"It will be done my lord", Commander Cody spoke into his commlink and ordered the AT-TE to fire on General Kenobi. He watched as his commander, whom he had served so loyally over the last three years during the clone wars, plummet down what must have been a fall impossible to survive. Nevertheless, Obi Wan Kenobi was a Jedi, and if there was one thing that the clone wars had taught Cody, it was that whenever you think a Jedi is dead, they never are. The commander had been given strict orders; eliminate all Jedi – no survivors, except for General Skywalker, although the clone was unsure as to why Anakin was allowed to live. So, to be safe, Commander Cody ordered a fleet of probes to search for signs of the fallen Jedi in the caves where his body must have landed, and then proceeded to round up his troops to the upper echelons of the Utapau pit he was standing in, wiping out the last of the separatist droids on their way.
Deep down in the caves of Utapau, Obi Wan Kenobi crashed into a pool of water, deep enough to mask his signature from any clone probes. He reached into his robes and pulled out a mouthpiece that he used for breathing underwater. Obi Wan could not figure out why his clones had turned on him, just seconds beforehand his loyal second in command, Cody, had handed him back his lightsabre. All of Kenobi's instincts were telling him that there was more to his betrayal than meets the eye. As Obi Wan continued to swim deeper into the lake he had landed in, his mind wandered to what was happening to the other Jedi. Whilst he had been falling, the Jedi master had felt a major disturbance in the force and knew that what had happened to him here on Utapau, must be happening all over the galaxy, to what extent, however, Kenobi was unsure. Kenobi noticed an area shallow enough to climb out of the lake, and far enough away that he wouldn't be detected by Commander Cody's search party and headed that way. He couldn't help but think of his good friend Anakin, and if anything had happened to the boy that he had trained from a young age. Obi Wan knew that Anakin thought of him as a father figure, to replace the father that he had never had, and in many ways, Obi Wan thought of him as a son. A sudden rage built up inside him as he thought of the possibility that Anakin could have been betrayed by his clones. Skywalker had always treated his 501st clone battalion with the upmost respect and often endangered himself if it meant saving even just one of the clones that so many Jedi deemed expendable. Kenobi quickly put aside his feelings of anger as he knew that now, more than ever, he would have to have faith in the Jedi order and not succumb to hate and anger. He reached his destination and pulled himself up out of the water and onto dry land. If he didn't find a way back up to his starfighter then he knew he would be stranded on this desolate planet, and calling for an evac was not an option after the betrayal he had just received. Radio silence was a necessity. A quick glance around the cavern showed two possible routes out, one looked like it would lead him right up into the clone occupied pit where his starfighter was landed, whilst the other looked like it was heading off much more gradually into god knows where. It looked like there was no other choice, therefore, for the Jedi master than for him to ascend the shaft into what could be an opening crawling with traitorous clones. One step after another Kenobi climbed up out of the cave, using the force to maintain his balance as he navigated the tricky rock wall. He rounded a corner and saw a stream of light trickling down the shaft, he knew he was close to the top. Erring on the side of caution, Kenobi slowly made his way to the exit where the light was coming from, it was a crack in the wall halfway up the Utapauian pit, not quite big enough for the Jedi master to fit through. Obi Wan quickly backed up against the wall beside the opening as he heard two clone troopers walk past. Obi Wan could have easily taken them if he was discovered, but didn't want the rest of the 212th battalion that he had brought to the planet made aware of his presence. Once the threat had passed, Obi Wan headed back to the crack to see if there was a way through. The wall looked weak around the opening, so Kenobi placed a hand delicately on each side and gave a light press, using the force to break the wall away around the hole and lightly place the fragments silently on the ground, creating a space big enough for him to fit through. After Kenobi stepped out, he took a moment to get his bearings. He was standing on a landing bay on the Eastern side of the Cavern, in order to get to his starfighter he would need to cross almost a kilometre of clone infested ground, and ascend three stories, which the Jedi knew would be no easy task. It looked as though some of the battalion was starting to leave the planet, as there was a steady stream of gunships and troop transports ascending back up to the Venator class star destroyer waiting in orbit. Obi Wan heard another group of clone troopers approaching from around the corner and decided to get moving. He was on a landing platform with minimal cover and decided to head further into the cliff face, where the walls were being kept up by metal pillars and scaffolding, both of which would provide cover and hiding spots from the patrolling clones. Kenobi ducked behind one of the support pillars and looked for an easy way up onto the scaffolding above him. There was a clear space where he could jump up onto the catwalks above, the only problem, however, was that he would need to go into clear view of the clone's, who had now stopped to investigate the hole in the wall, line of sight. He knew it was only a matter of time before the group, which he could now see consisted of three regular clones and an engineer, continued their patrol and discovered him behind his pillar. He had to create a diversion. Kenobi snuck out from behind his cover and spied some loose stalagmites hanging from the ceiling. Using the force, Obi wan subtly dislodged one of the stalagmites and waited for the right time. A republic gunship flew past and Kenobi hurled the stalagmite into the engine. The rock was thrown with enough force to punch a hole in the engine, causing a thunderous bang and thick grey smoke began pouring out. Yells could be heard coming from the clones inside as the gunship lost momentum and began hurtling towards the ground. The patrol by the wall whipped around to face the falling gunship.
"Quickly, after them" The engineer barked at the rest of his group.
The patrol sprinted around the corner towards where the gunship was about to crash, in the hope to save whoever they could from the wreckage. Obi Wan seized the opportunity to head back out into the open and leap onto the catwalks suspended above him. Kenobi had been to Utapau once before, not too long ago when he and Anakin had stopped the separatists from acquiring a large kyber crystal that could have been used to create a diabolical super weapon, and roughly knew his way around the planet's pit's catacombs. Kenobi started to make his way along the catwalk in the direction of his ship, from here on, the hardest part about his escape would be climbing the three stories required to reach his starfighter. That was when he remembered that General Grievous' ship would still be in the landing bay one floor below his current position. Obi Wan quickly decided that it would be much easier to reach and changed direction to head towards the cyborg's ship. With about a hundred meters left to travel, Obi Wan ran out of room on the catwalk. He decided it was probably time to descend onto the right level now anyway, and checked around him to make sure the coast was clear, before silently dropping back down onto the floor. The way down onto the floor below was just around a blind corner to Kenobi's left. He pressed himself up against the corner and strained his ears to try and detect any sound coming from around it. Sure enough, he heard two clones talking.
"Did you find Kenobi?" rang out the unmistakeable voice of Commander Cody. Despite all the clones having the exact same vocal chords, Obi Wan could always tell when it was his commander's voice.
"Sir, no one could have survived that fall" replied another trooper.
"Start loading your men on the ship" commanded Cody, and the troopers scuttled away, not wanting to feel the wrath of their commander. Cody turned to his captain, Gregor
"What do you think?"
"With all due respect sir, I think CC-2289 was right. Not even a Jedi could have survived that fall… Not even Obi Wan" Gregor replied.
"You're right. Tell all troops to get back to the ship, it's time to leave this world". Cody and Gregor began to walk off towards their own transports, leaving a clear path for Obi Wan to follow right to the staircase. Grievous' ship was within sight, however, standing between Kenobi and his ticket off world, were two clones with their backs turned to him, discussing the fight they had just had with the confederate army. Obi Wan knew he would have to be careful here, if he left any lightsabre marks on the clones then it would be clear to Cody that he had survived.
"I jumped on top of one of them right, one of those crab-looking clankers, thought I was about to be shaken off, but I just managed to stay on and bang! Bang! Bang! Right through the tin can's head, fried all the circuitry."
"Reminds me of one time way back on Geonosis, the second time, where I was..."
The second trooper was cut off as he noticed Obi Wan standing a couple of meters away from him, with his lightsabre drawn.
"Get him!" yelled the first trooper, opening fire at his old general.
Kenobi swiftly deflected the blaster shots, one from about his left shoulder was sent hurtling back at his adversary's helmet before Obi Wan quickly pivoted his lightsabre down to his torso to send a second bolt flying back to the other trooper, hitting him square in the chest. Kenobi used the force to position a dead super battle droid by the clone's lifeless body, to make it appear as if they had been killed in combat by the separatist droid. He then sheathed his lightsabre and reattached it to his belt, before jogging over to General Grievous' ship. Obi Wan climbed aboard and wasted no time taking off, leaving the dusty planet far behind to retreat back to the Jedi temple, in the hope of finding out how serious this clone betrayal really was. As soon as he was outside of the clone's detection range he fired up his transmitter.
"Emergency code 913, I have no contact on any frequencies" Kenobi broadcasted openly.
A static image of senator Organa came through but Kenobi was unable to figure out what was being said. It was as if there was another, much weaker signal also trying to get through, but wasn't quite able to.
"Repeat" Obi Wan replied, with hopes of receiving a clearer transmission.
"Master Kenobi" repeated the senator, his voice clear but his picture still extremely distorted.
"Senator Organa, my clone troops turned on my, I need help" Obi Wan informed the senator.
"We have just rescued master Yoda, it appears this has happened everywhere" Organa replied. The static was still there and the signal seemed to be getting weaker and whoever else who was trying to contact Obi Wan seemed to be starting to get through.
"We're sending you our..." Organa was cut off by the noise of an explosion.
"Senator! Senator do you copy" Obi Wan said, desperately trying to establish a better connection.
"Get as far… do not go to the co-ordinates we just sent… no matter what… don't let them track this transmi… Aaaaarggh!" yelled the senator into his transmitter, as he began to break up.
"Senator!" Obi Wan repeated with frustration, punching his ships dashboard as Organa's transmission finally ended. Whoever it was that was also trying to contact him still couldn't get through. He didn't know who it was and was unsure whether to establish contact with them. For all he knew it was a clone regiment trying to hunt him down. Or it could be Anakin trying to get hold of him.
"No" Obi Wan muttered to himself "The risk is too great". If it were a dispatch of clones attempting hunt him down they could easily trace the transmission and he would be a sitting duck, drifting alone in space. But what if it was Anakin. He couldn't leave his apprentice alone if he was in trouble. He knew what he had to do. With a deep breath, he answered the call.
"Master Kenobi" Obi Wan spoke cautiously into his transmitter.