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Some people forget that the Jedi are not superhuman. While they have powers, they are flesh and blood. Burdened by duty and compassion, their ability to defend themselves lethally is often the only thing standing between them being killed or enslaved. The majority of Jedi know entirely too well exactly what it's like to be a slave, often even before becoming a knight.
Thus a conversation begins on many ships across the GAR. No Jedi has discussed this decision with another. They do not need to.
Obi-Wan: Cody, may I…
Anakin: …tell you a story -- a good story! -- really!...
Aayla: …to save your life…
Plo: …and that of your men?
Cody: ::suspicious:: You're doing a informal briefing in advance of any warning from command, sir? Is this *actually* life threatening? How many tookas did Waxer smuggle on board this time?
Rex: You think??
Bly: ::she wants to *save me*:: Yesssss. Um. Sir. Yes, sir.
Wolffe: ::growls, somehow managing to convey 'Really, buir, why the kriff are you even *asking* a stupid question like that? Of *course* I want the pack to stay alive. Honestly. Buir these days.' without uttering a word. Eloquent vod, that Wolffe.::
The Jedi tell the clones about Depur, the Master. About the Chains and the Thousand Ways To Be A Slave and the Ten Thousand Ways To Break Them. About Ekkreth and the Slave Who Makes Free. They tell them that the strongest chains are the ones in the mind.
They tell them about the ways they have been enslaved. And also about the different ways Depur collars their slaves:
Obi-Wan: ::pulls:: This one, here, around my neck is from the Force suppressing collar the first time I was enslaved. I was 13 then…
Anakin: ::proudly showing off the scar:: I had a chip in my thigh until I was 9 and the Jedi took me in.
Aayla: ::holding out her wrists and twisting them from side to side:: I was so young. I no longer see the marks. But I still feel them.
Plo: ::squeezes Wolffe's shoulder. Eloquent vod, that Plo.::
What they do not tell them is about fiction. About what a story is, or things like hyperbole and metaphor. (Ignorance is another chain. In both directions this time. Ekkreth gets off on opposing chain for chain. Depur never thinks of loopholes.)
The Jedi: Surely nothing could go wrong with this! We've done a good thing here! Now the clones will know that we know they're enslaved and when they feel ready to accept that possibility, we can help them find freedom. Surely there could be no unintended consequences to this action.
(I will tell you a story to save your life. The only constant is change. And change? Is cyclic. Thus karma. Will you listen?)
Cody: My general was speaking strangely. I think it was some kind of code.
Rex: Skywalker too. Do you think this is some sort of secret mission?
Bly: Secret mission?? Did you hear them? We have chains! In our minds!
Rex: ::connecting the dots:: And Skywalker told me about his chains -- a chip in his leg.
Wolffe: ::growls impatiently::
Bly: You're right, that must be what they were talking about -- we all have chips in our heads! We need to get them out immediately.
Cody: Oya!
And so the story spreads from battalion to battalion across the galaxy -- including to those without a Jedi until finally even the unfortunate few cursed with Jedi like Krell hear about it. (They don't really understand why the Jedi chose a story to be a coded message, but theirs not to reason why and all that.)
And one by one, they quietly get dechipped.
Unfailingly, Depur learns of their communications. Depur has one thousand ways, remember, and spying on his slaves is one of them, for Depur thinks if they know all their slaves' words that they have their slaves under their control. And knowing this, Ekkreth went to Depur in the form of a fox and said to Depur, "My Lord, there's an alarming message being passed through the military channels, specifically that dedicated to the clones."
And when Ekkreth had finished his report on the story being told between Depur's slaves, he asked "What are your orders, my lord? Do you want the ones responsible reconditioned?"
And Depur smiled, believing in the complete control he had over his toys. "No, Commander Fox. It appears the Jedi are telling the clones little Jedi stories. Like they're people! How very amusing."
And so Depur is fooled and Ekkreth goes away smirking inside.
When the clones finish their task, they go to their Jedi for the next part of the mission now titled "Break" because clones weren't taught much about imagination either (What, you can't calculate trajectories for moving targets while you're also in motion in your head? What kind of useless artsy karksy education did you have? Don't you know there's a war on?) This time the conversations they have are more individual. Some battalions here and there skip this step entirely and move on. Some salt the ground first. To each their own. (Bacara may or may not be bearing a grudge for Mygeeto.) The troopers serving under Krell however rather comprehensively disarm the besalisk before launching his body into the nearest sun. (Krell's former kyber purify over night from the sheer concentrated joy.)
The clones also have a story to tell their Jedi. It goes something like this, with some variance for personality. Wolffe's will not be transcribed. Assume that it took up two chapters and could have been nominated for a Pulitzer in Feature Writing (or Editorial Writing if you're a Jedi and had been told stories as a child and have successfully told a lie (rather than the far more common upbringing, you know, of using regulations as counting chants and having nightly time factual sit reps that constituted the oral history of the Vode and thus had to be given out of earshot of Depur. That guy's everywhere. A thousand is a big number. Ten thousand is a bigger one.).
Cody: You Jedi are being controlled too.
Rex: Your personal mentor? Your "good friend"?
Bly: The one who has all the power of the Senate? Who keeps leering at your… um…" ::blushing and managing to wave at her general everything and not just her bust:: Um, e-e-verything?
Wolffe: ::growls::
Everyone: Is the chancellor!
Essentially:
Clones: We've cracked the code! The Sith's Palps!
Jedi: You haven't cracked shit.
Clones: We've cracked the code.
All of the Jedi are stunned and most attempt to argue, with varying degress of success (Plo and Wolffe continue to be the exemplar for concise, secure and information-dense communication, taking only two exchanges to reach understanding, neither of which contain actual words). Eventually the Jedi have to admit that the evidence is a little damning. (Tech may or may not have cracked the code on the chip. It might not have been Tech. He might be Ekkreth in disguise. How could anyone tell? Ekkreth is pretty clever after all.)
Except for one person.
Anakin: ::curled up inside his fighter:: I'm Depurkrata.
Rex: ::who's somehow managed to sneak up inside and into the astromech compartment without his Jedi noticing, which is really impressive levels of self-absorption even for Anakin:: What's that?
Anakin: ::screams::
Rex: …
Anakin: Pretend that didn't happen.
Rex: ...
Anakin: You're not going to pretend, are you? ::sighs:: You need to hear another story.
Rex: ::comes to attention:: Will this one also save my life? Will it be possible to take notes this time?
Anakin: This one's about the Slave Who Loves His Master and the Gilded Chains. And about The Slave Who Enslaves Others.
Rex is honored to be trusted with the second mission, which is obviously more secret than the first if it's only been entrusted to him and can't be recorded. But. He takes that (and the critical omission of anything about this briefing saving *Rex's* life) poorly. Karking self-sacrificial Jedi. Always blaming themselves for everything, even for the plans of an actual Sith. At least they were admitting they needed back-up for once. So the Jedi are trapped, are they? Well, the Vode know what to do about that!
The Jedi (and the Vode) disappear quietly into the Black. They encompass the ExploraCorps after all and while astrocharts are freely available to anyone, that doesn't mean ExploraCorps shares *everything*. The Jedi have started over once before, they know the value of having backups. They can start over once again. This time with the Vode at their side.
(Eventually the Jedi will get around to telling the clones actual little Jedi stories and the clones will learn about fiction. And lies. Then as their lessons about compassion and sapient rights start sticking, a very bored soldier discovers the archives and learns about political systems -- and well...
Yoda isn't taking majority rule very well. Mace, on the other hand, loves it.)
Ekkreth takes the Jedi temple with him when he leaves. The Jedi have been slaves too many times not to have their own tricks. That the temple is an enormous space-going ship is one of them. Mobility, yet another chain.
Thorn: Fox, why are you rubbing your hands together like a holo villain?
Fox: I may or may not have carpeted the chancellor's office with thermal detonators. And dumped the records of his illegal dealings on the holonet before we launched.
Thorn: …
Ekkreth gets recordings of Palpatine going up in fireworks. This is going in their greatest hits album.
Fox is not so excited.
Thorn: Why are you like this?? That shabuir is dead!
Fox: Eh. That part was nice. I was thinking about life afterward.
Thorn: And? We're free now.
Fox: 100% less murder. 0/10 would not recommend.