The clones' weapons were discarded unceremoniously in the loose desert dirt as they took extra care to lower Obi-Wan back against the boulder's side. Said dirt was showered over all of them when Anakin came in like a storm and skid on his knees into the only available space at his Master's side.
"Master!" he chimed again. The intense joy he emitted was powerful enough to buffer against the potent swell of mental and physical agitation pouring out from the cracked void that was Obi-Wan's Force signature. He stretched out his arms, not really knowing what he planned to do with them, but drew back with a jolt when Obi-Wan pointed one severe and threatening finger far too close to Anakin's face.
"What in BLAZES did you just do to those people?!" he thundered. The blood coating his throat oozed into raw sores carved by the ample volume of sand he'd inhaled today. He retracted the punishing gesture to cough brutally against his will.
Several aspects of the spectacle before him caught Anakin off-guard. Aside from being strikingly alive, Obi-Wan was angry. How in ten hells could he muster the gall to be angry when he'd just been rescued from what would have most certainly been his death at the hands of those worthless criminals? Sure, the Jedi were supposed to advocate for mercy in all situations, but Anakin couldn't fathom how this battle still qualified as an opportunity to invoke that tenet. To him, this was a perfect example of kill or be killed, and by his rules the enemy was hardly even considered sentient. But Obi-Wan was also very much hurt, Anakin recognized. The immense amount of damage he'd suffered under the unyielding desert sun for so long was clearly affecting his judgement.
"Calm down, Obi-Wan," Anakin soothed in a reasonable tone. "You're–"
"Calm down? Calm DOWN?! Anakin you've murdered every Nikto in sight! They're sentient!" Obi-Wan railed back at him.
Anakin bristled and stood in response. His short length of patience was shrinking fast. "They were trying to kill you!" he shouted down, fingers curling reflexively, "They were trying to kill all of us! Obi-Wan, look what they did to you!"
In a show of defiance then, Obi-Wan drew in his knees and clawed up the rock to meet Anakin as close as he could to eye level. He batted away the clones begging him to lie still. The hemorrhage coloring his right eye only served to strengthen the magnitude of resolution in his gaze. That old, rotten sensation of blackness and decay crept into the Force again, now riding alongside some strangled abomination composed both of scathing fury and unabated love. "No, Anakin, look what they did to you."
For the second time, Anakin flinched back. Obi-Wan was wrong. Anakin knew his actions were justified. He knew he'd done the right thing with the cards he'd been dealt, but somehow the weight in Obi-Wan's words cast a pernicious sheet of doubt over his conviction. He couldn't bear to acknowledge it. "I- I did what I had to!" Anakin cursed the fault in his voice.
"You did what you wanted to!" The accusing finger drilled into him once again.
"I wanted to save your karking life!"
"By killing everyone in your way?! By disobeying my direct orders and nearly sending your own men to their deaths?! If I'd been just a minute too late your entire unit would–" He failed to contain the next bout of coughing, this time bringing with it a noticeable spray of blood against his profoundly discolored white armor. The clones glued to his side were quick to the catch when Obi-Wan's grip on the boulder trembled and fell. Anakin's arms shot forward too, but he soon found that his help was unneeded. As such, he was at a loss for what to do. A great conflict was brewing inside him, straining horribly between his wavering opinion of himself, his undying need to protect Obi-Wan, and this gnarled, shieldless mess in the Force. So encumbered was he that the sound of his comm going off went unattended for several seconds without his notice. When he did take heed of the alarm, he did so with a third jump. He tore himself from the deteriorating scene, and turned away to press the center button near his mouth. He was afforded no time for greetings.
"Master!" called Ahsoka in obvious distress, "Why are you shooting at me?!"
About four klicks north, one speeder bike fitted awkwardly with three passengers dodged magnificent globes of luminous green plasma. Majum drove madly at the front, swerving in tremendous arcs that scored his shoulder against the ground and threatened to fling away Liiqua and Ahsoka far into the distance.
"What?!" Anakin barked, uncomprehending.
"The outpost! Stop the cannons! It's me!"
Obi-Wan piped up needlessly from behind. "This is why I told you to stay in the tower! You never listen to me!" He was once again on the ground, wrestling feebly to free himself from the clones attempting to patch the blaster wound in his chest.
Anakin growled and ended the call. Flipping the channel to the communications bay at the outpost, the room in the sky flooded with rage. "STOP FIRING. I said CEASE. FIRE." Black relayed the orders to the gunmen who obeyed his command immediately, leaving poor Black to wonder in exasperation how he'd upset the General by following his explicit orders. With the situation resolved, Anakin turned around somewhat reluctantly to resume the battle he was losing with a highly disadvantaged Obi-Wan. Instead he was met with Cody, limping quite ably his way with a sniper rifle in place of a crutch. Surprise washed over his disgruntled expression. "Commander Cody," he remarked, "Doing all right?"
"Yes sir," Cody answered him, "I'm fine. But if I might make a suggestion, we need to find a way to get back up these cliffs."
"Right. I'll send some men to go looking for a slope in the walls." He surveyed the land for serviceable vehicles.
"Very good, sir. But uh…" Uncharacteristically, Cody's eyes cast down and away from a commanding officer.
Anakin didn't like this introduction. "Is there… Something else, Commander?"
"No sir. Nothing. It's just- if I may speak freely, sir–"
"Spit it out, Cody."
"It's about General Kenobi, sir."
Anakin hadn't previously registered the panic humming softly beneath Cody's outward presentation. With the chaotic cyclone of every other volatile emotion packed into the Force here, it was hard to distinguish anyone's belonging to any given mood. He turned his attention toward Obi-Wan and the other clones as directed. Contrasting to his earlier display, Obi-Wan now laid rather complacent on his back, head lolled to one side and breathing with grim effort while the clones removed his chestplate for better access to the deep puncture underneath. The only proof of consciousness he supplied were the periodic spasms of coughing that lifted him partially off the ground, dropping him roughly with an irritated grunt on each round's completion. Anakin's feet strode forward on their own.
"General, please. Wait a moment," asked Cody, politely. Anakin begrudgingly granted him the pause he wished for and turned again, something in his pose signaling that this interruption's time was limited.
Cody exhaled, preparing for the worst. "I know General Kenobi is something special to you, sir." Anakin raised a judgmental eyebrow, but let him continue. "And I know he's worse off than he acts." That part came as a surprise. "So, if you could please, sir, just uh… Maybe, save the fighting for another day. For his sake." A tumultuous stillness blew between them. Cody stood firm, ready to accept rightful punishment for prying into the inviolable Jedi relationship between Master and Padawan. Anakin scrutinized him in the Force. No clone, indeed no one in existence, had the right to decide how he was allowed to interact with his Master. But nothing in the Force framed Cody in an air of jurisdiction – he wasn't deciding anything. The purity in his desire for Obi-Wan's well-being was simply astounding. After nearly five harrowing seconds of mutual and unbroken staring, Anakin nodded his approval. He passed Obi-Wan by on his way to locate Rex, sparing Cody a final glance in solidarity. Without the Force to differentiate, however, Cody took it as a warning.
Rex was found not far off, having vacated the area once the Generals began to argue. He saluted on Anakin's approach and listed out the casualty report. Anakin was in no mood to hear it. "How about we go over that later, Rex," he sighed. "Right now we need to find something fast and scout a way out of this canyon."
"Sir, we're not climbing? I had a look at the area map back in the tower, and I don't remember seeing a dip in this canyon anywhere closeby."
"Great," Anakin huffed. "Well, there's nothing else we can do. We have wounded."
Rex hesitated in his confusion. "…Right, General, which is why we'll need to climb. We've got men here who won't last a six hour trip around the desert getting to the nearest slope. And by the looks of it, General Kenobi's one of them."
"General Kenobi is going to be fine," retorted Anakin perhaps too quickly. "And what are you talking about? The wounded aren't climbing."
"Well," Rex started with a chuckle, "I'm not so sure that some of them wouldn't like to try, but I guess you wouldn't know that the hangar here is chock full of old AT-TEs. Guess the outpost had trouble with these walls at some point, too."
Anakin lit up. "That'll be perfect. And Ahsoka's already on her way down. I'll have her stop at the tower and pick some up walkers, then she can meet us here and take us home."