to be strong. For the younglings.

Out of the 37 passengers, Two Jedi Knights, Two Padawans, Nine Clonetroopers, and Twenty-Four younglings... only five passengers survived: A knight, a padawan, and three younglings. All had to change their names to protect their identities. And while the three younglings could just change their last names and be fine. Mone Bar-Sey changed his name to Que Sun-Chare, and Lee Wexnan became Jess Leenan.