Obi-Wan drummed his fingers impatiently on the passenger seat's side of the ship. He watched as the last sliver of the Coruscant sun gleamed off the front of the ship until it completely set below the cityscape. As the sun set, Obi-Wan's fingers picked up speed. He could hear the click of the streetlights flick on and the continuous buzz of other vehicles passing by above. Obi-Wan looked around again for what seemed like the hundredth time and, when not finding what he was looking for, stopped drumming his fingers and instead massaged his temples, elbow leaning on the side of the ship. The sound of footsteps made him look up, trying to see his surroundings in the dull illumination of the streetlights.
"Sorry Master." Obi-wan tried not to roll his eyes as his padawan gracefully jumped into the driver's seat in one smooth motion.
"Just get going. We have a mission to complete if you haven't forgotten, Anakin."
Anakin smiled mischievously. He knew he was just a couple minutes late, and, even if it were more, he knew that Obi-Wan would wait for him. They did have a mission to complete after all. Anakin roared the engine to life after plugging in the coordinates and began to rise the ship above the bright and alive city. Obi-Wan stopped feeling the breeze on his face once Anakin pressed several buttons in preparation to leave the planet's atmosphere. The glass enclosure made Obi-Wan feel claustrophobic, adding to the ever growing list of why he hated flying. He saw Anakin give him a sidelong glance and knew that Anakin must be smiling to himself because of Obi-Wan's discomfort of flying. Seeing that discomfort, Anakin took the opportunity to swerve the ship jerkily right after leaving Coruscant. Anakin burst out laughing.
"Anakin, focus." Obi-Wan could see his white knuckles grasping the side of his seat and tried slowly to ease his grip. "I will take over as pilot if you don't stop acting childish," he reprimanded.
"Yes Master," Anakin responded, the smile still lingering on his face.
Obi-Wan sighed. Sometimes he wasn't sure if his padawan was ready to become a Jedi Master, an honor that was soon to be bestowed upon Anakin. However, he had saved Obi-Wan during various other assignments, so both sides to his internal debate continued to rage.
"Sora Bulq. A Weequay. From the moon of Sriluur named Ruul" Obi-Wan recited, trying to get his mind off of flying and trying to focus Anakin. "He's dangerous. Sora Bulq knows every type of lightsaber combat. That was one of the reasons Master Windu recruited him. He fell captive to the dark side and started to follow Dooku, even attempted to make a schism in the Jedi Order. He's in charge of the Dark Acolytes and has been wanted ever since his role in the murder of the Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum. Sora Bulq is our target and we can't stray away from that."
Anakin knew that Obi-Wan was just talking to pass the time, since the planet's coordinates were already in. It wasn't as if Anakin didn't know about the mission. Obi-Wan had come to him about a month ago telling him about the assignment and when they were leaving. He never asked Anakin if he wanted to go, but it was because Obi-Wan knew Anakin well enough. He didn't need to ask. Anakin would follow Obi-Wan anywhere, and that Obi-Wan knew that. Anakin allowed himself another glimpse of his Master as he babbled on. Anakin could still see the death grip that Obi-Wan had on the seat. However, Obi-Wan's complexion wasn't as flushed as it had been, although there were small beads of sweat forming near his hairline. Obi-Wan suddenly stopped talking, finally finished expending all the information memorized about the mission, and Anakin hastily looked away. He couldn't let Obi-Wan know that he had been staring at him, because Anakin wasn't quite sure himself why he was.
"So the plan is to land the ship and raise a little hell?" Anakin said lightly, eyebrows raising, hoping to relieve the weird silence that just occurred.
"If that's how you want to put it. If we take Sora Bulq out, the Republic has a better chance of taking out Dooku, which is important, Anakin," Obi-Wan stressed, looking sternly at him.
Anakin nodded in understanding. They continued flying for several hours towards the Outer Rim Territories until they saw the planet a couple thousand feet in front of them. Anakin looked at Obi-Wan, looking for permission to continue to land. Obi-Wan nodded, reading the question from Anakin's face. Anakin flew the ship forward, trying to find a way to surreptitiously land the plane without alerting too many guards on the planet. The ship hurtled through the atmosphere of the planet, and Obi-Wan could see the roaring flames through the window and tried to resist the urge to close his eyes. The flames broke and Obi-Wan let out a sigh. The ship soared over the lush tropical jungles of Ruul amoon of the planet Sriluur, which was the birthplace of Sora Bulq. Obi-Wan was pleased that Anakin had actually researched the planet in order to find a quiet place so they could land secretly. There was only a small speeder bike on what looked like an abandon landing platform. The landing platform was never enclosed so the heat from the sun had cracked the dark stone in numerous places and the vegetation was growing through them, taking over the landing pad. Control systems were toppled over, wires still showing where the systems had once been. It never had been a very advanced platform even when it was in use. It only could really fit two normal sized ships with enough room to maneuver around. There were some discarded tools scattered around and a path that was almost fully covered in vegetation veering away from the platform, leading to rubble where a control booth must have once stood. Anakin slowly eased the ship down on the platform, careful not to land on the uneven stone and rubble. The ship landed gently, Anakin's skill of a pilot being shown. The hood of the ship released and opened as Anakin powered off the ship. As soon as it opened, Anakin and Obi-Wan could feel the humidity and extreme heat of the planet. The sun was now high in the sky and was shining powerfully down on the planet. They could feel sweat starting to drip down their forehead and their tunics started to stick to their backs. They looked at each other before both making the silent agreement to leave their robes in the ship, as they would be almost suffocated with them on. They jumped out of the ship and looked around to familiarize themselves with the surroundings. Obi-Wan knew that scanner drones in the air would soon detect their presence so they only had a few minutes at the most to get to their destination.
"I kind of wish I was on Hoth right about now," Anakin complained, swiping his backhand across his forehead in a futile attempt to get rid of the sweat.
Obi-Wan felt the sweat building at the nape of his neck. "Haircuts also seem like a good idea right about now".
Anakin smiled and then became serious, his face determined. He instinctively touched his lightsaber to make sure it was still in his utility belt and followed Obi-Wan who led both of them to one of the paths leading away from the platform.
"Our presence has already most likely been detected. Keep an eye out," Obi-Wan warned Anakin, proceeding to lead them down the path which continued through the undergrowth.
Anakin and Obi-Wan moved swiftly but quietly down the path. They tried to avoid stepping on fallen leaves and sticks or small animals that hopped or slithered across the path, all while swatting and batting the insects that thrived in the muggy jungle. Suddenly they heard a twig snap, and they both lifted their lightsabers up to their waist, waiting until they saw a figure to actually activate them. They scanned the bushes and trees anxiously, expecting a Weequay, the species of Sora Bulq, to appear at any moment. After about a minute passed, Anakin shrugged and motioned for Obi-Wan to keep going, Obi-Wan's fingers hovering slightly over the hilt of his lightsaber. He had sensed using the force that someone or something was watching them, but since he had no visual, progressed on but more cautious than before. They walked for several more minutes, the only noise coming from their ragged breathing and the jungle around them. Obi-Wan felt an enemy's presence only just before a pair of Weequays emerged from the tangled vines of the tropical jungle. They both had dark brown, leathery skin that sagged from what should have been their cheekbones, and their mouths looked as if someone had carved an opening in the heads since they had no visible lips. The Weequays stared down at the two jedis, holding advanced melee weapons that their species themselves made. They made no noise whatsoever as they communicated with one another through smells. That was one of the reasons why Sora Bulq got as powerful as he was; the jedi originally thought their species were unintelligent. Obi-Wan and Anakin had taken out their lightsabers as soon as the two creatures appeared from the jungle and held them upright, waiting for the Weequays to make the first move. The Weequay on the left, who seemed to be the leader of the two, thundered towards the jedi, his weapon slashing through the air.
"Anakin look out!" Obi-Wan yelled as the leader took sudden quick steps in Anakin's direction. Anakin ducked around the Weequay just in time to thrust his lightsaber through the back of the chest of the leader Weequay just as it's weapon was getting narrowly close to severing Obi-Wan's head. Anakin pulled his lightsaber back out and the Weequay went down with a thud. Anakin paused for just a moment to stare at the face-down Weequay. That pause had allowed the smaller Weequay to charge him but Anakin had sensed it and pivoted and took down the second Weequay just as easy as he had done the first. Anakin placed his lightsaber back into his belt as Obi-Wan double checked the pulses of the Weequay to make sure they were dead.
Anakin turned towards Obi-Wan. "How is it, Master, that I seem to be the one always saving you and not the other way around?" Anakin asked Obi-Wan, a smirk appearing on his face.
"This didn't count. I had it completely under control," Obi-Wan placidly replied. Anakin raised one of his eyebrows and gave him one of his knowing looks. "Oh shut up," Obi-Wan said, but Anakin could see the slight smile on Obi-Wan's face.
They continued through their path, half expecting more Weequay to return at any moment. Anakin continued his banter on saving Obi-Wan's life until finally the clusters of trees started to thin out to just grass as they became closer to the city where Sora Bulq was located. Their forest path had turned to concrete some time ago, but there was still a good distance until the jedis actually started to see buildings in the distance.
"That one." Obi-Wan had stopped suddenly, nearly causing Anakin to bump into him from behind, to point at a tall, dirt-colored building in the shape of a cylinder. Anakin squinted and shaded his eyes with his hand as he tried to locate the building against the blazing Ruul sun.
"Would you like to share with the class how we're exactly supposed to get there?" Anakin asked, furrowing his eyebrows together after seeing the massive height and importance of the building. "The entrance is probably packed with Weequay guards."
"Good thing we're not going through the entrance then," Obi-Wan commented, giving Anakin an all knowing smile of his own, and continued to walk towards the horizon of buildings.
Anakin rolled his eyes, even though this was a common occurrence of his Master, and continued to follow him. As they neared the city, the dingy brown buildings became clearer. A couple hundred feet before the nearest building entrance, the jedis strayed off the path and went on the perimeter of the city so as not to be noticed. They knew this routine well. They would run as fast as they could until they heard footsteps, and would then duck into the shadows of the buildings and stores, backs against the walls. Once the footsteps trailed off, they would continue in the same way. They were now on the right most building, a bar of some sorts, near their destination, which was the government headquarters of the moon. Of course the headquarters were in the middle of a public square of the city where civilian and guard Weequays were all wandering about.
"So I'm assuming that's the entrance we're avoiding," Anakin whispered to Obi-Wan as they stood pressed against the side of the bar, monitoring the headquarters.
"We can't see the back entrance from here. We need to somehow cross the square." Obi-Wan added, pointing out to Anakin the route they needed to get to the other entrance.
"That should be easy enough," Anakin shrugged and before Obi-Wan could comment back, Anakin had already run out in the open, ducking his head down and walking in pace behind other locals, blending in. Obi-Wan watched, both impressed an annoyed, as Anakin disappeared behind the government building.
"Reckless as usual," Obi-Wan muttered, shaking his head slightly. He knew was one of the times where he understood why Anakin was not yet a Master, he was too spontaneous and reckless. Obi-Wan followed the more sensible path along the perimeter of the buildings until he was directly across from where Anakin was standing. From there, he closed the small distance between them by casually walking, as to not draw attention towards them. They edged along the back of the rounded building until they reached the supposed back door.
"Of course there's no handle. This couldn't just be easy could it," Anakin griped as he withdrew his lightsaber and began to cut the hinges off of the metal door. The hinges fell to the grass, smoothly split in half by the blade of the lightsaber. Anakin kicked the door once, and it fell inwards, the sound of metal on what seemed to be tile flooring echoed down the dark hallway.
"Guess we lost that element of surprise," Obi-Wan pointed out, staring down at the fallen door after having flinched from the noise of the impact.
They walked into the doorframe and Anakin scanned his fingers along the inside of the wall until he found the switch to turn on the lights. Although the Weequays made advanced weapons, they barely had anything else that was innovative in their buildings. The overhead fluorescents flicked on, one after another until Obi-Wan and Anakin could see down to the end of the hallway.
"We must be in the basement. Hopefully no one goes down here," Obi-Wan said as he started to walk down the narrow corridor.
Anakin acknowledged, in his head at least, that Obi-Wan had made a smart strategy in going through that door. The hallway they were in looked to be forlorn what with the layer of grime on the tiles and the peeling yellow paint on the walls. The buzzing of the lights was the only noise as Anakin and Obi-Wan approached the elevator at the end of the hall after passing only empty storage and supply closets.
As they reached the end of the hall, Anakin looked skeptically at what was supposed to pass for an elevator. It was way out of date, and also looked extremely small and unstable for a government building.
"After you," Anakin joked, allowing Obi-Wan to test whether the elevator would even be able to hold their weight.
After Obi-Wan deemed the elevator safe enough, Anakin joined him in the claustrophobic area. The lift was small and Anakin felt his arm, now bare since they had discarded their robes, brush against Obi-Wan's. Anakin felt his heart increase speed for some random reason, and just assumed it was because they were in a sketchy elevator trying to track down a sketchy guy. Obi-Wan seemed not to notice anything and shuffled forward to the control panel of the elevator. He quickly disabled it so they could reach the destined floor without having the door open on each one. It would have been much easier if they had brought an Astromech droid along with them, but their ship was too small, and still left Obi-Wan wondering as to how the ship actually survived the atmosphere. Obi-Wan shook his head to clear his thoughts.
"Remember, Anakin," Obi-Wan started, glancing over at Anakin, "The council wants Sora Bulq alive. We must follow that."
Anakin caught Obi-Wan's glance and immediately wish he hadn't. He could feel Obi-Wan's eyes staring him down, almost as if he was seeing the rage and anger bottled up inside Anakin that he tried to keep hidden. He could see Obi-Wan's disproval at the two killings Anakin had just done.
"Yes Master," Anakin nodded and quickly shifted his gaze forwards once again as the elevator continued to ascend.
The elevator opened on the last possible stop and the two jedi looked at each other, nodded, and got off. As soon as the elevator door closed behind them, they ran hastily to find a place to hide and regroup. Once they had safely tucked themselves behind a hopefully isolated staircase, Obi-Wan once again elaborated on their plan.
"Sora Bulq should be located directly above here. This staircase will most likely lead to a heavily armed placed, so he won't be far from there. Once he find him, we disarm him, cuff him, and take him into custody. Got it?" Obi-Wan asked Anakin, waiting for the nod of approval from him.
"Sounds easy enough," Anakin replied, and with that, he started climbing quietly up the stairs, Obi-Wan soon trailing right behind. Once on the landing of the next floor, Obi-Wan took lead once again and opened to door to the floor. Based on the exterior of the building, Obi-Wan did not expect the floor to look like it did. If anything he was expecting another floor similar to the basement where Sora Bulq was just hiding out of the jedi's sight. However, layout and the look of the floor reminded Obi-Wan of the Chancellor's Office, one that was lavish but comfortable, demonstrated power but not ego. The grimy floor in the basement was replaced with dark brown carpeting that impeccably matched the coffee colored walls. Obi-Wan and Anakin walked through the hallway, ducking past open doors until they reached a security desk.
"May I help you?" The robotic voice matched the look of the droid who was seated at the hemisphere wood desk.
"We have an appointment with Sora Bulq," Obi-Wan calmly said to the droid.
"Mr. Bulq does not take appointments. Can I ask what the matter regards to?" The droid responded in a staccato one-toned voice.
Obi-Wan and Anakin then simultaneously patted their lightsabers. "I think he'll make time for us," Anakin said coolly, giving a devious smile.
"Security!" The droid yelled, quickly tapping buttons on the nearby computer. Anakin lifted his hand pushed it palms out and watched as the droid went crashing into the war. The droids body twitched and sparked and muttered unrecognizable phrases before completely short circuiting.
The commotion caused three Weequay guards to come storming down the hallway, weapons raised and ready to strike. This time it was Obi-Wan who lifted both his hands palms up, lifted the desk, and slammed the desk into two of the Weequays. The desk pinned the two against the hallway where Obi-Wan and Anakin had entered from and the movement caused the third to lose his balance. The jedi took that opportunity to go past the security desk into what they hoped would lead them to Sora Bulq. Their short walk to the room behind the desk allowed the unbalanced Weequay to catch up to them from behind at the same time four security droids, much like the one Anakin and Obi-Wan had just encountered, started attacking from the front. The only difference was that these droids had their right arms out straight, ready to fire at the jedi. Anakin and Obi-Wan activated their lightsabers and started swinging them, deflecting the barrage of blaster bolts coming from the droids. Obi-Wan expertly deflected one of the bolts straight back to the droid on the far left, and it fell backwards. Obi-Wan moved on to face the other three droids since Anakin had taken on the Weequay guard a few steps behind him. Anakin was not using his lightsaber against the Weequay since it only had a rather large knife. Obi-Wan liked to think it was because Anakin didn't want to hurt the Weequay since it was only doing its job, but knew better than that and assumed Anakin was trying to show off to challenge himself. Instead, Anakin threw punches and dodged the knife that was slicing through the air. After one particularly close call, Anakin swung his right leg around the Weequay's left knee and pulled his legs out from under him. With that, Anakin forced the droid that was shot with its on blast and the parts of another that Obi-Wan had just taken down on top of the Weequay in a futile attempt to keep him pinned. When that seemed to fail, Anakin picked up a droid's arm and swung it hard against the Weequay's head, making him fall unconscious. Deeming his job satisfied, Anakin drew his lightsaber and went to stand besides Obi-Wan, who was now surrounded several more droids that must have just recently come. Anakin gave Obi-Wan a slight smile, and once he saw that it was returned, they charged at the droids, swiping their lightsabers left and right, dodging blaster bolts, until eventually they were surrounded by just motionless parts of droids.
"That wasn't too hard. Is that all they've got?" Anakin cheekily said, double checking the room for any droid or guard they might have missed.
"Come on. We don't want Sora Bulq to get away." Obi-Wan ignored Anakin's comment and instead led them to a side room, one that branched off from the room they were previously in.
Sora Bulq was standing, facing the window that was in the back of what looked like his office. Another large, semicircle desk and several large chairs separated the Jedi from Sora Bulq.
"I knew you were coming. No Jedi can hide from me." Sora Bulq turned around and his massive size became even more apparent. He was past six feet tall and when he turned Obi-Wan could see Sora Bulq's brown leathery skin and black eyes that fit the statement 'if looks could kill' too easily.
Anakin and Obi-Wan deactivated their lightsabers for the time being. The correct thing to do would be to talk and then duel, as no villain ever wanted to talk things out in the first place, but they had to try. Anakin left the talking for Obi-Wan. He believed that actions did speak louder than words.
"Sora Bulq, the Jedi Council in Coruscant wish to speak to you regarding matters about Count Dooku. You can come with us now and we won't have to battle this out," Obi-Wan calmly explained. Anakin rolled his eyes at Obi-Wan's little speech. It never worked out in either favor.
Sora Bulq laughed in his deep voice. "Out of the three of us, I think you know who will win. After all, I've have trained extensively in lightsaber combat and have become even stronger since I joined the Dark Side."
"I agree your skills are impressive," Obi-Wan began, "so let's not put them in action. Just surrender and you'll get a hearing."
"You," Sora Bulq suddenly boomed, pointing a wrinkled finger at Anakin, "You have anger and hate inside of you. You were meant for the Dark Side, to become stronger and more powerful than the Jedis could ever imagine."
Anakin shifted slightly in his stance. Obi-Wan was always teaching him to control his anger, and he was hearing that more and more from other enemies they encountered. "Enough. Are you coming with us or not? I'm getting impatient," Anakin demanded, his fingers inching towards his lightsaber.
"Or not." Sora Bulq smiled deviously, his teeth seeming canine-like, and sidestepped the desk with his red lightsaber out, ready to duel.
Anakin and Obi-Wan reacted immediately, both drawing out their matching blue lightsabers. They all paused for a second, and then Sora Bulq sprinted forward and brought his lightsaber down. Obi-Wan countered his strike and allowed Anakin to be the one to aggressively attack Bulq while Obi-Wan continued to counter. Sora Bulq's mastery and skill was effortlessly shown so the lightsabers continued to be clashed against one another in a mixture of blue and red lights as minutes passed. The duel had moved their positions all around the room. Furniture was thrown around using the force in futile attempts to knock the opponent down. Every time Obi-Wan had thought they had finally corned Bulq, he would counter and attack once again and the jedi's sudden gain was lost. Suddenly, half a dozen droids entered the disheveled room. Anakin glanced over at Obi-Wan and Obi-Wan nodded and flicked his head in the droids direction. Anakin took the hint and ran directly at them, swiping the air and the droids as he rushed to where they stood firing. With Anakin distracted from the fight with Sora Bulq, Obi-Wan was soon struggling. Sora Bulq's skill was easily worth two Jedi, so Obi-Wan barely managed to keep up. He looked over at Anakin, who had just taken down the last of the droids. Obi-Wan turned back to face his opponent but was seconds too late. He watched as Sora Bulq swung his lightsaber down hard, slicing through Obi-Wan's right wrist, severing his hand clean off. Obi-Wan let out a distressed scream as his lightsaber clamored to the floor. Sora Bulq took that opportunity to force Obi-Wan hard against the back wall, knocking him unconscious.
"Obi-Wan!" Anakin yelled as he watched whole affair. He ran over to where Obi-Wan lay crumpled in a heap and tried to shake him back into consciousness. Anakin barely even noticed when Sora Bulq slipped out of the room, and when seconds later when he heard the sound of a ship taking off. He was too focused on Obi-Wan, on his Master. Anakin cradled Obi-Wan's head with his left arm, letting Obi-Wan's head lie in the crook of his elbow. He continued to shake him, and, when Anakin finally deemed that it was pointless, heaved Obi-Wan over his shoulders in a fireman carry and headed back the way they came. Anakin tried to ignore the nagging in his head that not only had he failed the mission, but he had also failed to protect Obi-Wan, and he knew very well which one was upsetting him the most.