Obi-Wan's POV
"Anakin, can you at least tell me where we are going?"
My former padawan races down the hangar bay towards an awaiting gunship. He had said earlier "let's go, Master", but that was it. I of course was curious enough to follow Anakin, aside from the simple explanation. From the furrow in his brow and the briskness in his walk, I assume wherever we are going is important.
The gunship's door creaks open, revealing a full squadron of clones, waiting for take-off patiently.
"Master, we're going to Mandalore." Anakin announces, helping me up into the gunship. Mandalore? Why in the world would we be going there? Deathwatch has been quiet, and it is not like a neutral planet would call out of the blue for assistance.
I take my seat next to Anakin, hoping for some answers before we land.
"Why are we going to Mandalore, Anakin?" I ask over the hum of the engines.
Anakin turns his mouth to face my ear, "The Chancellor has arranged the medical supplies to be dropped off on Mandalore, you know for the surgery?"
Oh yes. Ahsoka had mentioned the supplies yesterday, but I don't recall her saying anything about Mandalore.
I nod and Anakin continues as we hover out of the hangar.
"He arranged the rendezvous to be on a neutral planet, not giving the Federation any upper hand- those Seperatist liars. Just to be safe, I want to get there earlier than I arranged." Anakin explains.
I totally agree with him-for once. The Trade Federation are not to be trusted, especially when we arrange terms. I do see many ways for this trade to go wrong. I'm glad Anakin had taken precautions, I just wished he had informed me earlier.
"Everything is in order, Skywalker. Ah, Kenobi nice to see you minus the bandages."
I turn to shake Dell's hand. The last time he saw me I was layered head to toe in gauze. I rub the permanent scars on my forearms from Nilban. According to the doctors in the temple, I had made a full recovery a week ago, but I still felt weak.
An hour later or so, the gunship lands on Mandalore. It was a beautiful planet on the outside, but it hid many secrets on the inside.
We unload the troops, but order them to stay idle at the ship. We don't want to set off any droids if the plan is going smoothly. Instead Anakin, Dell and I will travel to the meeting point alone.
"Alright, men. You have been instructed. General Kenobi will contact you if things go awry. If such a situation arises, bring the ship around to landing point." Dell announces to the troops, before hopping on the back of my speeder.
"Just like Felucia, huh Kenobi?" Dell chuckles in my ear. I remember back to the day we went on a mission without our mentors. After a large ambush on Felucia and our supplies and vehicles were destroyed, we were forced to ride a tiny, one person speeder we fixed from a scrapyard nearby back to base. The same dilemma applies here, as we only had enough room to fit two speeders in the gunship.
Unfortunately, Anakin had managed to acquire one to himself.
"Correct, quite the same."
After a short ride through the streets of Mandalore (incognito with brown cloaks), we arrive at the surprisingly desolate meeting point. Anakin had planned quite efficiently. But it seems that the security the Chancellor had sent to oversee the deal was absent as well.
"See anything?" Dell and I ask Anakin, who has stuck binoculars to his eyes. He shakes his head to us, and we follow him off the speeders. We see no sign of any ship coming towards us. Not the best start to a deal. I hope Anakin and Dell can maintain their calmness if and when the Federation comes, for being too late.
I take out my pair of binoculars and survey the area once more. At first, nothing is moving at all, until I take a closer look at the pillars across the yard. Someone is barely alive, leaning weakly against the pole.
I run over to the man, wearing blue clone armour: it's the Chancellor's guard. I lift off his helmet and see his brutal scars over his neck and face. The worst wound is the stream of blood emitting from his temple. A bullet wound no doubt.
"T-the supplies! They h-have them!" the clone breathes. His brown eyes becoming heavy and he battles to keep them open.
"Who has them?" I shake him in and out of consciousness. Anakin and Dell catch up to me, looking around for any signs of his men: nothing.
"I saw the sup-supplies myself. They are legit! D-dooku, he got them h-here. We were ambushed. We had n-no chance to defend!"
Without a chance to ask a question, the man dies with cough of blood splattering over his armour, turning the metal purple.
"Anakin, get the clones over he-"
A hyena-droid screeches overhead, dropping bomb down onto the platform. I pull the clone tight to me and gallop to Anakin and Dell's position. I can tell the two are about to start attacking, but I stop them before they can reach for their belts.
"No! Deflect, don't attack. We don't want the temple to be blamed for this!"
Anakin and Dell nod, but I can tell that they aren't happy about it. I lay the clone down on the pillar, far from the dropping bombs. A wave of droids, beige and silver, march towards us, blasting the pillars to crumbs.
As Dell deflects the bullets from our position, I try to find where the supplies are sitting. They could be in disguise as a regular wooden crate, but I cannot be sure. Feeling confused, I look around for something to help me. My eye catches the wrist of the silent guard.
I slide to the safety of a pillar, and tear the comlink off his armour. The crate is described as being heavily armoured, in silver plating. That makes sense, but I still have to find it.
I waddle along the wall of the platform, Anakin and Dell providing an accidental distraction. I scan the untouched barrack behind the line of droids, until I see a gleaming cube in the sun. That has to be it.
I skip along platform, unnoticed by the droids. As I reach the crate, touch my comlink with a single finger. Dell's lead man, Flint, responds. I order him to bring the ship around (reminding him not to fire at the droids).
I stay huddled behind the crate, thinking it perhaps is bulletproof.
Anakin had managed to maintain his self-control: he deflects bullets away from himself and Dell, careful not to hit any droids. Though, I can tell Dell is having a more difficult time with our tactic. I can still see the lust in his eyes for broken metal. But I know he has as much self-control as Anakin, maybe even more.
As most of the droids scatter around the platform- trying to get a better aim- Flint's ship arrives. I wave up to the sky, the whirlwind of air swirling around me. The bottom hatch of the ship drops down a contractible cable, which I wrap around the perimeter of the supply crate numerous times. I doubt that it is the lightest crate anyways.
Just as I finish the last tie around the cube, the droids catch on: they return fire at me, and I cannot help but take cover behind the cube. I still pound on the cable, which picks up the crate in mid-air with me still clinging to its edges.
I flail around as the supplies are lifted up to the gunship. The droids continue to fire at the opposite side of the crate, only for the bullets to deflect off with a loud ping. My accusation that the crate was bulletproof was correct.
Anakin and Dell reach a point below me. I toss down the remaining length of cable, to which they latch onto. As the ship moves forward, the crate is pulled into its hull. I straddle onto the door's ledge, thankful for a ground. Anakin and Dell roll into the ship in a similar fashion, both exasperated from the ambush.
"Anakin, can you contact the council? Tell them the supplies are with us." I gasp, clinging to my robes and feeling the thick beat below them. Anakin taps onto his comlink as Dell goes to examine the supplies.
I however, lay flat onto the cool floor of the ship, somewhat soothing to my aching back.
After nearly escaping a bomb explosion on Nilban, an attack when I was recovering and today- I've had enough ambushes for a life time.