A/N 1: Relatively quick update as I promised.
Honestly, if you guys like what you read, tell me about it. If you don't, tell me why not too. :P
For Reviews are my ally, and powerful allies they are too. ~Lil' green badass Grand Master.
May the Force be with you, always!
Chapter 11
(Mos Ila spaceport, Tatooine, Outer Rim Territories)
Anakin Skywalker's starship banked slowly downward as his astromech droid, R2D2, guided it along its pre-allocated trajectory to the allocated landing pad. The other three inhabitants, meanwhile, secured their items from their respective chambers and gathered near the exit ramp, waiting for the ship to dock.
"Remind me again why we are docking at Mos Ila and not Mos Eisley? Given that Mos Eisley is the biggest spaceport and inhabited area, we should start from there", Obi-Wan Kenobi queried, giving voice to his doubts.
"For the very same reason. It is full of people that might recognize either you or me, given our past visits to the planet. Also, I very much doubt that the Talisman is in Mos Eisley, of all places. The Sith, given their flairs and eccentricities, would've placed this somewhere far more appropriate and majestic in their eyes. It goes against their pride to simply hide it."
"Yes, but we can't completely disregard –" Dooku ventured, before Anakin cut him off.
"The signature is somewhere out in the desert and it is much closer to Ila than Eisley. I could feel it."
"Well then, given we already have our personal Talisman tracker, why don't we just fly over to it and retrieve it?"
Anakin sighed and then responded, "Because I can't pinpoint its exact location. That time I found out their locations in the Talisman's mind-space, I was only able to glean rough locations. The coordinates I plugged in are my own approximation. I'm not very sure, but I believe this particular Talisman to be somewhere out in the Jundland Wastes."
Somewhat mollified by his answer, the others turned to face the ramp as it lowered with a pneumatic hiss. Disembarking, Anakin called out to R2 and made it enter the ship into the spaceport logs.
"Any idea as to how we're going to find this thing? I don't suppose it even looks the same."
"I have a contact in the SIS that might be able to help us. Once we get close enough, I'm sure I could sense it. We just need to find the general area where it might be located."
"SIS contact? How exactly do you know this person?" Dooku queried.
Anakin smirked. "Pays to have a Senator for a wife, doesn't it?"
"I'm going to tell Padme you said that." Obi-Wan replied, striding forward into the spaceport before the other could respond.
Wide-eyed and horrified at the implications, Anakin followed suit.
"Anyway, where is this SIS contact of yours?" Obi-Wan asked, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the relative darkness.
"The only place to make any kind of business meetings in this town: the Mos Ila Cantina."
"So, basically, your kind of place."
"I'm offended, Master, I really am."
"Save it, Anakin. Let's go find this contact of yours."
The trio rented speeder bikes from a vendor outside the spaceport, who tried to scam them within an inch of poverty, but a general dose of Force Suggestion had him almost offering them money to take a ride. Paying appropriately, they secured their gear and mounted their respective bikes, speeding off with Anakin in the lead.
The drive to the Cantina was a short one, as it was well within the city itself. Disembarking, Anakin turned to the other two.
"Listen, it's better if I meet my contact alone, and also, our stuff would vanish faster than either of you could pull out your sabers if left alone on this planet. Take my gear with you to our hideout, I'll meet you there in two hours."
Nodding their assent, the two of them turned their bikes and sped off after Obi-Wan took Anakin's gear from him, while Anakin made his way inside the Cantina.
This was home ground for him, having grown up on Tatooine throughout his childhood. The memory of that brought his mother to the front, sending a pang of loss through his heart. Shaking his head, he decided to focus on the task at hand. He knew the locals and their traditions well, so finding his contact wouldn't be an issue.
Making his way to the barman, who was a Zeltronian male, he ordered one of the local ales, taking the time the barman took to ready his drink to take a look at the crowd. Nothing stood outside the ordinary to his senses. The crowd seemed to be the usual ruffian sort, ranging from a few squabbling goons at the sabacc tables to drunk Twi'leks dancing with their partners.
Downing his drink, he turned to the barman and said "Say, I'm looking for someone. You think you can help me out?"
The barman crossed his arms and stared. When no answer came forth, Anakin proceeded "Do you know where I could find 'The Sandman'?"
The Zeltronian's eyes narrowed dangerously as he slipped one arm under the table and spoke "Depends on who's asking."
Anakin merely smirked in reply and said "Just tell him that there's another chance for a Podrace if he isn't too sore from being beaten badly last time. He'll know who I am."
The barman visibly relaxed at that, his hand coming back up to the table.
"Ah, so you're his contact. He told me you'd use this phrase." He clarified, looking at Anakin's perplexed expression. "That's him at the sabacc table in the corner, the one who looks like he's about to get his head pounded in by that Wookiee."
Thanking the man, Anakin started to make his way to the table. Halfway through, he spied a young, tall teenager eyeing him out of the corner of his eyes from his position near the wall. He smiled inwardly, realizing what was going to happen as the kid moved towards him as inconspicuously as possible, and continued walking.
The teenager bumped into him, apparently by mistake, muttered an apology and continued on ahead.
Ten seconds later, a cry of anguish was heard from the teenager as he realized that not only had the stranger hidden his own wallet, but had also cut his own purse, without him so much as realizing. Drawing his blaster, he turned around, only for his gun to be pulled out of his grip and another hand clamping down on his wrist like a vice.
"Never underestimate your target, lest the prey become the predator." Anakin said, smirking. In some ways this corner of the galaxy never changed.
"Let me go, you Nerf-herder! And give me my money back!" The teenager growled, trying to pull away.
"Tell you what, I'll give you that and some more, if you do me a favour."
The kid stopped struggling at that, but his face still held a glare.
"What do you want me to do? And it better not be some weird gay shit."
"What? No! Listen, go up to that man there at the corner table and tell him that the Cartel Security wants their money back and point at me. Make sure you do so loudly so that the entire table hears you."
Frowning, the teenager did the very same, eliciting reactions from all the members on the table. Each other member, including the Wookiee, grabbed their winnings, or in the Wookiee's case, nothing, and fled, while the man himself sat at the table giving Anakin a baleful eye.
Motioning him forward, he turned and whispered something to the boy, who nodded and walked off towards the bar counter.
"I was almost winning that pot." Kitster, SIS Operative, codename: The Sandman, said, as Anakin seated himself opposite to his childhood friend.
"Yes, and the Wookie was almost taking your head off."
"Ah, he kept insisting I was cheating and didn't believe it when I denied his accusations."
"But you did cheat?" Anakin asked, even though it sounded more like a statement.
"Have you ever seen anyone win a game of sabacc honestly in this corner of the galaxy?"
"Fair point." Anakin laughed. "It's good to see you after all this time, my friend."
"And so it is. I never really got around to properly thanking you for this job either."
"You should thank my wife, she was the one that pulled the strings. Anyway, I was surprised to find you here. What happened to that stint on Corellia?"
"Oh, we wrapped up that smuggling ring alright. Their leader, this lousy character called Shrike, tried to sic his Wookiee prisoner on me, but imagine our surprise when the first thing that came off after the shock collar was off was his own head. It was where I found this kid too." He said, indicating at the very same teenager, who walked up to their table with a serving tray containing two bottles of Alderaanian Ale. "Kid's brighter than a Kaminoan on enhancement drugs, and Shrike had him smuggling things against his own wishes. We brought him in and offered to train him as an SIS agent."
Anakin smiled, "SIS, but still haven't gotten over your criminal days, eh? What's your name, kid?"
"Solo. Han Solo."
"Here, your cut as I promised. Do me another favour, will you? Go give these credit chips to that Wookiee. He's probably realized that the Cartel Security gag was a ruse."
"Which Wookiee?"
"The one about to come in through the entrance in 10 seconds."
Han's eyes widened as he realized something. "You're a Jedi, aren't you?"
"Yes, and keep that to yourself. Now, run along."
Anakin turned to his friend as the latter started speaking. "So, my friend, what can I do for you? You were very cryptic over the Holocommunicator."
"There's a crisis of sorts, but it's not come about yet. To prevent it from happening at all, we've come up with a contingency."
"You, as in, the Jedi Council."
"Yeah, but me, mostly. The Order is actively participating. Even the SCARS have been sent on priority missions."
"The SCARS? That's high profile. What are you looking for, exactly?"
"I believe the object I am looking for to be some kind of talisman or a significant enough trinket that might seem to cause, well, unusual behaviour in the people around it."
"Well, I don't know about "object", but the reason I was reassigned to this dustball was because of a mass homicide within the Hutt Cartel, something that had them actually turn to the Republic for help."
Intrigued, Anakin moved forward in his seat and continued to listen intently.
"Well, this certain Bounty Hunter went insane and slaughtered half of Jabba the Hutt's forces a couple of weeks back. He kept shouting 'It is time for his return!', or something of the sort, before he ran away. He apparently went psycho after picking up a certain lightsaber from one of Jabba's treasure vaults."
"Lightsaber? Still, wow, that was easy. I never thought I'd find my missing trinket so fast."
"The Bounty Hunter apparently blasted lightning from his fingertips left, right and centre."
"Okay, so not so easy, but still. Any leads on where this crazy might be?"
"Fled into the Wastes. The only thing we found was an entire slaughtered village of Tuskens, all killed by either a saber or charred to death. I'm guessing Lightning."
Anakin suddenly looked sick at that statement, and proceeded to liberally gulp down the remainder of the bottle.
"Whoa, easy there, my friend!"
"I'm good, don't worry. My strength in the Force prevents me from getting drunk too quick or staying drunk for too long."
"Sucks to be you."
"At any rate, I'm officially taking this mission off your hands. It's highly classified and requires Jedi intervention."
"Sure, be my guest. But tell you what, I'll help you through this one, if you'd have me, of course. I owe you for bailing me out with that Wookiee. You never know when an intelligence agent might be of use."
"Think nothing of it, but your help is welcome, all the same. Well, it's better if I brief you further back at our stronghold."
"You say stronghold, but I hear dingy apartment."
"From the outside, it's not much. On the inside, well, you might just be surprised."
"After the report on your battle with the ex-Supreme Chancellor, I doubt anything will surprise me."
Anakin smirked "A hundred credits says you're wrong."
*Half an hour later*
Kitster stood slightly slack-jawed as he took in the room in front of him.
"This is the kind of tech you Jedi run with? I have never seen anything this advanced!"
Anakin simply smiled with attempted innocence. "Well, you didn't think I'd let all the skills I learnt when working for Watto go waste, now did you?" he said, holding out his palm.
The SIS agent wordlessly dropped the credit chips into his hand as he took in the cloaked apartment retrofitted with plasma screens, holocommunicators and every piece of tech a field agent could think of, but better. Meanwhile, Han walked in, a similar expression on his face, but he proceeded to take a look around the room.
Anakin introduced them to Obi-Wan, who remembered Kitster's name from when he had first arrived on Tatooine, and Dooku, who merely nodded in reply. Anakin proceeded to tell the other two about what he had learnt about the talisman.
When he finished, Obi-Wan followed with planning for the next steps.
"Well, as you were the agent assigned to this, did you have any plans to apprehend this crazed bounty hunter?"
"Nothing I've laid out, but I believe he is looking for something else here."
The three Jedi frowned. "Something else?" Dooku asked.
"Well, I'd placed some agents at the few passes out of the Wastes, just in case he decided to pass by. Multiple agents sighted him nearing the edge, but then screaming "Must find Master!" and turning back."
"But why would he be looking for a soul fragment unless it-" Anakin paused suddenly, his eyes widening.
"What is it?"
"There's another one. Another Talisman in the Wastes. These two being so close to each other was why I sensed their Force signatures over a large area."
"Well, that complicates matters…"
"Not really. I have an idea." Anakin said, grinning suddenly.
"Oh? Care to let us in on that?"
Anakin chose not to reply, instead sat down on the floor and closed his eyes.
"Honestly, meditating isn't going to help right now." Dooku started, but Obi-Wan cut him off with a wave as he noticed the shift in the Force.
Both of them started with surprise when Anakin opened his eyes, and they were now glowing pure white, with no trace of his irises.
"Wha-What are you doing?"
"Just a little something I came up with in the last week. I call it my 'Sage mode'."
All the eyes in the room widened at the power the words carried. It was surprising too, as Anakin was definitely not an orator.
"You're not a Jedi Sage, but I get the reference. What does it do?"
"Well, I tap into the Force to enhance my cognition to a very high degree. I can also, sort of, 'see' through the Force, like the Miraluka."
Both the SIS agents, and the other two Jedi to a lesser extent, seemed to be fighting against something, as they tried to understand his words, frowns developing on their faces. Han simply sat down, holding his head in his hands.
"Anakin, stop using the Force to enhance your voice! It's laying a thick layer of compulsion on us!"
"What? Oh.." Here he paused and concentrated. "Better?"
The others felt like a blanket had been lifted from their minds. Han, surprisingly, fainted when the pressure lifted.
"Damn, is he okay?", Anakin started, and reached out at the same time as the others to check on the boy.
Obi-Wan, being the first to reach him, checked him over with the Force, his hand lightly gripping his forehead. "He's fine, just out for a second or two. He tried to fight back really hard against your compulsion and having never had encountered a mind probe, he had no idea how to. When the pressure lifted, with no force to push against, he fell unconscious."
Dooku voiced his thoughts next. "That was a very powerful compulsion, albeit unintended, if I'm to guess from your expression. It didn't even feel like an attack."
"That's because it wasn't. We're trained to recognize attacks as direct probes on our minds, not as something that can affect us through our auditory senses. Anyway, what was the point of this again?"
Anakin, his eyes still glowing white, replied "Well, like I said, I can sort of see through the Force. If we take our speeders for a run, I might be able to pinpoint its location. I'm guessing it can't be too deeply hidden, because our Bounty Hunter seems to be searching for it in the same way."
"By looking for a resonating Force signature." Dooku said, his eyes widening with realization.
"Still", Obi-Wan said "The Wastes are a massive expanse. We can't take our speeders through the whole thing, unless you plan to spend months here."
"No, and that's where the SIS comes in." Anakin smiled, turning to his friend.
Pausing, he closed his eyes and stopped drawing the Force in, his senses returning to normal.
"You said your agents saw this guy near some of the exits. Well, use his recorded movement to generate trajectories and triangulate a rough area where he might be wanting to head towards."
"That's a good idea, actually." Kitster nodded, walking to the nearest screen. He started pulling up data recorded by his team and plotted it into a map, which he then displayed on the holo-projector.
"Triangulating now."
Within moments, a green area lit up to the west, considerably narrowing down the general area.
Smiling, Anakin said "Well, if that's the area, I'm sure I could locate it. Once we have the Talisman, well, we set a trap."
"Set a trap?" Dooku questioned, unconvinced. "I'm sure you could come up with something better than that."
"Well, Count, you of all people really shouldn't be doubting our traps, considering the last person to fall for it was you, and rather spectacularly at that." Anakin grinned.
A second later he balked, a sheepish grin on his face and his hands coming up in an apologetic manner as he the saw the look Dooku levelled at him. Could've killed a Rancor with a stare, that one.
Peering outside the window, Obi-Wan commented "Well, at any rate, let's take it up tomorrow morning. It's already darkening outside and I don't fancy going out this late."
"Trust me, Jedi or not, you've got to be barking mad to go out this late, what with the Sand People and all." Anakin said. "Alright, I'm going out for a walk. It's still not fully dark outside."
Not waiting for an answer, he made his way out.
Tatooine's twin suns were setting in the distance, slightly warm winds now blowing as Anakin stepped out of the apartment. Set some distance away from Mos Ila, there were no houses or settlements nearby, the lack of life giving a sort of solace to his mind as he fought to control his thoughts.
Ever since he'd arrived here, his thoughts were constantly turning towards his last visit to this planet, one that had culminated with his Mother's death. Even though it had been years since that happened, it still affected him to a great extent. Growing up in the harsh reality that Tatooine painted all its inhabitant's lives with, his Mother had been his only calm in that storm, and he hers. Slavery had been the only way of life he knew and could imagine, and even then, she had made sure to guard him from the worst aspects of that life, taking the brunt upon herself.
As far as he knew, since his birth, she had never been with another man till he left Tatooine to join the Order. She had sacrificed every happiness in her life just to ensure he never felt even a little bit unhappy or uncared for, and he had let her down. He was not able to save her. The one time she had required him to take care of her, he had failed. And on top of that, he had slaughtered all those Sand People, and almost fallen down a path his Mother would've vehemently disapproved.
Tears, hotter than the sands around him, poured out hard as he fell to his knees. He had walked some distance from the apartment lost in his thoughts, and he was kneeling on a mound of dirt, facing the twin Suns and the general direction in which his mother's grave lay. The warm winds seemed to wrap him in an embrace, in an attempt to console him as he shook with grief, unable to control his emotions.
She had wished for him to be strong, and he had caved in at almost every opportunity, only barely realising what was right and what was wrong in the last moments, even when the Sith had offered to train him in the ways of the Dark Side. He was supposed to be the ideal Jedi as a Master and a Council Member, but he felt he had failed. He didn't deserve the Barsen'thor title.
He sat there, glad for his solitude as he preferred no one see him in this state. He tilted his head up to the skies as the first of the stars started to twinkle, a memory of his Mother surfacing to the front of his mind, clear as day.
"Whenever you feel lost or hopeless, Ani, look to the stars." Shmi said. "They keep shining, no matter what goes on in the Galaxy, bringing hope to all those that look up to them by saying 'No matter what, you're still alive, and as long as you are alive, you have the ability to change the world for the better.' Every star makes the sky, so when you lose hope, remember, that all you need, is a spark of courage. One that will eventually light the fire of Hope."
"I am looking to the stars, Mother, and I hope, wherever you are, that you will forgive me for my faults and failures", he whispered, his voice sounding like a prayer, cracked with intermittent sobs.
"Shmi would be proud of the man you are today, Anakin", came a voice, as a hand fell lightly on his shoulder.
He didn't need to look up to know who it was. The only person, apart from Padme, who had seen him at his worst. His brother by all definitions except blood.
"I failed her Obi-Wan. As much as I would like to deny that it was my fault, I can't."
Obi-wan sat down beside him, gazing up at the darkening sky.
"Despite all your possessed power, it is impossible for one to do everything and do it right. You can't save everyone, and that is the way of life. I was distraught after Maul killed Satine on Mandalore, and I still haven't come to terms with it, but I have accepted it. Your Mother wanted you to become a strong Jedi, and I cannot stress anymore when I say she would agree with me on this: You are strong and wise, and more of an ideal than anyone else in the Order. It's not your strength that makes people look up to you, but your character, and that has never wavered. Accepting that this was out of your hands is what she would expect of you."
Anakin merely sniffled, and Obi-Wan was reminded of the boy he once was, crying because he missed his mother, all those years back when they had first taken him from Tatooine to join the Order.
"She would've wanted you to be happy, Anakin, and not grieve for her. No one is perfect, and everyone has flaws, and all of us, including Shmi saw you for who you are: A strong man, who, at the end of the day, knew right from wrong. You have your head set on right, young one."
Anakin let out a dry chuckle, swallowing after a long time making him realise how constricted his throat was. He was immensely grateful when Obi-Wan took out his flask and offered him some water.
"Thank you, Obi-Wan", he said, his voice resounding with gratefulness in those two words.
"I'm always here for you. After all, what are brothers for?" Obi-Wan said, smiling as his face turned to look at Anakin, who took large gulps to soothe his throat. Wiping his eyes, he handed the flask back to his Master.
"How did you know I was here upset?"
Obi-Wan smiled kindly "Come on, how long have we known each other for? You think I wouldn't realize why you left for a 'walk'? I know what you're thinking most of the time, Anakin."
Pausing, he stood up and offered his former Padawan a hand, who, without a moment's hesitation, grasped it.
"Come on, Anakin. Let's go back inside. It's getting dark." He said, as Anakin pulled himself up.
"Yeah, and I don't fancy leaving Han in there with Dooku. If anyone can turn the Count back to the Dark Side, it's that kid."
"Now that you mention it, we should hurry." Obi-Wan said, grinning lightly.
The two brothers walked back towards the apartment side by side, twin pillars supporting each other through everything, as the twin Suns finally set in the background, the last vestiges of light slowly fading away to darkness.
Luckily, Han had apparently decided that the earlier ordeal with the Force compulsion had been enough action for a day and had turned in early, his wish to sink into his bed winning over his instinct to con and scam his way into the Count's wealth.
The next morning found them up slightly after dawn, strapping their armor on as they maintained their disguises. This time, however, the Jedi made sure their sabers were much more reachable in their concealment.
Obi-Wan was detailing the plan to the two SIS agents as Anakin strapped his bag to his speeder. "….And finally, I want you two covering us from a distance, and keep us appraised if you notice anyone or anything arriving. Sandman, I trust you can use a Sniper rifle?"
"Best shot in the squad I was trained with. Solo here is a natural with his blaster, but lacks practice with a sniper rifle. I'll have him watch my back."
"Alright, we move out in ten minutes. Set your comms to my frequency and encrypt. I don't want to take any chances."
Half an hour later, four speeders cut across the plains towards the Wastes, the riders completely covered with wraps, quite aware of the long journey ahead of them in the blazing hot Suns.
The journey to the Wastes itself lasted two hours, during which they made one stop to grab a quick bite before continuing. It was well over three hours when they neared the area they had determined as a plausible location for the Talisman the previous day.
"I'm going to branch off here and find a good vantage point!" Kitster yelled, as he veered off once the others nodded their assent, Han holding on to the speeder tightly as he made the turn.
The others slowed to a stop when their wrist locators showed them that they had reached the edge of the circular area and dismounted.
"I suppose it is better to proceed on foot from here" Obi-Wan said, as he took in his surroundings. They were in a ravine that narrowed in front of them, preventing more than two speeders to be able to go side by side. Rocky walls rose high along the path, sloping steeply with rocks perched along their length precariously. The path ahead split into two after some distance, and they noticed some cave openings lining the sides intermittently.
"Well, Anakin, I suppose it's time to go Glowstick mode", Dooku said.
"Eyesight trouble, Count?" Anakin smirked, before closing his eyes to concentrate and enter Sage Mode. It took him ten long seconds, but when he finally opened his eyes, the ravine was no more just rock, but more of the Force flowing in and around it to him.
"After me, then."
"Do you sense anything?" Obi-Wan asked, walking behind Anakin as he surveyed the area.
"Not yet, but let's keep moving. I have a hunch as to what to look for."
As they kept walking, Anakin kept a look out for two things, an unnatural flow in the Force and any evil intent he could sense.
It was almost ten minutes of walking down the ravine before he felt a slightly cold feeling creep in over the edges, and he narrowed it down by sensing the direction it was coming from.
"There, that tunnel. I feel a slight disturbance in the Force." He said, pointing at an opening to the side some distance up the wall on the right.
Wordlessly, all three of them Force leapt up into it, the darkness swallowing them whole.
A voice crackled over their wrist communicators. "This is Sandman, come in."
"We hear you. Have you found a location?"
"Yeah, but I don't have you in my sight anymore."
"We're inside a tunnel, off to the right of the ravine, but if my senses are right, it opens up some distance ahead. Still, we might be losing communication from here on. We're running deep into the rock."
"Yeah, I see an open cavern some distance. I'll let you know if I see something from here." He said, closing the voice channel.
Dooku voiced a question, his voice perplexed. "How do you know the tunnel opens up? I can barely see anything."
"I am seeing through the Force, like I told you. I don't need light for visibility. I can feel the tunnel open up some distance ahead."
His words proved true a good twenty minutes later, as they turned a corner and the tunnel suddenly opened up into a wide clearing. They were some distance up from the ground, and a rocky bridge of sorts connected the tunnel to a wide rock formation that rose up from the ground. The top of the rock was even and wide enough to house multiple AT-TE walkers, and it was at the center of this that a small podium stood.
The three of them made their way towards it, but they had barely stepped out on to the bridge that Dooku stopped.
"I can't come further. I can sense the Dark Side emanating from that thing, and it's drawing me in. I'm still susceptible to its influence, I can feel it."
Obi-Wan frowned, but nodded. "Alright, go back down the tunnel and wait at the entrance. We'll meet you there unless we need back up."
Dooku nodded, and walked back into the tunnel, while the other two proceeded towards the podium. The podium was an outcrop of the rock itself, smoothened over time to look like it had been placed here, from some distance away.
The center of the podium was carved into a hollow, at the middle of which lay…
"Is that a mask?" Anakin asked.
"Looks like it."
"Looks really ugly."
"Well, the guy who wore it probably looked uglier. I'm guessing it belonged to a Sith, else it wouldn't be prominent enough for it to be chosen as a host for the spirit."
"Given how the Sith were into really weird rituals, I'm not surprised most of them turned out ugly."
Obi-Wan reached out to pick up the mask, but stopped as Anakin slapped his hand away.
"Don't. I see some type of Force field around it. I don't think it'll do you any good if you touch it."
"Okay, then how do you suppose we take it out?"
Anakin turned to look at his Master with a raised eyebrow, as if to say "Really?", and stretched out a hand, pulling the Mask to his palm using the Force. Simplest fix ever.
"Right." Obi-Wan said, for once seeming sheepish. "This does house the soul-piece?"
"Yeah, I read the same Force signature from it. Oh, look, the Force field is gone. Looks like this thing was powering it."
"Makes sense. I doubt the Sith would've wanted it to be taken by some Tusken that just happened upon it. You have to be a Force-wielder to even touch it. Else, you aren't worthy. Damn these Sith and their prejudices."
"True that. Anyway, now for the next part. We need to find that Bounty Hunter, and I don't supposed taking this to a high enough point and screaming "Over here! I have your Master!" is going to do the trick."
"Actually, I think that might just do it", Obi-Wan mused.
Their talk was suddenly interrupted by a chirp on their wristcomms.
"What is it, Kit?" Anakin asked.
"You have company. Something too fast to be a Tusken leapt out of another tunnel and jumped into yours."
Both of their eyes widened in unison.
"Dooku! Come in!"
"He's too deep inside, we can't get a signal!"
"I'm going in." Anakin said, but Obi-Wan stopped him.
"No, it won't do us any good given the size of the tunnel and the darkness. Besides, Dooku is too far ahead of us to get to him in time. The Count can take care of himself."
"What? What do we do in the meanwhile, then?"
"Lay the trap. Draw him out. He wants the mask, after all."
"You plan to use Dooku as bait." Anakin realized.
"Yes, and he knows. We thought of this yesterday night. The reason we didn't tell you, is because, frankly, we felt you would react the way you are right now."
"Point taken. Still, next time, just loop me in."
Obi-Wan nodded, and then proceeded to draw his saber into his hand as Anakin stuffed the mask in his bag.
Their wristcomms chirped in unison a minute later, and with a look at Anakin, Obi-Wan answered.
"Dooku?"
"Oh noo, hee hee hee. Grandpa's not here! He left me a gift, though, and I'm coming to take gifts from you!" The transmission ended before either could respond.
"It seems like our hunter isn't right in the head. I didn't know the Talisman could drive you crazy."
"Prolonged contact could, I suppose. I hope Dooku got away safe."
They snapped to look at the tunnel in unison as running footsteps echoed through it.
Without pausing, the duo switched on their sabers.
"Here goes nothing" Anakin said, as a figure ran out into the light.
Given the sardonic and gleeful laughter earlier, they had not been sure about what to expect, but they definitely didn't expect it to be an ordinary looking man with wraps around his head. Anakin, primarily had thought of something along the lines of how Sidious had looked back on Coruscant.
The Bounty Hunter was clad in full armor and carried a massive rifle slung across his back. In his right hand was clasped a lightsaber very tightly, as if it might fly away if he loosened his grip.
Obi-Wan, however, seemed to recognize him. "Dengar", he whispered to Anakin out of the corner of his mouth. "Last I knew he was working for Gardulla the Hutt. Ever since Gardulla's death almost a year back, we've had no trace of his activity."
"Well, looks like we found him. I'm guessing he was trying to plunder Jabba's wealth and caught sight of the saber. Let's rid him of it, shall we?"
"You have something of mine, Jedi", the Hunter said, eyes narrowed.
"Finders keepers, Bounty Hunter."
Dengar frowned. "Master must be whole, and I must obey Master. If you will not give it to me, then you are my enemy hee hee."
Anakin looked sideways at Obi-Wan. "What's with that laughter?"
"It's affecting his mind, and I don't know how much longer he can live in this state. Look at his eyes and face closely."
It was then that Anakin saw the wrecked state their opponent was in. Bloodshot eyes, spasming eyelids and facial muscles, and irises widened to the extreme showed just how much the soul spirit was affecting the other man.
Before either of them could move, Dengar doubled over, dark energies seeping out from him. He stumbled forward a few steps and then straightened again, but this time, in a much more robotic manner.
"You have chosen the wrong Bounty Hunter to mess with, Jedi. Now, you shall die", came a much deeper and familiar voice.
Anakin's eyes widened in realization, but that was all he could do before the hunter leapt at them, sweeping his saber in an arc. Without a word, the two Jedi slipped into their respective roles, having fought side by side for years.
Obi-Wan blocked the strike while Anakin flipped over them and landed behind Dengar, swiveling his body as he swung his saber at the man's back, intending to cripple him. The Bounty hunter reacted with lightning fast reflexes, parrying Anakin's strike and thrusting forward.
In an instant, Anakin became aware of a problem. Anakin in his Force-enhanced Sage Mode and Dengar fueled by the Talisman were both much faster, agile and physically stronger than Obi-Wan, despite the Order's general belief that he was one of the best duelists. Obi-Wan seemed to realize this too as his Soresu was being pushed to the extreme for him to parry and defend against incoming slashes. This battle would have barely been challenging had he been the only opponent, but working with someone wasn't favorable in this situation. The only reason he wasn't hurt was due to his perfect mastery of the form, and his opponent's complete lack of one. Dengar, or whoever was controlling him, fought like a Berserker, relying purely on speed and strength.
He realized that Anakin already had an upper hand, especially with his enhanced precognition, and immediately leapt back. "Anakin, two of us is overkill. Take care of him while I look for Dooku!"
Anakin nodded without taking his eyes off his opponent and unleashed his next flurry of strikes in perfect Djem-So sync. Dengar's unrefined attempts at blocking and evading proved fruitless as Anakin's saber nicked and cut him multiple times, his speed being the only this preventing dismemberment.
Realizing his obvious disadvantage, he flipped back and brought his hands up, palms held like claws.
"Uh oh" Anakin said, all too familiar with that motion and the sensation it brought with it.
The first bout of lightning sent Anakin's saber flying from his hand when he tried to ground it and he proceeded to erect a Force ward immediately after, which proved to be a smart move as the next stream of lightning was much more powerful and covered a wider area. This time, however, Anakin had no problem holding out against the lightning onslaught. This man was much weaker than Sidious had been, and Anakin himself had grown much stronger since then.
Still, however, Anakin needed an opening to be able to finish this battle. He was currently unable to do anything as he didn't have his saber and needed some amount of concentration to push against the incoming force.
He was debating trying to hold the shield with one hand and use Force Push with the other when a high-powered round slammed into his opponent's arm, throwing him off balance and severing his hand off in the process.
Dengar proceeded to stare dumbly at the stump his arm had turned into. Anakin chose this moment to promptly smash his bionic right arm into Dengar's face, knocking the living daylights out of him.
Anakin shut off his Sage mode and looked to his left, seeing Kitster standing some distance off on top of a rock formation that rose higher than his current position.
He lifted his wristcom and spoke into it. "Thanks, Kit. I owe you one."
"Yeah, you looked helpless without me" came the snarky reply.
"See if you can contact Obi-Wan. I'm going to tie this guy up before he wakes."
"Master Kenobi's on his way back to you. He found the Count halfway along the tunnel, unharmed. Apparently he flung his communicator at the Bounty Hunter, ran and hid, for some reason."
"Probably so that if we lost him, he could still be tracked. The Hunter wasn't right in the head, so he was probably not thinking of any of that, at all. Anyway, make your way back to the tunnel entrance. We'll meet you there."
"Understood.", the communicator clicked off.
After tying up the Bounty Hunter, he paused, looking at the severed hand still clutching the lightsaber lying on the ground. The hand was somehow seared into contact with the saber's outer shaft, making him realize now as to why the Bounty Hunter hadn't regained control of himself once he dropped the saber: he simply couldn't. The pain alongside the strength of the talisman itself had made it easy for the soul fragment to take control of him.
"Good to see you're not the one who lost a limb this time", Obi-Wan's voice floated up to him.
"Yes, well, I decided one cybernetic limb was enough." Anakin quipped, turning to face the other as he levitated the severed hand and saber up to him using the Force.
"Looks like it's stuck to the saber."
"Yeah, I'm guessing that's why our man didn't get freed from its control when he needed a restroom break."
"At any rate, the cybernetic limb he'll get should help his hand not sticking to every dark artifact he picks up."
Anakin chuckled and asked "Well, what do we do with him, though? The Hutts are looking for him and I doubt Jabba would be okay with us taking him into medical custody. He probably wants his head", as he wrapped up the severed hand along with the saber and put it in his backpack.
"We can't give him to the Hutts for the exact same reason. This mission was undercover anyway, so let's leave here with the Hutts none the wiser. They can keep looking for him."
Obi-Wan hadn't even shut his mouth after finishing his sentence when three speeders and a troop transport appeared on the rim of the cavern, and a voice bellowed out of the transport.
"You there! Hand over that Bounty hunter! He's a prisoner of Jabba the Hutt! Do not resist or we'll shoot you down!"
Anakin sighed in exasperation and turned to look at Obi-Wan. "You just had to say it, didn't you?"
"Don't blame me, I had no idea they were coming!"
An indignant "HEY!" sounded from the transport's speakers as its pilot saw them engage in a conversation.
In response to his yell, a high powered sniper shot slammed into the transport's engine, seemingly from nowhere, knocking it out of the sky as its passengers tried to leap out of the falling craft.
"He's a lifesaver, that one", Anakin commented.
"Save it for later, Anakin! Here comes the cavalry."
They both ignited their sabers as the three speeders sped towards them, one from the front while the other two came around from the sides in order to cut them off.
The pillion rider on each pulled out a rifle or a blaster and started firing indiscriminately at the duo, who simply reflected them on to an oncoming speeder, making the pilots swerve and completely ruin their formation.
"Idiot! Don't fire until you have a clear shot!"
"You almost got me with that one!"
"Get them! And careful, they're Jedi!"
Shouts rang out from all sides as the speeders swerved back towards them for a second pass. This time, both of them leapt into action.
Anakin rolled under incoming fire instead of deflecting it, anticipating the driver's swerve, and brought his saber up in an arc, slicing the front of the speeder right off. The speeder careened out of control as it fell off the rock formation they were standing on, taking its two riders with it who tried to jump to safety unsuccessfully.
Obi-Wan, on the other hand, flipped over the first speeder, tossing an EMP at it mid-flip as it passed underneath, which went off spectacularly, knocking out the speeder and its riders who were thrown off at the sudden loss of momentum. He landed and swung his saber at a blinding speed, deflecting an oncoming blaster bolt right back at the speeder, taking out the pilot with a single shot. Its pillion managed to jump off before the speeder fell off the side of the rock and stood up, bringing his rifle up to take aim at the advancing Jedi, only to find he couldn't move anymore.
Swerving his eyeballs to the side, he saw the other Jedi advance with his hand outstretched towards him. Panic settled into him as he realized that the Jedi had him frozen in place using the Force.
"Damn it, they don't pay me enough for this nonsense. They never mentioned we would have to face off against Jedi, and ones this strong to boot!" he thought.
Grimacing with effort as he tried to move his jaw, he tried to speak but it came out as a strange gurgling shout.
"Anakin, I think he's trying to say something."
Anakin released the man's head from his Force Stasis, but still bound his arms and legs in place.
"Hey, listen, we were jus' asked to find tha' man there and bring 'im back. We didn't know you were Jedi and tried to scare ya with blasters. Don't want any trouble, jus' lemme go. They dun' pay me enough for this 'nyway."
"Sure" Anakin replied, "I don't intend to harm you. What I'm about to do, though, is for your benefit as much as ours."
Saying that, he concentrated and entered Sage Mode once again.
"You will forget what happened here. You were knocked out by an unseen sniper and never saw the target you were sent to apprehend. You do not know what happened to your teammates."
The man simply slumped in response, unable to sustain any resistance to the Force Compulsion.
"Forget the others. The ones who aren't dead are just the two I got with that EMP, and they probably won't remember anything once they're up."
Anakin shut his eyes and let go of the Force he was drawing in, his senses returning to normal. "Alright, let's take our prisoner and leave before these guys get up, or someone else shows up."
They walked down the tunnel, with Anakin lugging the still out-cold bounty hunter using the speeder Obi-Wan had knocked out using the EMP, and emerged from the other side to see the rest of their squad waiting, the SIS agents having their weapons drawn.
"Easy there, it's just us. Am I glad you stayed behind to keep an eye even though I asked you to pack up."
"The mission ain't over until it's over." Kitster grinned, "Did you get what you were looking for?"
"Yeah, got it. It's in my backpack. And we're taking this one to a Medical facility on Coruscant, before we lock him up."
"Well then, let's get outta here. Don't fancy this place much, what with all the Sand People."
"Oh, the Sandman is afraid of Sand People?" Anakin laughed.
"I'm going to have to respectfully ask you to shut it, Master Jedi."
The party made their way back to their hideout, Anakin and Kitster good-naturedly bickering the entire way, and they reached the apartment just before the twin suns set.
Once everyone else had settled in, Anakin looked at Obi-Wan.
"Obi-Wan, I'd like to visit my Mother's grave tomorrow. Maybe we could stop by and see the Lars while we're at it."
"I would like to come as well, then, if you don't mind. I would like to pay my respects."
"Sure thing. 'Night, old friend."
The twinkling stars settled a soothing calm over the desert, as the occupants fell asleep one by one, each tired out due to their ordeal.
Except for the Bounty Hunter. He hadn't woken up since he had been knocked out, as they had elected to slap an adhesive anesthetic strip on to his arm.
A/N 2: Sorry for cutting off the chapter abruptly, but it was getting kinda long for my tastes. :P Can't always have a cliffhanger, now can we?