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Creche to Command

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Creche to Command is a Star Wars prequels fanfic by boredom.

When a group of younglings at the Jedi Temple come to her with their anxieties about being commanders in the Clone Wars, Ahsoka is inspired to create a Space!YouTube series to prepare new Padawans for life in the Grand Army of the Republic. What starts out as a small and seemingly inconsequential bit of levity for Ahsoka, the Jedi, and the troops, quickly gains a much wider following and having a much bigger impact on the war effort and galactic politics that she initially realized.


This work contains examples of:

  • Adaptational Context Change: In canon, the droid attack on Coruscant was an invasion aimed at capturing Palpatine as part of his plans to manipulate the war and orchestrate Anakin's fall to the Dark Side. Here, it's his attempt to pull a Taking You with Me on the people of Coruscant when his attempted coup fails.
  • Adaptational Early Appearance:
    • In canon, Admiral Rampart did not appear until after the end of the Clone Wars. Here, he's a key player in Palpatine's planning and appears long before the war is over.
    • Likewise, Gideon appears as a member of the Republic's security bureau compared to his canon self not becoming known until the post-Empire era.
  • Adaptational Heroism:
    • Due to the unravelling of Palpatine's plans, Anakin never turns to the Dark Side in this universe.
    • Likewise, the Jedi are portrayed as more openly compassionate and less emotionally constipated than their canon counterparts.
  • Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: While they don't do anything incriminating, Aayla and Anakin getting completely hammered during their first outing results in them leaving Obi-Wan and Cody some rather embarrassing messages, gushing to the Jedi Council about how cute Reva is, and trying and failing to untangle the complexities of the GAR military structure. The rest of the Jedi and the clones are more amused than anything.
  • Alternate Timeline: Obi-Wan discusses the existence of different continuities in the context of the Cosmic Force, with mentioned timelines including ones where Ahsoka never creates Creche to Command (including both the Disney and Legends canons), at least one where Obi-Wan Falls, and more. There also exists continuities where Ahsoka becomes Obi-Wan's padawan, whereas Anakin could alternately be mentored by Qui-Gon, no one at all, or even Quinlan Vos.
  • Arc Words: Throughout the chapters Obi-Wan narrates in the War Arc, "sunrise" and "sunset" are used to indicate pasts and potential futures he can see, for better or worse.
  • An Arm and a Leg:
    • Shaak Ti loses her right arm in the final battle against Grievous.
    • Obi-Wan manages to slice off one of a Fallen Krell's arms before being too incapacitated to continue the fight. Cody finishes the job by hacking off all of Krell's limbs before beheading him.
    • In turn, Obi-Wan loses a leg after it's impaled by a pole during his duel with Krell and only accepting medical attention when the threat is thoroughly eliminated.
    • Altogether, the damage caused by the war is so tremendous that Anakin is able to thrive in engineering Artificial Limbs for those who have lost any while in post-war "forced retirement".
  • Artificial Stupidity: The Separatists' B1-series battle droids are apparently stupid enough to fall for extremely basic tricks and tactics, with the only reason for them being such a threat is their sheer numbers.
    Ahsoka: One time, Rex managed to buy some time by telling a group of them that they were outnumbered. The droid started actually counting which allowed Master Obi-Wan the chance to swoop in and save the day.
    Jesse: Another time, I literally got the upper hand on one of these suckers by saying, "Look Behind You!" The clanker actually turned around and looked.
    Ahsoka: Or how about that one-time Fives just walked in a circle around one? The B1 kept trying to shoot him and instead took out the rest of his squad.
    Jesse: That was brilliant.
  • Bait-and-Switch: Chapter 3 opens with Ahsoka and some of the 501st seemingly being caught up in a battle against a Sith… and then Rex and the rest of the 501st show up, revealing that it's just a training exercise and the so-called Sith is just her mentor.
  • Batman Gambit: Chapter 8 has Ahsoka gauge how influential Creche to Command is by letting Dogma and Denal complain about living conditions in the barracks during their tour — having observed how her most recent episodes were quickly followed by the passing of clone rights bills, she hypothesizes that the new episode could trigger even more civilian action and legislation supporting clone rights. She's right.
  • Became Their Own Antithesis: Obi-Wan accuses Dooku of such in the Cosmic Force, going from despising the slavery and corruption of the Republic and the Jedi Order to becoming the tyrant his Sith title speaks of.
  • Beneath Suspicion: Commander Wolffe forms a spy ring consisting of half the sex workers on Coruscant for this exact reason.
  • Big Damn Heroes:
    • In Chapter 39, Quinlan Vos bursts in to rescue Fox and the senators just in time to save Fox from being executed by Tarkin.
    • In Chapter 40, Rex guns down Palpatine before he can torture Ahsoka to death.
  • Big Damn Kiss: After spending most of the fic dancing around each other, Cody and Obi-Wan finally kiss after the former kills Krell.
  • Boring, but Practical: Special Episode 3 has Barriss emphasize how important paperwork is for warfare, particularly in relation to logistics, while everyone else complains about how boring it is to fill out form after form. The comments section of the episode are also far more interested in the discussion about what sounds blasters make at the end of the video, as opposed to the paperwork and procedures covered in the bulk of the video.
    Cal: (groaning) Ugh, tell me about it. You would think that war would have tons of non-stop action. Just constant battles and droids and slicing them with your lightsaber. Instead, it's like 90% paperwork.
    Ironside: Yup.
    Gree: Tell me about it.
    Barriss: But it is important work. Because paperwork is essential for getting you the rations you need, or helps you count the dead, or assign troops to where they need to go for a campaign, and the like.
    Cal: (sighing) Yeah, I know. Very important. Still very boring.
  • A Birthday, Not a Break: The final battle takes place on Ahsoka's 15th birthday.
  • Burn the Witch!: The people of the isolationist planet Gibsp are so anti-Force that they'll have any Force-sensitive children burnt at the stake for supposedly making a deal with the Demon God to obtain the powers they've had since birth, and at best, they hold a Have You Tried Not Being a Monster? attitude towards them. For this reason, the Jedi Order are allowed to sneak onto the planet to take in any Force-sensitive children without parental consent.
  • Butterfly of Doom: Discussed. Obi-Wan reveals that in a timeline where Ahsoka never creates her holoseries — implied to be the canon timeline — Hondo Ohnaka kidnapping Dooku is a catalyst to the Death Star being blown up.
  • Chairman of the Brawl: Fives ends up hitting Palpatine with a chair in the final battle in Chapter 40.
  • Chekhov's Gift: Wolffe's plan to have all the padawans armed with backup weapons, affectionately dubbed his "Padawan Knife Project", results in Ahsoka being gifted a beskar shirt and three throwing vibroknives, which come in handy when Palpatine personally tries to kill her, though Qui-Gon's Force ghost has to remind her that she has them. Likewise, Barriss uses her gifted knives in her fight against Grievous.
  • Chekhov's Gunman:
    • Robin, a shiny in the Coruscant Guard introduced fairly early in the story. He is sent on a blackout mission to assassinate an imprisoned Cad Bane and smuggled off Coruscant when the other clones (with help from Quinlan Vos) help him escape from execution, but The Bus Came Back chapters later when he and his new scrapper crew that Wolffe set him up with helps to save the supposedly KIA 501st clones.
    • Blitz is appointed the Representative in the Senate for the clones on Kamino. Since he's a planetary governmental leader, this allows him to legally declare war on both the Republic and the Separatists during the War Arc when Palpatine brings the endgame to Coruscant, and declare all the Jedi their prisoners of war in order to legally get them off-planet and protect them from genocide.
  • Chekhov's Skill:
    • Ahsoka's hunting skills and newfound habit of hunting live rats aboard the Resolute, as well as her sparring with the vod'e, allow her to defend herself against Palpatine in a duel through her unorthodox techniques.
    • Cody being taught lightsaber katas by Obi-Wan allows him to hold off Krell upon the latter's Fall and after Obi-Wan and Waxer are too incapacitated to fight, at least at first.
  • Child Abuse Is a Special Kind of Evil: Due to the clones taking after the Mandalorians in being Friend to All Children, they're fiercely protective of Jedi padawans and initiates. Finding out that Order 66 specifically includes killing Jedi younglings sends Rex into a panic attack, and considering the idea of Palpatine preying on Barriss — especially when he already has precedent for similar behaviour with Anakin — is enough to send Gree into a murderous rage.
  • Child Soldiers: Lampshaded with the clones' protectiveness of the Jedi padawans. Chapter 23 also has the Coruscant Guard interviewing an unnamed Mon Calamari woman about her thoughts on the war, where she discusses how horrifying it is as a mother to know teens as young as her own children are fighting and dying on the front lines, and the government is actively endorsing it.
    Interviewee: I've always found it morally reprehensible that children are out on the battlefield in the first place. At first, I thought it was the Jedi's doing, but to hear that the Senate is the one pushing for this. I understand that war makes people do things they would never do under normal circumstances, but is the price of peace truly worth the lives of children?
    Archer: To some people, yeah.
    Interviewee: (frowning) The Senate should be doing more to keep those padawans off the front lines. I was all for the Jedi helping in this war, especially since I thought they had more experience with this sort of stuff. But, if they're being forced to take children to the front lines, something is seriously wrong with the Senate and I will be letting my representative know.
  • Clones Are People, Too: While Ahsoka initially created the titular series to advise Jedi younglings and the clones use it to similarly mentor shinies, its unintended greater impact on the galaxy is humanizing the clones to the general public, which can then be used to influence the course of galactic politics through clone rights advocacy.
    Fox: Let me get this straight. This one video is causing Ryloth to threaten a rebellion if Free Taa doesn't give me fruit?
    Thorn: (shrugs) Like I said before, it's popular. Tano is charismatic. I think it has less to do with this single video and more to do with the series as a whole. People are seeing us as, well, people now. And they're starting to demand for us to have better treatment.
  • Combat Pragmatist:
    • Invoked by Wolffe in a flashback when he notes that Ahsoka isn't using her entire arsenal, i.e. her teeth, in their spar. Ahsoka recalls that she trained herself out of it because she was taught it wasn't "the Jedi way", whereas Wolffe is well aware that in a war, soldiers can use every possible weapon up their sleeve or die.
    • In turn, Ahsoka uses her hunting skills from her Shili torgutan heritage as well as her training with the clone troopers in the duel against Palpatine, noting that while the Sith Lord fought her like she was just a Jedi, if this were to be her Last Stand, she'd give all that she has for the cause.
  • Conditioned to Accept Horror:
    • Cody reflects on how "training" on Kamino was so torturous that even Krell would be seen as "heaven-sent" because he doesn't outright torture the clones, and many of the clones only starting to acknowledge their own humanity when the other Jedi treat them like actual human beings with names and not numbers.
      He had grown soft since being with General Kenobi. He had grown used to his name getting used. He had grown used to being treated like a human being and not a droid. He had gotten used to his life mattering.
      Krell was what they had expected to serve back on Kamino.
      He needed to toughen up and relearn how to take on the chin.
      It was hard going back to that place. He didn't know if he could.
    • Similarly, the Coruscant Guard have been so mistreated by the Senate (and especially by Palpatine) that Ahsoka starts more initiatives with Barriss and other padawans/initiates to try and ease their suffering, which leads to a Jedi Council meeting discussing this. Mace muses that the reason no one has brought their mistreatment up before that point is because of how normalized it all has become.
      Mace: If the guards are used to that sort of abuse growing up on Kamino, then it would stand to reason they'd find it normal. And therefore wouldn't have a reason to tell someone about it. Which would explain why it hasn't come up before.
    • Implied in that Tatooine is so much of a Crapsack World and violence like the Cycle of Revenge between Settlers and the Sand People is so normalized that it's a contributing factor in Anakin's sentencing for his past Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
  • Cover Innocent Eyes and Ears: When Gree swears and discusses sexual activity in front of Rex and Ahsoka in Chapter 27, the former tries to cover up the sides of the latter's head. Ahsoka protests that she can still hear Gree and has long "read it all" on the holonet.
  • Crazy-Prepared: Chapter 35 reveals that while working with the Jedi younglings who volunteer to help the Coruscant Guard with their paperwork, the Coruscant Guard manages to have all the younglings in the Order trained with contingency plans for the evacuation of the temple.
  • Declining Promotion: Ahsoka is offered knighthood following her duel with Palpatine and resistance against him, but declines in favour of spending some more years as a padawan in peacetime.
  • Demoted to Extra: Despite the fic being focused on Ahsoka as a Padawan and the 501st playing major roles, Anakin Skywalker isn't particularly involved in most of the plotlines and events of the fic.
  • Disney Death:
    • Captain Rex is presumed dead for nearly ten chapters after Palpatine throws him out a window in Chapter 31.
    • Quinlan Vos is similarly believed dead after a chipped Corrie sets off a bomb next to him in Chapter 33.
  • Dies Differently in Adaptation:
    • In canon, Cad Bane is stabbed by Boba Fett on Tatooine, years after the fall of the Galactic Empire. Here, Palpatine has him killed in his cell by a brainwashed clone trooper in order to prevent him from telling the clones or Jedi anything about the person who hired him to kill Ahsoka.
    • In canon, Grievous was shot by Obi-Wan with a blaster. Here, he's thoroughly maimed, killed, and destroyed by Gree and the Bad Batch in the War Arc.
    • In canon, Pong Krell was shot in prison for his mistreatment of the clone troopers. Here, he's decapitated by Cody after a long, drawn-out battle in the depths of the Negotiator in the War Arc.
    • In canon, Dooku was executed by Anakin on Palpatine's orders to solidify his Start of Darkness. Here, he performs a Heroic Sacrifice to help protect Ahsoka from Palpatine after coming back to the Light Side of the Force.
    • In canon, Palpatine is thrown down a reactor shaft aboard the second Death Star, while here, Captain Rex shoots him in the head.
  • Drill Sergeant Nasty: Alpha-17 played this role to the clone commanders during their training days and still acts like it in the present, demanding that they complete staggering exercise routines if they step a toe out of line.
  • Drives Like Crazy: Archer is practically a demon in a speeder and looks up to Anakin not as a Jedi, but for his podracing past. When the War Arc results in him driving a highly unstable speeder through Coruscant with other Corries and Jedi in tow in time for the final battle, not even red lights or fruit carts can stop him.
    Mace: This man is never allowed to meet Skywalker.
    Ponds: Yes, sir.
    Archer: Oh, you're talking about General Skywalker? That man's my hero. I love watching his piloting videos.
    Kolar: (whimpering) Force help us.
  • Dying Declaration of Love: A platonic example that ends up being subverted, with Rex reciting the Mandalorian adoption vows to Ahsoka just before Palpatine drops him out the windows of the Senate building, leading Ahsoka and the audience to believe he's dead, only for Chapter 40 to reveal that he survived.
  • Empowered Badass Normal: Cody discovers that he's Force-sensitive after the removal of his inhibitor chip. Reconstructed in that while he has little knowledge of how to use his newfound abilities and the philosophy and metaphysics behind them, Obi-Wan is able to Exposition Beam fighting techniques to him through his unshielded access to the Cosmic Force.
  • Engineered Public Confession: In Chapter 39, Fox uses the fact that Riyo Chuchi and Mon Mothma have started livestreaming their detainment by Tarkin and Rampart to trick the former into confessing details about Palpatine's plans live on the holonet.
  • Entertainingly Wrong: Ponds tells Cody that there is no conspiracy when the latter comments on how suspicious it was that Palpatine's first reaction to Ahsoka's series was to shut it down. He proceeds to give a lengthy rant about how smug Cody is going to be about him being wrong when Moff Gideon calls in Chapter 43 to try and execute Order 66.
  • Epileptic Trees: In-universe; Chapter 23 reveals to the audience that Obi-Wan has a suitor and Fox has kissed someone before, prompting much speculation on the forums as to whom their love interests are, which isn't revealed to them until much later in the story. Reportedly, Obi-Wan's love story is obvious enough for fans to play Shipper on Deck, but less than 10% of surveyed viewers manage to guess who Fox's love interest is.
  • Everyone Can See It:
    • Every clone in the GAR can tell that Anakin and Padmé are together, though they think the two are simply having an affair and unaware that they're already married.
    • Likewise, the clones can all recognize the attraction between Obi-Wan and Cody, Aayla and Bly, and Fox and Chuchi.
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Dooku initially dismisses the titular series as mindless and silly, only being able to acknowledge the impact it would have and the hope it would bring to the galaxy by sensing it in the Force, and not understanding its main appeal is showing that Clones Are People, Too.
  • Extreme Omnisexual: A few of Commander Wolffe's many sexual partners, are the Cathar Captain Mian, Dexter Jettster and Hondo Ohnaka, and these are just the named ones.
  • Extremely Short Timespan: While most of the story takes place over a period of several months, Chapters 31 through 44, also known as "the War Arc", occur in the course of six hours.
  • Fictional Social Network: Aside from the comments section and livestream chats of the GAR's videos, the holonet also hosts forums for fans of the series. There are also passing mentions of fanfiction sites hosting explicit Jedi Real-Person Fic that the padawans have read just to see how ridiculous they are. invoked
  • Fighting from the Inside: Some of the Corries being sent on blackout missions to prepare Palpatine's backup droid army underneath Coruscant managed to program about fifty of them to accept orders from other clones.
  • Five Stages of Grief: Chapter 20 is titled after a list of the five stages of grief, after prominent members of the 501st are declared to be presumed KIA on a Uriah Gambit of a mission. While Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated, it doesn't stop Cody from grieving or him, Obi-Wan, and other troopers from continuing plotting against Palpatine.
  • Glitter Litter: Exploited. At the end of Chapter 3, Ahsoka and Jesse prank Fives off-screen by covering his hair and equipment with glitter or glittery substances. Later, it's revealed that glitter is quite popular for pranks among the vod'e — or at least the 501st — for this reason.
    Obi-Wan: Where in the Galaxy did they get their hands on so much glitter?
    Anakin: And so many different types as well. I have a feeling Ahsoka's been planning this for a while.
    Rex: I don't know. What I do know is I refuse to bunk with Fives until his kit is glitter-free.
    Cody: That's never going to happen.
    Rex: I know. And I am not complaining.
  • Groin Attack: In Chapter 32, Ahsoka kicks Palpatine below the belt in their duel, with the Force ghosts of Tholme and even Revan advising her to do so.
  • Hypocrite: Lampshaded when the people of Gibsp are described to hate technology so much that they'll have any advanced tech like datapads burnt, but possess and are willing to use Force-suppressing cuffs so powerful that they can block Anakin Skywalker of all people off from the Force.
  • "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Ahsoka draws on her memories of Dooku being a kind Stern Teacher in the Jedi Order to ask if he was lying about being a good person and caring for the Jedi in the past.
  • I Need a Freaking Drink: Following the Assassination Attempt on Ahsoka in Chapter 11, Rex is overwhelmed and self-blaming enough to crack open the alcohol, and spends the rest of the day out of commission on account of getting black-out drunk on the other troopers' stash.
  • I Never Said It Was Poison: How Fox tricks Tarkin into confirming the validity of all the documents of Palpatine's plan that he'd shared with galactic leaders.
    "I never said Ahsoka Tano was on the hit list."
  • Internal Reveal:
    • The core 501st clones discover the inhibitor chips in Chapter 21 after finding a scanner stuck on Level 5.
    • The troopers bring the Jedi Order into the loop on the inhibitor chips and Palpatine's schemes in Chapters 34 and 35.
    • Anakin confesses his massacre of the sand people to Obi-Wan after Palpatine's death.
  • I Want Grandkids:
    • The Jedi equivalent; Aayla brings up how much Quinlan wants her to take a padawan so that he can spoil them like a proper grandmaster, but while she has her eyes on adopting a three-year-old Reva, she doesn't want to mentor anyone in the middle of a war.
    • Later, Miko's friend Bita enquires her about her taste in men, saying that her mother is becoming unbearable in wanting grandbabies and wondering how plausible it would be for her to date a clone trooper.
  • Late to the Action: Palpatine sends Anakin and Padmé away on a last-minute "diplomatic" mission so that he can murder Ahsoka. They proceed to miss out the Battle of Coruscant.
  • Locked Out of the Loop: The clones and the Jedi keep each other in the dark about their respective investigations for much of the fic. Topics include who ordered the Assassination Attempt on Ahsoka, who in the Senate has been mistreating the Coruscant Guard, where the embezzled Republic war funds were going.
  • Log Fic: Due to the heavy use of the holonet in this fic, many chapters include chat log conversations between the clones and/or the Jedi.
  • Make It Look Like an Accident: Palpatine's first attempt to silence Ahsoka's series involves luring her into a Separatist ambush and having Cad Bane snipe her with a modified version of the B1 blaster so that the autopsy report will make her death look like an unfortunate but mundane battlefield casualty rather than a deliberate assassination attempt.
  • Make Sure He's Dead: After Captain Rex shoots Palpatine in the head multiple times, he takes Ahsoka's lightsaber and chops the Chancellor's head off just to be sure. And then, Mace Windu pours whiskey over the body and sets it on fire just to be on the safe side.
  • Man Bites Man: Ahsoka apparently bites people often enough for Kix to have medical protocol to handle them. Wolffe highly encourages this on the battlefield for pragmatic reasons.
  • Man of a Thousand Voices: Gree is able to do convincing impressions of others, reportedly when reading erotica. In Chapter 34, this comes in handy when he's called in to imitate Palpatine in order to activate the inhibitor chips to gather more intel.
  • Memetic Badass: In-universe; Cody is so well-known among the clone cadets for his high rank, service record, and feats in Best of GAR videos that he's practically considered a Chuck Norris-type figure.
    Apparently, the Cadets had started passing around stories, legends almost, of Cody's various accomplishments.
    Some of them were true like him dogpiling Grevious unarmed.
    Others were not true. Below was a selection of some of Obi-Wan's favorites:
    1. Commander Cody doesn't read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.
    2. Time waits for no man. Unless that man is Commander Cody.
    3. Commander Cody once roundhouse kicked a droid so hard, that his foot broke the speed of light.
    4. Commander Cody does not sleep. He waits.
    5. Commander Cody once shot an enemy ship down with his finger by yelling "Bang!"
  • Mindlink Mates: While Cody and Obi-Wan are not actively in a relationship for the bulk of the fic, the latter's ability to access the Cosmic Force in the War Arc and the former's newly awakened Force-sensitivity allow them to share a consciousness during the duel against Krell, with Obi-Wan giving combat guidance (and banter) while incapacitated.
  • Morality Pet:
    • Jabba the Hutt may be a sleazy gangster and slaver, but he's fond enough of Ahsoka for saving his son and entertaining said son via Creche to Command that he sends his personal bounty hunters to capture Cad Bane and bring him to Coruscant after hearing about the Assassination Attempt on her. It helps that he's equally as pissed off by Cad Bane's assistance in Ziro the Hutt's escape.
      "He says to tell Ahsoka Tano that if she ever needs anyone to disappear, just let them know."
    • As unethical the Kaminoans are in their cloning business, Nala Se is willing to cooperate with the Bad Batch to release a Synthetic Plague on the premises to end the galactic civil war if it means Palpatine wouldn't be able to hurt Omega.
  • Mourning an Object: At the start of the fic, Ahsoka notes on how Anakin can and will get attached to anything, including objects. Reportedly, he once got so attached to a spanner that he kept it for over a month after it became so broken and beat up, to the point Ahsoka "feared they'd have to hold a funeral for it".
    Jesse: He still hasn't gotten rid of that thing. It's now just sitting in his room. Never to be used again but also not getting thrown in the trash anytime soon because he's a di'kut.
  • Must Have Caffeine: While most troopers are happy with a few cups of caf a day, Fox takes the cake by chugging several energy drinks an hour. When Ahsoka finally interviews him for Creche to Command, he drinks enough energy drinks for the company to offer to sponsor him and the other clones — an opportunity he gladly takes.
    Ahsoka: Unlike most troopers that eat rations and maybe drink a few cups of caf a day[,] Fox has a unique digestive system where he only consumes energy drinks. Drinks that Hardcase had one time. The end result caused them to be banned in the 501st until the end of time.
  • My Nayme Is: Invoked Wolffe once simply went by "Wolf" on Kamino, but changed the spelling after being punished by the Kaminoans for openly daring to choose a name at all.
    After he came back, he didn't make any more demands to be called by his chosen name. When Cody asked about it later, he just gave him a bloody, cocky grin and said[,] "I added another f and an e. That way, it's not even spelled right." And that was the end of that conversation. He referred to Wolffe as Wolffe in his head, or sometimes at night when no one else was around to hear. Whispered to each other like it was some great secret.
  • Mythology Gag: The ending of Chapter 38 features Cody declaring to Krell that it's over and that he has the high ground, before dismembering him — though he does actually kill the Dark-Sider at the end of the duel.
  • Nap-Inducing Speak: Chapter 15 shows Barriss explaining to the audience how to fill out essential paperwork for the war. Cut to the SpongeBob SquarePants "One Eternity Later" timecard, followed by Cal, Ironside, and Gree all fast asleep by the time she's done explaining.
  • Non-Linear Character: Obi-Wan temporarily becomes this in the War Arc when the clones move against Palpatine, seeing visions of both the past and possible futures, including both the sequel trilogy and Legends timeline. He visualizes the Cosmic Force as threads that snap when futures are averted, and can flicker between different versions of himself across the timelines in the Force realm.
    It was almost as if he were outside time itself. As if he had become one with the Force for just a second and had been allowed to see EVERYTHING. Darkness was everywhere. Had surrounded everyone. And the Jedi had been completely blind to it. There was still light, of course. But it was no longer ruling the Galaxy.
    More threads snapped.
  • Not So Above It All: Several chapters reveal that even the most infamously strait-laced Jedi aren't quite as stern as they may seem.
    • Chapter 5 reveals that Luminara enjoys reading romance novels which may or may not be smutty.
      Ankin: You could have said you had gotten the romance novels from Master Windu and I would have had an easier time believing you.
      Gree: Don't tell General Unduli that you know. She doesn't even know that we know.
      Hardcase: Her secret is safe with us!
    • According to Plo, Mace has called Yoda some very unflattering names in private, and his response to Anakin's drunken email petitioning for Reva to be Aayla's padawan is that it's Caleb and not Reva who has the squishiest cheeks as a child, and he's "offended [they] failed to recognize that".
    • In general, the troopers grow to realize that while Anakin and Ahsoka are the most openly "insane" and reckless of the Jedi, their assigned Jedi are usually just as eccentric. They even dedicate an entire episode of Creche to Command to humanize the Jedi to show they're not self-serving, emotionless machines.
      Grey was starting to realize that he had unknowingly been delaying the inevitable. Billaba was not less chaotic and wild than Kenobi or Skywalker. She just hid it better. And Caleb only listened to Grey when he didn't have (in his opinion) a better idea.
  • Oblivious to Love: Commander Fox, to the point where his subordinates openly give Senator Chuchi advice on how to win him over right in front of him and he never makes the connection.
    Wolffe: She's already in love with him. You don't need to do anything to convince her. The one you have to convince is Fox. And I'm telling you, it's a lost cause. Just marry them. Have them buy a house together. He'll figure it out once the kids graduate from school.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: After a confrontation with Krell about his mistreatment of the clones in Chapter 7, Cody observes how Ahsoka looks uncharacteristically scared and insecure in the aftermath.
    Unlacing his fingers, he started drumming them on the desk instead. His mind raced with thoughts as he argued and second-guessed himself. Had he made the right choice letting Ahsoka walk out of here without demanding she go speak to the generals? Was he making the right choice now by not going to speak with them himself? She looked so scared and small when he stumbled upon them. Smaller than she had ever looked before.
    More scared than she had ever looked before.
    This was a girl who had stepped off some cargo ship in the middle of one of the hardest battles Cody had ever had the displeasure of being a part of and immediately jumped into action. Even after the battle, she traded war stories like she were one of the boys.
    Ahsoka Tano was not supposed to look scared.
    She was not supposed to look small.
  • Parental Sexuality Squick: The Jedi equivalent; Anakin is… disturbed to imagine the prospect of Obi-Wan being in a relationship.
  • Parenthetical Swearing:
    • When Fox is introduced as the clones' representative in the Senate, Palpatine, already enraged by his loss of control over the war and the clones, refers to him by his title of 'commander', but "[t]he way he said 'commander' made it sound almost like a slur."
    • Likewise, after Krell's Fall, he uses the Jedi title of 'Master' like it were a slur.
  • Passive-Aggressive Kombat: After being rebuked and dismissed by Krell for treating the clones like sapient beings, Ahsoka's next episode of Creche to Command is dedicated to the importance of names in clone trooper culture.
  • Point of Divergence: The creation of the titular holonet series marks the point where the series first begins to diverge from the main timeline.
  • Police Brutality: While the other Senators are mostly unharmed when Tarkin detains them in anticipation for Palpatine's coup, Fox is beaten bloody by Tarkin's praetorian guard when he's dragged in.
  • Politically Incorrect Villain: While he doesn't have much of a presence in the story, Tarkin's secretary thinks women should Stay in the Kitchen and pump out children and Padmé is wasting her "prime child-bearing years" by "playing senator". Miko finds him so insufferable — on top of how Lousy Lovers Are Losers — that she thinks attending med school is less challenging than acting as a Femme Fatale Spy.
  • Rage Breaking Point: Palpatine hits his in Chapter 31 after his attempts to silence Ahsoka's holo-series keep failing and he decides to eliminate her personally.
  • “The Reason You Suck” Speech:
    • At the end of Chapter 22, Obi-Wan spends a Senate session ripping Palpatine a new asshole for his failed Uriah Gambit on the core 501st troopers, pointing out his gross mismanagement of the so-called recon mission and its aftermath, and when it comes down to it, why the Jedi were being drafted into a war in the first place. He intentionally does so to both publicly humiliate Palpatine and to divert his attention away from the clone troopers investigating the behind-the-scenes of the war.
    • After the Senators are detained in the dungeons under Coruscant in the War Arc, Riyo spends the first section of Chapter 39 lambasting Tarkin for their sapient rights abuses and violation of protocol for the arrested, as well as enabling the fall of the Republic and its values with Palpatine trying to replace it with an Empire. Fox follows up by exposing the inhibitor chips, the creation of the Death Star, and Palpatine's Sinister Surveillance and hit lists after regaining consciousness, and then delivering a blistering one to Tarkin's doorstep calling him a lazy and spoiled Dirty Coward whom no one respects.
  • Redemption Equals Death: Dooku comes back to the Light Side of the Force and immediately gives his life to protect Ahsoka from Palpatine.
  • Really Gets Around: Commander Wolffe, to the point where Fox plans on influencing galactic politics by sending him to sleep with senators who are on the fence about pro-clone legislation.
  • Rescue Romance: Caleb and Hera first meet on the Ryloth front of the War Arc in Chapter 37 when the latter is held in a Hostage Situation, with the former almost immediately developing a crush on the latter.
  • Sex Work Pays for Education: One member of Wolffe's spy network, Miko, works as an escort to high-ranking GAR members while studying sentient rights law in college.
  • Sinister Surveillance: Palpatine is so thorough in the monitoring of his potential enemies that his spy network collects everything from public security footage, to their medical records, to receipts for purchases of paraphernalia. Cody understandably feels violated when he learns of this.
  • Sleep Deprivation: Due to a truly overwhelming workload that only becomes heavier as he takes on more duties over the course of the fic, Fox refuses to sleep and usually has to be tranquilized in lieu of actually lying down for a snooze. He's so dedicated to not sleeping that he can shake off Jedi Healers' Force suggestions and make them cry, is more often irritable than not, and practically runs on energy drinks.
    Ahsoka: As you can see by his sunken cheeks and under-eye circles, Fox doesn't get as much sleep as he needs. Some troopers say that he fights sleep in hand-to-hand combat each night. And he always wins.
  • Spanner in the Works: Ahsoka's series manages to throw off Palpatine's planning to the point where he gives up on keeping up the charade and getting the senate to give him more power and openly launches a coup barely two years into the war.
  • Spared by the Adaptation:
    • Fives, Jesse, Hardcase, and Tup are all still alive by the end of the story.
    • Anakin Skywalker survives the events of the fic without falling to the Dark Side.
    • The entire Jedi Order manages to survive thanks to the clones removing their inhibitor chips before Order 66 can be issued.
  • Spirit Advisor: The Force ghosts of Qui-Gon, Yaddle, Tholme, and even Revan (who established and helped destroy the Sith Empire) appear to guide Ahsoka in her duel against Palpatine.
  • Spotting the Thread:
    • Rex clocks on to Palpatine's attempted Uriah Gambit on him and the vod'e by noting how similar the circumstances were to the Assassination Attempt on Ahsoka: an urgent situation with little to no external support and extremely vague mission intel, to be resolved by personnel unqualified or inappropriate for the situation.
    • While going through Palpatine's extensive Sinister Surveillance details on his potential enemies, Cody realizes and points out to Fox that everyone Anakin Skywalker cares about is on the hit list… but not Anakin himself, hinting clear as day, at least to the readers, that the reason Palpatine doesn't see him as a threat is because he has a far, far more terrible fate planned out for him.
    • In Chapter 31, Ahsoka receives an invitation for a meeting signed with Padmé's official Senate seal, but Rex finds something off with it, most notably the fact that it refers to Ahsoka as "Soka" (which Padmé never calls her) and the clones as "clones" as opposed to "clone troopers" or "troopers". True to form, it was forged with far more sinister intentions in mind.
  • Stealth Insult: By Chapter 23, months of politicking has taught Fox how to covertly insult his superiors.
    Fox: Palpatine may be a good politician, but being a good politician and being a good commander-in-chief are two completely different skills. Everyone has blind spots and weaknesses. That's why we have people like General Kenobi leading the troops. Palpatine doesn't know how to best lead an army. That's not a bad thing or a reason to kick him out of office. Like I said, we all have blind spots. I know fuck-all about farming, for example. But he needs to understand that he has experts serving him that could end the war faster, cheaper, and with fewer casualties. If only he will listen.
    Narration: The audience got the feeling that Fox wasn't saying everything he wanted to say. But, he had grown into quite the politician. He somehow managed to insult the Chancellor, insinuate that he was a failure as a leader, but also that he wasn't and he should be kept in office all at once. Impressive stuff.
  • Synthetic Plague: Tech recreates an extinct virus as a bio-weapon to incapacitate the Kaminoans in order for the clone troopers to take over Kamino more effectively during the War Arc. The fact he has to genetically modify the Blue Shadow Virus for this results in the Bad Batch, Shaak Ti, Barriss, Luminara, and the latter's batallion being caught up in the final battle against Grievous.
    Tech: I am attempting to recreate an extinct virus from an extant version that has evolved on a completely different planet for a completely different species. Not only that, but I also will need to manipulate the genome so that it is airborne and the symptoms appear sooner to render the Kaminoans helpless while we dechip our brothers. I will not rush this, commander.
  • Tampering with Food and Drink: One of the clones' long-term plots to eliminate Palpatine is to smuggle drugs into his food and drink via a spice dealer. It never gets down to it.
  • Tattoo as Character Type: Chapter 24 reveals that Obi-Wan has three tattoos — the symbol of the Jedi Order, a list of every war he's been a part of (along with their start and end dates), and a bouquet of flowers, with each blossom representing someone that he cares about.
  • Teeny Weenie: Waxer and Boil give Cad Bane the dishonorable middle name of "Cowardly Fuck-Wad Tiny Dick" after his failed assassination attempt on Ahsoka, saying that anyone who tries to kill a 14-year-old girl or other children must have "the tiniest dick known to man".
  • There's No Kill like Overkill: Grievous is pummelled and decapitated by Gree with a sledgehammer, shot by Crosshair, electrocuted by Tech, has knives thrown into him by Hunter, and is blown up by Wrecker with a thermal detonator.
    Wrecker: Do we think he's dead?
    Tech: If he survived that, he deserves to get out of here alive.
  • Uriah Gambit:
    • Chapter 11 has Palpatine start his personal campaign against Ahsoka by sending her off on a dangerous mission in turbulent parts of the Outer Rim by herself, with no other Jedi to guide her, traps to lure her in, and assassins at the ready. Several of the clones, including Rex and Fives, immediately notice how fishy the situation is, but are powerless to do anything about it.
      It almost felt like this was a move in dejarik. And while Rex didn't normally mind feeling like a pawn moved to certain locations to gain advantages over their enemies — this was war[,] after all[;] that was literally the purpose of stationing troops in certain areas — this was different. It felt like they were being sent out as sacrificial pawns.
      It felt like Ahsoka was a sacrificial pawn.
    • Chapter 19 has it followed up with Rex, Fives, Echo, Tup, Hardcase, Kix, and Jesse being sent on an allegedly urgent secret mission by Tarkin to track down a supposed lead on who ordered the hit on Ahsoka. Rex immediately realizes it's a trap, especially upon seeing Jesse and Kix on the list of troopers to bring, as the former is still too injured to fight and the latter's a medic and thus in short supply. They (other than Jesse) go knowingly and survive the Act of Sabotage, but not without being temporarily declared KIA in the process.
      Something was wrong. Wrong like it was wrong when Ahsoka was sent down to that planet alone. It had all the same hallmarks: a compressed time scale, a sense of urgency (inflated or real remained to be seen), a lack of support, and a lack of intel.
      This is the trap. Rex realized, his body going numb from shock. They don't have information on a Jedi traitor. I don't even think there is a Jedi traitor. They're trying to kill me. Or frame me. Or separate me from Skywalker and Ahsoka for another reason. Something. They're doing something and they need me gone.
    • Implied one last time when Chapter 44 reveals Palpatine sent Padmé and Anakin away to a supposed diplomatic mission for the war… to an isolationist planet that believes knowledge, technology, and the Force are demonic. Even if it weren't meant to kill anyone, it was at best a complete waste of time that causes them to miss the final battle.
  • Wildlife Commentary Spoof: Chapter 10's episode is dedicated to Rex, with Ahsoka narrating the start of it in the manner of a nature documentary because of how much of an in-universe Ensemble Dark Horse he was in the series at the time.
    Ahsoka: (whispering dramatically) And this is the elusive Captain Rex. Not much is known about this strange and mysterious trooper. Unlike the rest of the troopers, the elusive Captain Rex is shy. And, therefore, has yet to appear on an episode of Creche to Command. However, his markings are very distinctive. He's one of the only troopers with blond hair. And his armor has distinctive jaigs' eyes on the helmet. Let's see if we [can] get a little closer. We'll have to be quiet, or else we'll startle him.
    Rex: Kid, the room is not nearly big enough for you to hide and narrate like this is some sort of nature documentary.
    Ahsoka: (soft gasp) The elusive Captain Rex has spotted me. If I stay real quiet and still, I shouldn't startle him.
    Rex: How long are you going to keep this up?
    Ahsoka: Let's try and get a little closer for a better look. Gotta keep low to the ground so he doesn't feel threatened.
    Rex: You don't even come up to my shoulder.
  • A World Half Full: Despite the rampant political corruption and sapient rights abuses in the galaxy, the fact that many are working to counter it shows that there's still hope and happy endings are still possible. In an interview in Chapter 23, a Zabrak university graduate mentions being inspired to change his major to Political Science and become a Senator after Fox stepped up to improve the lives of his brothers in politics. Quinlan also describes his brief fall to the Dark Side as hitting the Despair Event Horizon, and hope being part of what brought him back.
    Interviewee: The Senate is fucked up, man. But, if it's got people like Fox, Kenobi, and Amidala, not all hope is lost.
  • You Are in Command Now: Fox ends up becoming Chancellor after the battle of Coruscant because Palpatine gave him so many responsibilities that he's technically next in line in the event of the former chancellor's death.
  • You Are Not Alone: When Fox is encouraged into being the clones' official representative in the Senate, he's terrified that he won't be able to protect his brothers anymore effectively anymore, and has to be reassured by the rest of the Corries and the senators who invited him that they all know the risks and won't be without support, and politics is just as much of a battlefield as the frontlines of the war.
    Fox: I can't do this! I am not a politician. I… I am a soldier, senator. This is not my job. I can't. I can't do this. I can't argue against a senate that doesn't even see me as human.
    Padmé: (putting a hand on his cheek) You have more allies than you think.

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