Sullust was a desolate planet at the best of times, with its barren, rocky landscape and propensity for earthquakes, but as the armies of the Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems continued their unending barrage against each other, the dark cloud of dust kicked up by hundreds of running feet (both metallic and flesh), combined with the thundering sound of blaster fire, added yet another layer of misery to the already inhospitable terrain.
The 501st legion of the Republican army had been stationed in the northern region of Sullust for nearly a month, having been tasked with seeking out and destroying the Separatists latest weapons factory. What had started out as a quick in-and-out, do-not-engage mission had escalated quickly into a three-month-long series of perilous battles, culminating in each side being entrenched in the unwelcoming environment, with a mile of no-man's-land stretching between the opposing forces.
It was during the Republic's latest strike against the Separatist forces, with the yells of his men and the bodies of fallen clones and droids surrounding him that General and Jedi Master Obi-wan Kenobi wondered, not for the first time, if the Force had a twisted sense of humor. With the latest assault having already lasted for nearly two hours and his men tiring, the grey skies of Sullust opened and acid rain began to pour down upon the clashing armies.
"And here I thought we might have the good fortune to avoid yet another charming feature of this planet," Obi-wan noted drily to his former padawan, Anakin Skywalker, who stood at his side, blue lightsaber poised and ready as they advanced across the rocky terrain.
"And here I was thinking you enjoyed experiencing new planets, Master," Anakin replied, and though Obi-wan couldn't see his face, he could tell the younger man was grinning.
"I would enjoy it more if the planet in question wasn't trying to kill us."
Obi-wan then strode to the apex of the small hill upon which he and Anakin stood and looked out at the battle spread out before them. As he wiped away the water streaming down his face, he noted with grim satisfaction that if all went well today, they would finally be leaving this forsaken planet.
"How much longer until Ahsoka's team is clear of the blast radius?" he asked, turning his attention back to Anakin, but continuing to move steadily forward with the rest of the legion as the next wave of droids began their assault.
Anakin followed right behind him, deflecting a blaster bolt into a nearby battle droid as he went. "She and Rex will comm us when the detonators are in place," Anakin explained as he continued to cut down droids with his deadly blade. "Assuming everything went according to plan, we only need to keep the droid army occupied for approximately another quarter hour before hightailing it out of here like mynocks outta Hell."
After countless hours of pouring over schematics and reconnaissance notes, a small entry point had been detected for a last ditch attempt to destroy the hidden factory. With supplies running low and the stakes climbing ever higher, Anakin's padawan, Ahsoka Tano, and clone captain Rex had been charged with leading a small infiltration team to sneak into the factory, using the current skirmish as a distraction, and set the explosives that would be triggered remotely once the team was clear.
A warning glared through the Force, and not a second later Obi-wan had summersaulted over Anakin and redirected three blaster bolts heading for his friend's back with his own cyan lightsaber.
"A lot can happen in a quarter hour, my friend," he quipped in a faintly teasing tone as Anakin spun around to face the already dispatched threat. "Do not let your confidence cloud your senses."
And with that, the two friends shared a wry smile before launching themselves once again into the oncoming onslaught.
Another few minutes passed in a flurry of motion, during which the Republic was able to push the droid army further back, forcing the machines to take cover in the rocky outcroppings of that littered the top of the underground factory.
"We can't get much closer or we risk our own men getting caught up in the blast," Obi-wan shouted over the booming of several canons, debris raining down around them as he spoke. He and Anakin had once again found themselves side-by-side on the battlefield as they deflected blaster bolts away from the clones that were keeping the droids pinned down.
"Maybe, but sooner or later, they're going to notice that we're no longer advancing," replied the aggravated knight. "Ahsoka and Rex should've been outta there by now! We can't hold this position for much longer! We're too vulnerable!"
Obi-wan opened his mouth to respond, but he was cut off by a muffled cry emanating from the comlink strapped to Anakin's wrist.
"M−ter!" called the voice issuing from the comlink. "Master, come in!" This time, the voice of Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano was clearly discernable.
Switching to a one-handed grip on his lightsaber, Anakin hurriedly answered his padawan, "Snips! What's your status?"
Ahsoka's answer was almost swallowed in the sounds of the surrounding battle, but he was just able to hear "—ran into a few clanking friends—mission was a success. ETA seven minutes. We'll meet you back at the base."
"Copy that. Skywalker out." Anakin hastily relayed Ahsoka's message to Obi-wan before ordering the first wave of his troops to begin their retreat out of the blast zone.
By now, the air was so congested with smoke and debris that what remained of the droid army was nearly invisible, and the continued deluge of the Sullust's acidic rain did nothing to help matters. Only the angry red streaks of blaster fire, shot through the unforgiving landscape towards the backs of the retreating clones, provided the Separatist's location. Though, to the Republic forces' relief, they seemed hesitant in attacking an enemy, even a retreating one, which their optical sensors could not see.
Good, thought Obi-wan as troopers ran by him, heading for the safety of the base, the last thing we need is for those wretched machines to survive the blast.
Another couple of frenzied minutes passed, while the two generals and remaining clones provided cover for their retreating comrades. Finally Commander Cody, his white and yellow clone armor streaked with grime from the day's events, was next to Obi-wan shouting, "Sir! Commander Tano and Captain Rex are nearly clear of the blast radius!"
"Excellent, begin—" but the order Obi-wan was about to issue was cut off as a blinding white light, followed closely by a deafening boom, filled his senses. Obi-wan, Anakin, Cody and the rest of the clone troopers were thrown back by the force of the explosion, each landing 10 feet from their original positions. Obi-wan faintly heard his former padawan grunt when his body impacted the hard earth, before ringing filled his ears and his vision went black.
Blinking blearily, Obi-wan groaned and opened his eyes only to immediately freeze in shock when the world around him finally came into focus. The sun was shining, and there was not a cloud in the sky. More than that, the debris he had grown so used to over the past hours was gone as well, as if it had never been there in the first place.
How long had he been unconscious? Minutes? Hours? As he gingerly made his way back to his feet, he was aware of Anakin and Cody doing the same.
"What the kriffing—" Anakin began, but even his extensive vocabulary of expletives seemed at a loss in this instance. Together, he and Obi-wan moved forward to look into bowl of a shallow crater, which had most definitely not been there mere moments before, and were startled to see the prone figure of a young human woman lying unconscious at the bottom.
"Master, where did−" however, Anakin once again failed to complete his thought, when the reality of their situation came crashing back into him as a searing pain erupted in his upper left arm. "Argh!" He cried, moving reflexively to clutch the injury.
The droids had recovered from their own temporary shock, and, devoid of their earlier hesitations, were once again firing on their opponents, the metal of their bodies clanking menacingly on the rocks as they confidently made their way forward.
"We need to get out of here!" Obi-wan shouted. With most of their troops already out of the area, their remaining forces were vastly outnumbered. Another red bolt zoomed past, barely missing Cody's head. Obi-wan pulled Anakin away from the lip of the crater and dragged him towards the relative safety of a large boulder some meters away. Activating his lightsaber, he glanced briefly over his shoulder, "Cody, order the last of the troops to retreat back to base! Anakin and I will finish this."
"Yes, Sir! What about the girl? Do we leave her?"
"I'll deal with it. Just get your men out of here!"
Blaster fire continued to rain overhead, once again darkening the miraculously clear skies with smoke, leaving only shafts of the bright sun to penetrate all the way to the planet's surface.
Briefly looking in Anakin's direction, Obi-wan saw the younger knight nod his head in determination to continue, before hastily pulling the triggering mechanism for the bombs out of a pocket of his utility belt. They were out of time. They would have to detonate the bombs without waiting for Ahsoka's "all-clear" and trust that she and her team could take care of themselves.
Tossing the mechanism to Anakin, who deftly caught it in his free hand, Obi-wan said, "If I'm not back in one minute, detonate the bombs. We can't risk those droids gaining any more ground," and without waiting for a reply, he took off in the direction of the crater.
Anakin shouted after his former master, but his friend had already disappeared into the cloud of dust. "And he says my ideas are crazy," he muttered drily, taking a deep breath and dispelling his pain and annoyance at Obi-wan's recklessness into the Force. Once again activating his lightsaber, Anakin stepped from behind the boulder in order to hold off the Separatist forces as long as he could, and hopefully buy Obi-wan some more time.
He needn't have worried though. Within seconds the elder Jedi could be seen running back towards Anakin, dodging blaster bolts as he went, his pace only slightly hampered by the weight of the woman's body he now carried in his arms. Behind him, their beige/brown color standing out against the dull gray of the planet's surface, an entire platoon of battle droids was following closely.
When he was 50 meters away, Anakin heard his master yell, "Detonate the bombs!"
Anakin hesitated, his thumb hovering over the button. If he triggered the bombs now, there was a good chance they would not make it out in time.
"NOW ANAKIN!"
Deciding that possible death was a better option than facing Obi-wan's fury, Anakin quickly depressed the trigger.
The effect was instantaneous. In the distance, but still too close for comfort, an ominous silence fell and then erupted into a ferocious, almighty roar. The ground beneath them rumbled, cracked and, in some parts, began to give way. Obi-wan and his passenger were jostled but managed to keep upright. When they were nearly level with him, Anakin, for what to him felt like the millionth time, started to run for his life.
Their feet flew across the rocky ground in a Force-assisted sprint, as they pelted full speed towards the low cliffs that marked the edge of the blast radius. But even the Force might not be enough to save them from a fiery death this time. Only seconds had passed, but already they could feel the blisteringly hot wall of compressed air at their backs, burning them through their layers of tunics and tabards.
Only 100 meters to go. They could see the helmeted faces of Cody and several other clone troopers peeking out from behind the safety of the cliffs to urge them on.
50 meters. The scorching heat of the oncoming blast seemed to envelope them, making it hard to breathe.
20 meters. Their breath came in searing pants as they continued to run.
10 meters, 5, 4, 3…
Obi-wan and Anakin leaped the remaining distance and threw themselves behind the energy shields just as the blast reached them in full force.
The noise was tremendous, blocking out all thought as it continued to wail against the barrier. The ground shook, and the cliffs groaned under the strain, but they held. Finally, the sound retreated and silence once again blanketed the area.
Anakin chose that moment to speak up. Working his way into a seated position, and still panting from their mad dash across the rocky plain, he managed to choke out, "I know you're sucker for a damsel in distress, Obi-wan, but I can assure you, there are easier ways to pick up girls."
Obi-wan's only response was an exasperated shake of his head, before he gently deposited the "damsel," as Anakin had called her, onto the ground and motioned for one of the field medics to examine her. She was still unconscious, but thankfully sported no outward signs of injury from their perilous escape.
Standing, Obi-wan joined Cody in surveying the destruction. In all honesty, thought Obi-wan humorously, it didn't look that different from before. And indeed, the jagged hills and the clusters of boulders that primarily made up the landscape, appeared to have been merely rearranged, with droid parts sprinkled here and there. The only new addition being a massive crater, marking the spot where the underground factory had been minutes previously.
Turning from the scene in front of him, Obi-wan spoke to the assembled clones, "Well men," he said, a slight smile breaking free. "It looks like we're going home."