#11!au

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I love it when readers pick up on the themes I wove into the fanfic ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

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Shameless plug for my Clone Wars/RotS Fix-It Fic: Part 19

"Do you know how many clones I've told to believe in what we're fighting for?" Rex asked, his gaze falling on his helmet. They didn't make helmets of that style anymore. "That it was an honor and our duty to protect people? To remind them why they had to keep going?"

There was no answer from Skywalker. Probably for the best.

"It was a lie. None of it was real. Every speech, every rally, every pep talk I've given in the past three years was nothing except a bunch of bullshit. The whole lot of it."

"It was real to them," Skywalker corrected. "It was real to you. They lied to you too. This isn't your fault, Rex."

"And what am I supposed to say now? That this is all a distraction, that when the penny drops, we're all supposed to shoot you first and ask questions never?" He chuckled miserably to himself. "'Good soldiers follow orders.' Makes sense now. 's all we were made to do."

Skywalker could only imagine how long Rex must have stayed up last night, saying this to himself. Better here, alone in the dark, than in front of his troopers. Better here where the only voices shouting at him were the ones in his head.

That didn't mean Skywalker was content to let those voices be the only ones with a say. "The Kaminoans don't get to decide who you are. Maybe that was their plan, but who says that you have to listen to them?"

"Pretty sure these inhibitor chips do."

"Not anymore," Skywalker reminded him. "Your chip is gone, and so are theirs. They don't get to choose for you anymore."

Choice. That wasn't exactly a familiar concept in the Grand Army of the Republic. They had a few choices, of course, but only so long as it didn't interfere with everything that was already chosen for them. They had their names, the designs on their armor, their preferred weapons, their best friends and their drink of choice whenever they weren't fighting. Most of their lives, though, were dictated by hierarchy, by orders, by duty and by the inevitability of dying in this war sooner or later. There was no freedom here.

It made sense that Rex didn't try to explain why his face fell. Why would he? A Jedi wouldn't know so much about not having freedom, but an ex-slave?

Skywalker still remembered that, as much as he tried to forget it. He didn't dare say anything out loud, lest he speak it back into existence, but his past was woven into him more tightly than he cared to admit. It was in his robes, which he pushed into darker and darker colors the farther away he got from being a slave. It was in the way he fought, in exercising strength that he built up for fun rather than because if he didn't complete the labor required of him, he might be punished. It was in every answer he gave Ahsoka, as though he was making up for all the questions he never got to so much as ask when he was a child. He kept trying to live his life beyond the confines of slavery, but Skywalker still couldn't shake it. Every decision he made still felt like it was either defined by his slave past or defined by the absence of it, and somehow that didn't feel any different.

At least he grew up with it. At least he hadn't been lied to about it. His mother had warned him from the moment he could understand her about the inherent danger they lived in, and the moment she saw a way out for him, the Skywalker name finally left Tatooine for perhaps the first time in its history. Rex didn't have a parent to get him out of the system he was trapped in, and he only just now got he truth. He also had millions of brothers still in the same system he escaped, and on top of all of that, Rex would have to be complicit in that system until they could find a way to tear it down.

Even Skywalker couldn't see the light in a nightmare that dark. There was no reassurance, no loophole, no gold nugget hidden among the rot. There was no comfort here, and there wouldn't be unless someone else---namely Skywalker at that particular moment---brought some comfort to him. The only thing he had to offer was the same thing that had made the past day survivable; the offer to not be alone. He didn't want to get into the details about his past, but he didn't want Rex to hurt so badly.

His compassion won out in the end. "I get it," Skywalker said quietly.

There was no reaction at first. Of course not, how could he possibly 'get it?'

So he kept going. "It's hard to get used to," he remembered. Oh, those first months on Coruscant. It was as awful as it had been wonderful. "On one hand, you're too scared to step a toe out of line because what if it's not as safe as everyone tells you it is? What if they're just tricking you into giving them a reason to hurt you?"

He glanced up, nervous that Rex might laugh or dismiss the thought entirely. He should have known, though; Rex didn't do anything of the sort. Instead he looked up, and Skywalker finally saw his friend's full face again.

It gave him the strength to keep going. "On the other hand, you have to stop yourself from just... running wild. Do anything and everything you've ever wanted to do just in case they change their mind and you never get that chance again. Supposedly, there's a middle ground in there somewhere but you don't have the slightest idea where it is or where to start looking for it or how to stay there."

Skywalker hadn't thought about this in years. He told himself that he ought to move on, to embrace his new life and to not let his past drag him down. Strangely, it didn't feel like it was dragging right now. All that pain and uncertainty and fear from the past, it was still there but it was... dull. Rough. It still hurt, but it didn't feel like it was a predator hunting him down anymore. More like... like a rock he had to carry. It could absolutely still hurt him, but it wasn't chasing him. He was the one carrying it with him, and its deadly claws were reduced to some particularly pointed edges. What once towered over him could now fit in his arms. It certainly wasn't convenient, but it felt smaller. Easier to live with.

Why was it easier to live with? It was still horrible, and Skywalker still hated it. This had once been the defining characteristic of his life, and now it was... what? A prologue? A prequel? Act one of an ongoing story? It felt wrong, like it was supposed to take up more space. Things like this were important, they weren't supposed to get smaller. They weren't supposed to get easier. How was that fair to all the other people still on Tatooine with no way out?

"I know the war is horrible," Rex said, breaking Skywalker's train of thought. He could think about that later.

"Even before we found out what it was really for, I knew it wasn't good," he elaborated, picking at the hole in his glove again. "Couldn't help but look forward to it, though."

Confused, Skywalker narrowed his brow. "While you were on Kamino?"

He nodded. "Believe it or not, we have more freedom out here in this war than we ever did during training. Out here, every second of every day isn't scheduled for us. Back there, they told us what to do, how to do it, when to do it, and how to feel about it. You do what you're told, and you don't think about running of because where are you gonna go?"

"...could take a swim."

Rex snorted, almost choking the air out. It wasn't that funny, but it was so absurd that he couldn't help but grin if only for a moment. Skywalker took it as a win.

"I know we took a while to get used to you," Rex remembered. "The laser swords and the Force, the philosophy and the Code and-"

"And jumping ranks?"

"-and jumping the fucking ranks." It was Skywalker's turn to laugh. "I get it, but holy shit, whose idea was that?"

"Couldn't tell you."

"For fuck's sake," he muttered under his breath, eliciting another laugh. "It took a while. I tried not to make a big deal out of it, but I think it's been long enough now."

"It's alright," Skywalker assured him. "I know it's not personal."

"...not most of the time."

"Hey."

"The point is it took a second, but we got there," Rex moved on, with only a little bit of mischief in his voice. "We figured it out, and now I wouldn't trade it for anything. Whether this war is real or not, we've lived more out here than we ever did on Kamino, no thanks to the Republic. That was you. That was you and all your people, fighting to give us a chance."

"We'd do it again in a heartbeat," Skywalker said without hesitation. "Every last one of us. You've never given us a reason to regret it."

Rex nodded. It's not that he doubted it, but they also didn't talk about it out loud. He dipped his chin. "You gave us more of a life than we ever thought we'd get. You gave us a chance, and now Palpatine wants us to kill you."

~

Link: Eleventh Hour - Chapter 1 - Sparkplug02 - Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types [Archive of Our Own]

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Shameless plug for my Clone Wars/RotS Fix-It Fic: Part 18

"When General Skywalker presented Barriss Offee as the true culprit, all the Jedi heard a scream that no one else did." She looked ahead again, stubbornly ignoring her master. "The working theory is that it was Darth Sidious. The Council searched the campus right after it happened but they didn't find anyone. We think he's here on Coruscant, in hiding."

"Uh... got it," Vaughn lied. "Real quick: who's that?"

"As far as we know, the Sith Lord that is running the Confederacy. The Sith have been the enemy of the Jedi for thousands of years. We thought they disappeared until a few years ago when Darth Maul showed up on Naboo, and then again when the war started. They're Force-strong and they want us dead."

Anakin laced his fingers behind his head. His heart started racing again and he paced to try and get himself to calm down. Don't freak out. He wanted to relieve Ahsoka of having to explain this, but even the thought of Darth Sidious, of Palpatine being Darth Sidious, was enough to make the ground sway beneath his feet.

Tent picked up on the problem with all of this. "What the fuck is he doing here?"

Right. Back to the bad news. Ahsoka sighed and tried to think of how to segue into the truth, but Jesse beat her to it. "Hang on. You're not saying that...?"

"Fives, you said you tried to kill Palpatine, right?"

"Uh, yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"What happened? What exactly happened?"

"I tried to shoot him, but those damn guards started tackling me the second I squared up. By the time I managed to throw them off, General Shaak Ti intervened. I knew I wasn't going to get a hit in after that, so that's when I started running."

"Before the guards got to you, you tried to shoot him?"

"Yeah, like twice, maybe."

"Did you have a clean shot?"

"...I think so?"

"At short range?"

"Really short."

"And you missed?"

Fives opened his mouth to backpedal, his head was still a little fuzzy by that point, but he realized yes, he had clean shots and missed them. Instead of answering, he stood there with his mouth open, realizing how ridiculous that sounded.

"Wait a minute," Kix realized, picking up what Ahsoka was putting down. "You, an ARC trooper and one of the oldest vets in the 501st, missed an open shot?"

"On the Chancellor? That guy's gotta be, like... a hundred years old," Tent predicted, only overshooting his estimate by a few decades. "How the fuck did you miss?"

"I don't know," Fives answered. "I remember my head being fuzzy, maybe I was out of it."

"So you had the mind to fight off the Chancellor's guards and escape Republic arrest, but not enough to hit your target?" Rex pushed. "I've seen you hit a clanker from fifty meters away hungover. There's no way you'd miss an open shot at a stationary target."

"Well, he- he dodged!"

Kix shook his head. "How the fuck is he dodging? Tano can barely dodge us at short range and we've been training her for three years."

"She's not the only one who can dodge," Jesse argued. "Other Jedi can do it, probably, we just don't see it most of the time."

"Yeah, other Jedi," Tent pointed out. "So what the fuck does that make him?"

"Is he a Jedi? Why haven't you said anything?"

"Not a Jedi," Ahsoka corrected. "The opposite."

The opposite of a Jedi... a Sith?

"Darth Sidious," Rex realized, putting the pieces together. "You- you think-"

"Nobody investigated the Chancellor after my trial because nobody suspected him," Ahsoka explained grimly. "It's a brilliant cover, and it worked perfectly. Chancellor Palpatine is Darth Sidious."

~

Link: Eleventh Hour - Chapter 1 - Sparkplug02 - Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types [Archive of Our Own]

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If you add 3 sentences to your work in progress and show me, I will add 4 sentences to my work in progress and show you.

This is a little more than three sentences, but I got into a flow and ran with it :)

~

Ahsoka rolled out of bed and started pulling on a fresh set of robes. It wasn't quite leisurely, but she didn't rush either. Every once in a while, the 501st ran drills where everyone had to wake up and run through the protocol of what to do if an attack came during the night shift. Ahsoka had five minutes to get down to the hangar (or sometimes the bridge, depending on the drill), and the first few times Rex had made her run lines for every second she was late. Not every minute, every second. After the third time this happened, she didn't dare be late for those drills again. Now she could get from her cabin to the hangar in just over three minutes.

It wasn't just getting to the hangar though. Once she was there, Hawk would make her run fighter drills, or Rex would send her down to the surface in a gunship and have her run with a squadron for a couple kilometers. Waking up and getting to her position on time wasn't enough. She had to be ready to fight within five minutes of the sirens going off. If Ahsoka was supposed to go to the bridge, she didn't get let off easy there either. Admiral Yularen would quiz her on formations, sector designations, radio channels, and common commands and wouldn't let her go back to sleep until she passed their quiz. It changed and got harder the longer she trained, too. She was just glad Anakin never made her run a drill where she had to join Kix in the infirmary. She didn't know if she would be able to rattle off anatomy vocabulary at three in the morning.

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Trying to brainstorm here, commentary welcome:

I posted a chapter for my fic and like every other ao3 author, I crave comments like a gremlin. I’d say I average 2-3 comments a chapter, chapters that connect more with the audience will exceed that range.

I thought this last chapter was one of my better ones (better meaning deeper emotions, high potential to connect) and it’s just not getting the reaction I thought it would.

Possible explanations

-People just haven’t read it yet and I need to be more patient

-It’s not as good of a chapter as I thought it was and the lack of comments is a reflection of that

-People just don’t feel like commenting this time around and I need to get off my high horse

-It’s a decent chapter but the emotions I’m connecting to are negative (which they definitely are) and people don’t want to write comments about those negative emotions

In all cases, I just need to calm down and relax and keep writing but I have no idea how to gauge this reaction and whether I can lean into this or whether I need to back off of it :/

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Shameless plug for my Clone Wars/RotS Fix-It Fic: Part 17

As soon as Fives and Artoo were in the operating room, Tano tinted the observation windows and took charge again. "Okay. Last we knew, Rex left you and Tup on Kamino. Start from there, get us to now."

The entire room turned to Fives, waiting and expectant. Now he could explain the whole story without having to try and distill it down to the most essential pieces. There was something relieving about having an audience willing to just... listen.

"The Kaminoans' first assumption was that Tup got some virus from the Separatists," he remembered, his voice wavering slightly at the mention of Tup's name. "Thought I got it too, and they quarantined me while they were testing him. I don't know what they were doing but it didn't look fun. Test came back negative. Dead end.

"Probably would have tried a few other things, but then Tup woke up and started going off the rails again, except this time at Master Shaak Ti. He-"

"Wait, what?" Vaughn interrupted, eyes wide. "Master Ti? Why? She'd never hurt anyone!"

"She wasn't even at Ringo Vinda. Why would he have anything against her?" Tent asked. "She's been on Kamino since the war started, he should know better!"

"Yes! Well, he should know better regardless," Fives pointed out. "He shouldn't be attacking any Jedi, but not the point. Something was obviously wrong."

"No shit," Jesse muttered.

"They started debating what they should do, but I got a medical droid to do a level five scan on Tup."

"Woah, woah, woah, timeout," Kix interjected. "A level five atomic brain scan? Fives, that's not safe. Clone brains can destabilize under that kind of scan."

"Then why do you know about it? Why would the Kaminoans even tell you that it existed?"

He raised a hand and opened his mouth to answer, but it took a second for the words to come out. It was... weird. Not weirder than usual, but weird. "So we know not to do it? It's a widespread medical procedure, if we ever saw a civie doctor, we'd need to make sure they don't do it to us by accident."

"One, we all know damn well that clones don't see civie doctors," Tent argued. "Two, why not tell all of us? I didn't know atomic brain scans had levels until just now, much less that level five is dangerous. If it were that important, shouldn't it be in our reg manual or something?"

"Not that you would know," Vaughn muttered. "You've never opened that thing a day in your life."

"None of us have."

"I have."

"Doesn't matter," Fives said, trying to bring the room back on topic. "We did the scan and found a 'tumor.' I got the droid to remove it, but he... he didn't survive."

That part, they had all heard. Kix really didn't want to say what he was thinking, but he knew what he had been told in training. "Fives-"

"It wasn't the scan," he insisted. "I did the scan on myself, and I didn't die because of it. This wasn't the scan."

"You- you what?"

"Did the scan on myself. Not right away, though. They were going to wipe my memory, but I escaped and-"

"They were going to WHAT???"

That's when he REALLY lost the room. Even Tano and Skywalker couldn't let that pass without comment, and they were doing everything they could to stay quiet and let him talk. Tent might have punched one of the windows if Vaughn hadn't seen it coming and pulled him away before he got too close. As chaotic as it was, there was nothing as cathartic as seeing all of his friends lose their shit at the thought of his memory being erased.

"What the fuck?"

"Did Master Shaak know?" Skywalker asked, pointing out the door. "There's no way she'd agree to that!"

Ahsoka bit her tongue, wondering where exactly was the line of 'things members of the Jedi Council wouldn't agree to,' but she had enough sense to keep quiet and not make this about her trial. Keeping it to herself hurt, but she'd already been doing it for weeks. It was easier now.

"What did I say?" Tent growled, pacing around the room. "What have I been saying for months? They don't give a damn about us!"

"How did you get out?"

"I stole a pod, set it to autopilot so they'd follow it out to sea, flew back on a medical droid. That's not the point."

"It sounds like a point!"

"I stole this armor, scanned Tup's 'tumor' and it wasn't the same genetics as Jango Fett, so it definitely didn't come from him. Had to be implanted. That's when I had AZI-3 scan me. Same implant, same spot, same shit."

"Wait, the tumor?" Kix asked. "You have the same tumor Tup had?"

"It wasn't a tumor, it was a biochip," Fives corrected before pointing at his temple where a fresh scar reflected the harsh white light of the operating room. "And no, not anymore."

"But you DID have it?"

"Yes, and so did every clone embryo at Stage 3 or older."

Kix's eyes went wide, and everyone dropped silent again. Fives kept going: "Nala Se said it was to inhibit aggression or something, but that's bullshit. She was lying to hide the truth."

"How do you know?" Rex asked. He didn't doubt it, but it was worth asking.

"Master Shaak ordered that I needed to present all of this to the Chancellor. That's what I did earlier today."

Tano felt Skywalker tense and she nudged him gently with her elbow. They needed to hear all of this in its entirety.

"I was sedated for the trip over, felt a bit loopy when I woke up, but I got here and said the chips had to be part of some plan. I thought it was the Separatists, honestly. Figured Nala Se was saying the opposite of the truth. The Chancellor got the two of us alone in a room to talk, didn't want Master Shaak to hear anything.

"That's when he told me. The inhibitor chips have nothing to do with aggression. They're pre-programmed with orders that only he and the Senate can activate. When clones hear them, they have no choice but to carry out the orders. Tup's chip must have malfunctioned, and the order that activated was the one that kills Jedi."

Jesse did a double take. "The one that what?"

"That makes the clones kill Jedi," Fives repeated. "Palpatine is planning to use it to wipe out the Jedi Order. He wants to use us to do it."

"But that's bullshit," Tent argued. "The Jedi are the only people sticking up for us out here. Why would we-"

"WE WOULDN'T HAVE A CHOICE! It's mind control! Tup never wanted to kill General Tiplar, just like he never wanted to kill them!" He pointed at Tano and Skywalker, who were trying not to panic at the phrase 'wipe out the Jedi Order.' "The kid had it right from the beginning! It wasn't him!"

~

Link: Eleventh Hour - Chapter 1 - Sparkplug02 - Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types [Archive of Our Own]

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Shameless plug for my Clone Wars/RotS Fix-It Fic: Part 16

"We're here to help you, Fives, just..."

'Just come with us' was what he wanted to say, but he could practically hear Tano reminding him that wouldn't work. He knew it didn't work, it didn't work with her the first time. He looked at Rex, hoping the commander would have something better to say.

If Fives really was that close, there was no need to shout anymore. "We're here to listen," Rex said quieter now, approaching the shelves slowly with Skywalker right behind him. "I promise, we-"

A generator powered up, and an instant later, both men were trapped in a ray shield. It was smart and it worked perfectly, but Skywalker pounded against the shield anyway. Through the glimmer of the shield, Fives finally emerged wearing completely blank armor. Unarmed, just as he said he was.

He looked distressed, like he had slept much in the past few days. His guard was up, but he finally walked closer to them. "You're really here to listen?"

Skywalker looked around, gesturing to their current predicament. "I'm not really sure we have any other choice, now."

"I was framed, because I know the truth!" he said breathless. "The truth about a plot, a massive deception."

"By whom?" Rex asked. That's what they needed to know. If he could give them a lead, they could leave him here if he really wanted it and get to the bottom of this.

Fives started gesturing wildly, clutching his head. "Well, there's a sinister plot in the works against the Jedi! I have proof of it! I can prove that everything I know is true beyond the shadow of a doubt!"

His yelling put Skywalker on edge. Rex could feel him tensing up and then fighting the tension, but that only made him more tense. In as calm a voice as he could, he kept talking. "Show me the evidence."

"The evidence, is, in here, it's-" he pointed to his head. "-it's in here, it's in all of us, every clone!"

"What is it?"

"Organic chips, built into our genetic code to make us do whatever someone wants, even kill the Jedi! It's all in here!"

Chips? The inhibitor chips? And killing the Jedi? Skywalker couldn't tell if Fives was more crazy or more scared, but he was worried. He needed help, and he really didn't like how similar this felt to when Tup freaked out. "You'll be okay, Fives. We'll sort this out. How can we prove this?"

"AH, YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME!!!!!"

"Fives, we are listening to you." Rex tried. "We only want to help."

"How do I know you're not tricking me? How do I know it won't be a trap!? The chancellor will try to kill me! I promise you that!"

"The Chancellor?"

"He's in on it! I don't know to what extent, but I know he orchestrated much of this. He told me in-"

"Incoming."

Tano's voice broke through his rambling, silencing all three of them. Stunned, Fives looked from Rex's wrist to his face. "You lied. You lied! You brought them here!"

"Fives, we didn't call them, but they're looking for you!" Rex insisted. "You need to release us and hide! You don't have much time!"

"I can't," he muttered, clutching his head again. After a moment, he lunged for Rex's pistols and held one up. "I can't! It's a trap! It's all a trap!"

"You need to move!" Rex shouted, getting desperate now. He pounded on the ray shield but it still didn't budge. "Fives!"

"Ahsoka!" Skywalker said into his comm. "Do something! We need time!"

"Copy. Standby."

Tano had already come up with a plan. She figured this would probably happen and she wasn't about to get caught off guard twice. Instead, she hopped down to the street level, put on her best annoyed, frustrated face (which wasn't hard to do) and crossed her arms, pacing back and forth in front of the warehouse entrance.

The gunships closed in and Commander Fox was the first trooper on the ground. When he saw the Jedi alone, though, he held up a fist. His men halted, confused but trusting their commander. Inside, Fives, Skywalker, and Rex listened as Tano fed them live audio.

Tano looked up as if she were surprised to see the Guard there, but she didn't panic or react. Fox approached, holding his blaster at his side but keeping it pointed at the ground. "General Tano, what are you doing here?"

"Same as you, Commander," she said, approaching with an air of disinterest. She leaned up against the wall and sighed. "We received a tip that ARC Trooper Fives was hiding here, came to check it out."

"So you heard about what happened?"

"Half an hour ago."

Yeah, that checked out. Why wouldn't they call in the 501st to handle their own rogue ARC trooper? "How's it going?"

"We've already searched the place twice," General Tano answered, bored. "General Skywalker and Commander Rex are convinced there might be a clue here, but it's completely empty. He's already left, if he was ever here." She gestured towards the door. "You can look if you want, but you'd probably just be wasting your time."

Quite frankly, Fox thought this whole manhunt was a waste of time. Not that he didn't think it was important, but the thought of hunting down a brother, ANOTHER brother, was already tearing him apart. He also didn't think he could fake a way out of this one for Fives, but the 501st? Oh yeah. If there was any way out of this, they could find it. Considering he didn't know the whole story, it wasn't even a question. Besides, it was late, he was tired, and honestly, he wasn't inclined to do his wrinkly old boss any favors.

He just needed something to work with, and by his calculations, what she had already reported was enough for him and, more importantly, for his helmet footage. "Not much more to do here then, is there?"

"No, sir."

"Right. Let us know if you find anything," he said, turning and walking towards the transport. "False alarm!" he announced to his men. They groaned at having been called out here for nothing, but hey, at least it meant less work for them.

~

Link: Eleventh Hour - Chapter 1 - Sparkplug02 - Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types [Archive of Our Own]

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I haven’t read the book/comic/something about Dooku, Jocasta, and Sifo-Dyas but I am aware that it exists and adore the art I’ve seen about them.

I’ve decided it’s going in my fix-it AU. Dooku survives but here comes Jocasta with an encyclopedia. Ventress showed up to kill him but she’s watching Jocasta go to town on her old master and decides this is sufficient. Ahsoka, Anakin, and Obi-Wan have discovered Dooku’s one weakness and are filing this information away for later use