Dana: This was inspired by a conversation with my best friend that turned into a plot bunny and wouldn't go away. I don't own Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Chapter 1

It wasn't everyday Sterling got to hang out with Emily, both girls had busy schedules that made it hard for them to spend time together. Fortunately, that day was one of few where neither girl had had anything to do. It was a nice day, sunny with a few clouds in the sky, chilly but not uncomfortably so, windy but it was more of a calm breeze than anything else. All that combined made it a nice day, it was also a very calm day, which bothered Sterling and by extent, bothered Emily. Both girls were used to there being a sense of movement and rushing in the air and weren't entirely used to the calm. But they were both able to put the feeling in the back of their minds, it was early afternoon on a Saturday after all.

"It's quiet today," Sterling said.

"It is. That okay with you?" Emily asked her friend

"I just find it odd you know, there is usually this rush in the air. People needed to go places and do things. But now it's just... quiet. I haven't had a day this quiet since I moved down south years ago. I don't like it," Sterling said.

"Why not?" Emily asked

"It feels... I don't know how to describe it except... weird you know. It just feels too quiet," Sterling said shrugging.

Sterling let out a huff of air and shoved her hands into her pockets.

"Ignore me, I think all this stress is turning my brain to mush," Sterling sighed.

"I know what you mean by that. I think my brain is still mush after writing all those essays last week," Emily said.

"Essays and stress will do that to one's brain," Sterling said "You want to head back to my place? We can have some hot chocolate."

"Sure. I'm getting a little cold," Emily said.

Sterling and Emily picked up the pace of their walk. Sterling tugs her orange hat lower to cover her exposed ear while Emily puffed warm air into her hands. Wordlessly, Sterling passes Emily a pair of orange mittens. As they walk, a large expanse of white that obviously isn't snow catches Emily's eye. She stops walking and looks at the white thing on the ground hidden by the reeds near the stormwater ponds near Sterling's house. Sterling notices her friend stop walking and goes to stand next to her friend. She frowns when she sees the white lumps.

"What are those?" Emily asked

"Well, it isn't snow. Plastic bags maybe?" Sterling said, not exactly believing her words, "Want to check it out?"

"What?" Emily asked

"Well, if those things are plastic bags, we should throw them out," Sterling said.

"Oh, right," Emily said

The two girls walked towards the white lumps; Sterling in the lead and Emily just behind her. Considering Sterling was in the lead, she was the first one to see what the lumps were. She stopped in her tracks, Emily bumping into her.

"Sterling?" Emily asked

Sterling didn't say anything, she just stared ahead, her brain trying to comprehend what she was seeing. Emily looked over the top of her friend's head and blinked, falling into the same state of lack of comprehension as Sterling. Emily was the first girl to find her voice again.

"Sterling, is that Captain Rex?" Emily asked in a slightly strangled voice

Sterling nodded mutely.

"And Fives, Echo, Hardcase, Jesse, Kix, Commander Cody, Waxer, Boil, Commander Wolffe, the rest of the bloody Wolfpack, three members of the Coruscant guard, Razor, Stak and Commander Ponds," Sterling said.

"Aren't Fives, Echo, Hardcase and Ponds supposed to be dead?" Emily asked

"Well, Echo didn't die. We find that out in the season that never happened because the show was cancelled but as for the other three, yep, they're supposed to be dead," Sterling said.

"Is this a hallucination?" Emily asked

"I don't know. I think the question should be; are they dead?" Sterling asked

Emily didn't answer and Sterling drew her shoulders up and muttered:

"Only one way to find out."

Sterling walks closer to the clone Captain and shook his shoulder. She shook him harder when he didn't move. The Captain jerked violently and Sterling jumped back only to end up falling over Echo who was right behind her. Sterling swore as she got to her feet, putting her hands up to show she was unarmed.

"I'm not gonna hurt you, I just want to help. Are you okay?" Sterling asked calmly

"Who are you?" Rex barked

"I'm name is Sterling. That's my friend Emily over there," Sterling said pointing at Emily, "Can you tell me your name?"

"Captain Rex of the 501st at your service."

"Okay Captain Rex, do you know where you are?" Sterling asked

"I'm afraid I'm at a loss ma'am," Rex said.

"Sterling. You're uh... in the suburbs near my house. Are you feeling okay? Any dizziness or nausea?" Sterling asked

"A bit of dizziness and a lot of confusion," Rex said.

"Understandable," Sterling said, "Can you stand?"

"Yeah," Rex said.

Sterling watches as Rex gets to his feet and then proceeds to the exact same procedure with the other clones. Once everyone was on their feet again, Sterling returns to Emily's side.

"Follow us, Emily and I will take you somewhere warm. Get you guys some food and water." Sterling said

The clones exchanged looks and Wolffe whispered to Rex:

"Are you sure we should follow them? It could be a trap."

"I don't think so. This place strikes me as a pretty civilian area. We should be safe." Rex said

"You guys coming?" Sterling asked

"Coming ma'am," Rex said.

"This way. And please call me Sterling."

Sterling and Emily took the lead of the small party of troopers and began walking towards her house. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw several clones looking at cars with confused expressions on their faces. "They've never seen cars before. They're only used to speeders," Sterling thought to herself. When they got to Sterling's house, she unlocked the door and ushered everyone inside.

"Sit anywhere you want. Take a chair. Take the couch. Take the chaise. Just don't sit on the table or the counters," Sterling said

Sterling and Emily watched the clones mingling in Sterling's living room and kitchen. Sterling turned to Emily and whispered:

"Clones. In my kitchen."

Emily gave a shaky laugh before turning to Sterling:

"So you see them too? We wouldn't be hallucinating at the same time."

"I see them too. And talked to Rex. This isn't a hallucination," Sterling said, "What do we do?"

"Where do we even start? There are like, twenty or thirty of them!" Emily said

"I don't have enough food for everyone up here. They'd eat everything in the pantry and fridge up here and in the basement in a day or so. But we can't just leave them either." Sterling said

"Should we... take them to the Canadian embassy? I mean... could they count as refugees?" Emily asked

Sterling laughed nervously.

"From where? The embassy would think we're crazy. For all they know, Coruscant or well, anywhere else in the Star Wars Universe doesn't exist anywhere outside movies." Sterling said

"Right. They'd think we were cosplayers pulling an elaborate prank... dammit. Even if we managed to split them between your place and my mom's place, the food would only last two or three days tops." Emily said

"Yeah, but we can't leave them on the street. One that would be cruel and two, what if the military finds them?" Sterling asked

Emily shuddered and whispered:

"A non-space faring society would suddenly be introduced to energy weapons... that's not good..."

"My thoughts exactly. And to make things more complicated, they don't have ID or money or health insurance or anything that we have so they can't get help either. Not to mention they have no way off this hunk of rock. That means, I'm gonna do what's right and help them," Sterling said with fierce determination in her voice. "You'll help right?"

Emily looked at Sterling, a small smile on her face.

"Well, I've got about three thousand dollars in the bank left over from paying my university tuition. That should cover a few meals if we buy them fast food." Emily said

"That should cover food for a bit. But what about clothes? And shoes? They can't keep walking around in their armour. They'd be spotted and recognized before we could say droids." Sterling said

"I don't know... my credit card has a one thousand dollar cap per month," Emily said

Suddenly Sterling was struck with an idea and it made her heart sink to the floor. She rubbed the back of her neck when she spoke next:

"Well... there is something we could do... it's not ideal." Nervousness slipping into Sterling's voice

"I suppose I could steal some of Rob's stuff, though I'm not sure it'll fit- what's not ideal?" Emily asked

"We could rob a clothing store. We'd only need to take one trooper with us, they're all the same size after all." Sterling said weekly

Emily stared at Sterling like she had eight heads.

"... You do realize my mom will literally murder me if she finds out we're even considering this, right?" Emily balked with a shocked expression on her face

"My mom would murder me too but do you have any other suggestions? These guys are broader across the shoulders your brother and taller than both him and my dad." Sterling said

"I can't believe they don't have any civilian outfits," Emily said before sighing, Sterling was right. "But you're right; I can't think of any other solutions."

Sterling rubbed her temples.

"I don't like the idea of committing a robbery either but what else can we do?" Sterling asked quietly

"Right... okay. Some stores have tags attached to clothes that are designed to spray ink all over them in the event of shoplifting. Do we have a solution for that?" Emily asked

Sterling pursed her lips.

"You got a point there. That is going to be a problem. Unless we avoid big chain stores where they have those ink things we should be able to avoid that problem. At least, hopefully, avoid that problem." Sterling said

"But smaller stores might be harder to steal from though... especially with how much stuff we're gonna need," Emily said.

"True. Unless we get a big enough distraction for us to rob a large store with enough time to take off those ink tags..." Sterling frowned

"They're designed to come off one at a time and we're going to have a car load of stuff. I think if there's gonna be a distraction, it would have to happen mid-transaction so most of the tags are dealt with already. Plus, there will be cameras..." Emily said wincing

"Those cameras are gonna be a problem. Transportation or ourselves and the goodwill also be difficult. The distraction would have to be big enough to disable the cameras..." Sterling trailed off as she looked at the troopers gathered in her kitchen. " Think the troopers would be able to help?"

"I hope they will. I can't drive and attempting to move that amount of clothing on the TTC would be suspicious as Hell," Emily said, " We're gonna need a van."

"You have a point about the TTC. I can drive. Sort of. I hope they'll help too." Sterling said

"Well, let's go ask..." Emily said

Sterling sensed her friend's nervousness, Sterling didn't like this either.

"Yeah. You wanna ask or should I?" Sterling asked

"I feel like I'm gonna hyperventilate if I say much more," Emily laughed nervously "If I knew this was gonna happen when I woke up this morning..."

"I'll ask them. I understand your train of thought and I agree," Sterling said before taking a deep breath. "Hey uh... guys... can I ask you something?"

When Sterling said that, all the clones stopped conversing with one another and milling around to stand at attention. Sterling noticed Hardcase shaking his right hand slightly and she suspected that her cat had bitten him.

"Oh God why me?" Sterling muttered to herself

"Ma'am? Are you alright?" Rex asked

"I'm fine Captain. And please, call me Sterling. Emily and I uh... need your help with something." Sterling said

"Of course, what do you need help with?" Jesse asked

Emily looked and Sterling and took a deep breath.

"It's about the matter of shelter and staying under that radar... our world doesn't have a very advanced space program. And we're, um... very concerned about what may happen if the various governments around us become aware of your presence here..." Emily trailed off as Sterling interrupted her

"Or worse, terrorist organizations. I don't wanna know what would happen if a group like ISIS or ISIL got their hands on you guys."

"I understand. I think we all understand." Rex said

Sterling took a breath and continued:

"Right. So in order to blend in, you need civilian clothes. Unfortunately, getting them is going to be a bit of an issue..." Sterling trailed off unsure how to finish her sentence

"We can't ask you to do anything; you're civilians after all..." Kix said before Emily interrupted him by blurting out

"We're gonna need to rob a store!"

"What she said," Sterling said with a nod." And you're not asking us to do anything. We're choosing to help you because it's what's right. It's what we do you know. Help people who need help."

"Yeah," Emily said.

"And we are going to help you. And that means sure there is enough food for all of you, that you have clothes and shoes, that you have somewhere safe to stay and that the government and various terrorist organizations don't get their hands on you." Sterling said fiercely

"And how do you propose we transport ourselves around. Those... speeders with wheels wouldn't be able to carry all of us." Jek said

Emily frowned at Jek's remark, he had a point. She did a quick headcount and said to Sterling

"I think we're gonna need an RV instead of a van. Or maybe a Greyhound bus."

"A Greyhound bus would be pushing it. An RV, on the other hand, would work. I could probably drive an RV but not a bus. Why would we need an RV?" Sterling asked

Emily looked at Sterling.

"How long do you give it before the neighbours wonder where all these people came from?" Emily asked

"Not long, maybe a couple of days or so. One of my neighbours probably noticed though and might be asking my mom about it," Sterling tugged at her bangs nervously "Why?"

"Then we're gonna need to be able to move everyone and ourselves long distances,"

"Point. Then that means we'll have to act quickly. I can hide the boys in the basement overnight. We'll grab whatever we need for them tomorrow."

"Here goes nothing," Emily said before muttering more to herself "Didn't really want to get a job anyway."

Sterling noticed Fives giving Emily and concerned look. Sterling slung an arm across Emily's shoulders.

"We'll be fine. You have me, I have you and we have the troopers." Sterling said

"Yeah. That's right." Emily said, "Will you have enough room in your basement for twenty clone troopers?"

"I think so if I move some stuff around in the back office room," Sterling said.

Sterling turned and went down a flight of stairs leading into the basement, Emily close behind her. Once the two girls were out of earshot, Kix muttered:

"I don't like this. They shouldn't be getting involved in this."

"Hey, I don't like it either Kix but what other choice do we have?" Echo asked

"We could make it on our own," Kix said.

"I don't know, this world doesn't seem particularly advanced and if Sterling and Emily are correct about the government of this world and possibly terrorist organizations being interested in us, I don't want to take that risk," Jesse argued.

"Sterling seemed pretty nervous when she mentioned those terrorist organizations. I kinda want to know more about what they did to make her so nervous." Fives said

"I'm with Kix on this one Rex. These two are barely adults and they're civilians. We can't ask them to get involved." Cody said

"I'm just surprised that they are so willing to help us out." Ponds said

All the clones fell silent at that. While the Jedi were kind, well most of them at least, they weren't perfect and could sometimes be a little self-absorbed without realizing it.

"Commander Ponds has a point. They are doing this of their own free will. They are going to help us whether we like it or not. We will need their help if we are to stay on this planet for whoever knows how long." Razor said

There was a short period of silence when Emily appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Hey, think you guys can come give Sterling a hand. She's being stubborn about doing all the heavy lifting by herself and I don't want her throwing her back out." Emily said

"Of course," Rex said.

The clones followed Emily into Sterling's basement. The clones followed Emily into a back room where Sterling was trying to lift a box filled with what looked like books onto a pile of boxes into a larger pile of boxes. Sterling was standing on her toes as she tried to put the box on top of the pile. She would probably fall over and knock over the pile of boxes and end up hurting herself. Cody was behind Sterling and helped put the box on top of the pile. Sterling shot him a grateful look and a soft smile.

"Thank you, Commander Cody." She said

"Not a problem Sterling. Perhaps you could direct where you want the boxes to go. You won't hurt yourself that way." Cody said

Sterling flushed a little but nodded. She looked around the room, trying to figure out where she could have the mess of boxes and other stuff away so there would be enough room for a group of twenty clones in her basement.

"Some of the boxes can go in the room with the water heater, and everything else can go in the garage," Sterling said

The entire process to about fifteen minutes and once most of the room had been cleared out, Sterling exclaimed:

"Space!"

She flushed a deeper red, and apologized with a stutter:

"S-sorry. I-Ignore me. I often speak without thinking."

Emily, noticing the signs of Sterling getting anxious, promptly cleared her throat allowing the attention to be moved away from Sterling. The clones turned to look at Emily while Sterling shot her friend a thankful look.

"Is this enough space for all of you?" Emily asked

"Yes, we've had to sleep in smaller quarters before. This will be fine, thank you very much, ma'am." Jesse said

"Emily. Please, just call me Emily. There isn't a need for that much formality."

"Of course," Jesse said.

"Sterling, how many sleeping bags do you have?"

Sterling's head jerked up and she frowned.

"Not enough adult sized ones. But I do have enough blankets to cover everyone if I stretch them out." Sterling said

"What about pillows?" Emily asked

"Um... I don't think I have enough and my mom, brother and sister would get a little suspicious if their pillows disappeared off their beds." Sterling said, "Hang on."

Sterling jogged out of the room and back up the stairs. Emily blinked at her friend's hasty exit, she couldn't help but wonder what Sterling was planning. She didn't hear Razor whisper to the other troopers:

"Pillows and blankets. We've hit the jackpot."

Sterling came back down the stairs, arms full of what looked like decorative pillows and large stuffed animals. Emily blinked in confusion.

"Okay, I don't have enough pillows so I improvised," Sterling said.

Emily looked at her friend and shrugged, Sterling seemed to know what she was doing. A few minutes of arranging and muttered swear words, Sterling finished arranging the makeshift "pillows" into a formation that would allow the twenty clones to lie down comfortably with somewhere soft to put their heads. Sterling vanished up the stairs again, without a word. Emily leaned against the wall and waited for her friend to return, Sterling having taken charge of the enterprise. Eventually, Sterling came down the stairs, slowly and carefully; arms loaded full of blankets.

"I'm surprised you didn't trip." Emily said

"I've had practice," Sterling said, "I do the laundry most weekends"

"Of course," Emily said "Need a hand?"

"Sure," Sterling said "You grab one end of the blanket."

It took Sterling and Emily five minutes to get all the blankets stretched out. Once that was done, Sterling and Emily examined their handiwork, a large makeshift bed on the floor. Sterling grinned at her friend.

"Job well done Emily." Sterling said

"You think so?" Emily asked

"Yeah, it'll do for the night at least," Sterling said "You guys can sit down you know, no need to stay standing up."

A couple of clones sat down on the floor, some of them began taking off their armour and Sterling said:

"The pantry is that door right next to the washing machine and dryer. Take what ever you guys want that doesn't need to be cooked. Emily and I will be either on the floor above you or on the second floor of the house. If you need us, you guys can come find us, just be careful not to be seen."

"And don't be afraid to come find us if you need anything. We will help." Emily said

"Thank you. Both of you." Rex said

"It's no problem. Emily and I need to go upstairs now but we'll come down and check on you guys when the coast is clear, I think my sister just got home."

There were nods around the room from the clones and Emily and Sterling went upstairs into the living room. Both girls sat down on the couch, Sterling's cat climbing into Emily's lap.

"I have 20 clones in my basement." Sterling said

"Yep." Emily said

"We're planning on committing robberies and grand theft auto."

"Yep."

Sterling paused a minute and asked:

"How the heck did the clones end up here?"

"I don't know. Maybe the Force brought them here." Emily said

"That's as good a theory as any Emily. Can you imagine if we were Force sensitive? It might explain how come we were the ones to find the clones."

"Maybe."

"I highly doubt it though. We were probably in the right place at the right time."

"Probably."

Panic hadn't quite set in on either of the girls then. They were both focused on the issue at hand, what the heck were they supposed to do.

And that's all for now. Big thank you too my best friend; TheGirlWithFarTooManyIdeas who's conversation I was having with one night inspired this story and for her help with the dialogue. I hope everyone enjoyed. Read, like and review please. Later, Dana