AN: So this chapter was actually going to be a lot longer, but the next part I thought needed its own room to breathe, since it's sort of a big chapter. So here you go! Also, I should explain my interpretation of Boba Fett, since I think my head -canon of him is a bit...unconventional.
YES, he is one of the best bounty hunters in the galaxy. Yes, there is a reason for him to be feared if Darth Vader himself has to personally tell him not to disintegrate anyone. But let us remember how that poor bastard died, shall we? Did it involve...accidentally getting hit by a blind man in the jetpack, causing it to malfunction and send him crashing into the side of a ship where he fell and was thusly swallowed whole by a gaping sand vagina with teeth? Yeah, I THINK that's exactly how that went. Which can only mean one thing, of course.
Boba Fett is a huge dork.
Explanation over. Thank you very much. Enjoy, my lovelies! I'm starting on the next chapter tonight, hopefully it'll be done by next weekend. Let me know what you think!
Chapter 37: Repairs
"The Republic has created millions of beings specifically made to fight, and your Jedi and your Generals every day lead them to their deaths, and they were never once given the option of doing anything else!" Satine said, her brow drawn together in anger, the fire in her eyes obvious even over the recording. Obi-Wan watched it in rapt attention, his eyes drawn to the image of himself behind her, her fingers lightly brushing his, his other hand at the small of her back. "This is a slave army, and it is an insult to the freedom you claim to stand for!"
Obi-Wan wasn't sure how many times he had watched this particular speech over the past two days. His forced recovery from his trip to Dagoba he was treating as the vacation that he so richly deserved, and the moment he arrived back at the base on Dantooine, he sequestered himself away inside the Umbra as K-2SO and his Chiss lover worked to repair and upgrade the ship. Deciding that his time was best spent repairing HK-45, Obi-Wan took the opportunity to not just carefully fix the damage to his assassin, but to finally plug the datacard from Thrawn into the holoprojector so that he may watch what was on it as he worked.
Just as Thrawn had said in his note, it was a collection of every speech that Satine Kryze ever publically made, from her first addresses as a young diplomat in training from a time before Obi-Wan had known her, the earliest one placing her at only twelve years old, all the way to the ones near the end of her life, her appearances more rare as she grew larger with their child, though the last recording on the datacard was from a speech she had made to her Empire only days before her death. Work on the droid was slow going because of it, the Sith Lord often finding himself staring at the woman transfixed for hours at a time. This speech in particular was important to him, a decidedly dangerous risk they had taken that brought Obi-Wan into the heart of Coruscant at the height of the Clone Wars, and it was Satine's careful planning and brilliant ability to use words to bend people to her will that allowed Obi-Wan to walk among the Jedi without them able to do a thing about it.
She was brilliant, as always, a quick mind and a sharp tongue allowing her to tear into all those that spoke out against her and gather allies in the process, as well as hundreds of worlds lining up to join her Empire, a safe haven from the increasing devastation of the war between the Republic and the Confederacy. This was the only one of her speeches that Obi-Wan stood beside her, so often relegated to helping her rule from the shadows, which was what made this address unique. They did it together. The Mand'alor and the Lord of the Sith, publicly united not just to grow the Mandalorian Empire, but to discredit the Jedi. It was beautiful and it was brilliant, the briefest glimpse of what might have been had she lived to rule beside him. In that moment, they owned the galaxy, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop them.
It was painful to watch. After so many years with Satine existing only in his memories, it was jarring to see her, to hear her, vibrant and alive, the beauty of her live a sharp and almost nauseating contrast to the memory of her gutted and dying in his arms, the feel of their son fading to nothing, her own presence disappearing as he body failed her. She was just as he remembered her, all the way back to the thin, lanky teenager, all boney legs and arms, the stubborn, emotional fugitive he was sworn to protect, the girl he hated before he loved, the two of them not yet a man and a woman when they had first given in to the feelings that frightened them so badly and lay moaning in each other's arms as Obi-Wan sunk deep within her.
Or when she was older, not the frightened teenager, but the Duchess of Mandalore, the strong, steadfast woman that had rebuilt her ravaged world on her own after Obi-Wan had left her. Out of his sight, Satine had grown into a woman, her passionate spirit tempered by the war, making her cold and logical, a thing she had learned from her Jedi protectors, a thing that had become easier to her when she let her love walk away from her. She grew cold and hard, stubborn in her rule over her stubborn people, and when Obi-Wan returned to her, frantic and fearful and steeped in darkness, forced to face what he had become in his hunt for the Sith, he had flown to her. He was in search of family when he felt he had none, when the Jedi had sent him to die against Count Dooku, and though Satine had been initially furious, the love they had for each other hadn't faded, had only grown strong with yearning, and they quickly fell beck in bed together with the promise that he would return for her.
Or again after they had spent years together, after they had grown powerful together, after she had formed the new Mandalorian Empire with Obi-Wan in the shadows at her side. She wasn't just a woman, she was a queen, a woman worthy of bearing the future of the Sith, strong and cunning and intelligent, a master politician that didn't know the meaning of no. With her Sith Lord at her side, she had a way to enforce her peace, her idealistic pacifism transforming into pragmatic politics, her enemies quickly disappearing and transformed into allies with a simple word to her lover. They had made a child together. They had plans to rule the galaxy, to see the Sith returned to shepherd the people to progress, to kill Sidious so Obi-Wan could finally be free. He had felt their son grow within her. He had felt the woman's loving care of the life they had created. And he had felt them both die, the two lost to him forever.
Until Thrawn gave them back to him, in this small way. It was...indescribable, his feelings for his hunter quickly changing. If the Chiss weren't such a danger to Luke and Leia, Obi-Wan wouldn't hesitate to seduce the man to his side. As it was, Thrawn needed to be killed or enslaved, a waste of a clearly brilliant mind, but it couldn't be helped. Despite their obvious flirting, death was on the line, the two far too dangerous to each other's causes to be allowed to live. It was a shameful waste, but it couldn't be helped. For this gift, Obi-Wan would make certain to give the Chiss a clean death, a mercy he offered very rarely. He would, of course, prefer the Chiss warrior to join him, but Obi-Wan wasn't an idiot. Thrawn served the Empire and had no cause to join him. He was, after all, a rebel, and a very dangerous one.
Kenobi's hand ran over HK-45's armored chest plate, the hard, rust red steel scrubbed and polished, the dents and gouges hammered out and corrected. He looked over to the droid and sighed, it's exposed chest a mess of wires and components and circuits as the Sith worked to repair the assassin. The superficial damage had been corrected, the arm reattached and the hydraulics replaced and optimized, which would allow for faster, smoother movement once he got the droid functioning again.
Obi-Wan was finding himself actually missing the murderous automata, and even K2 had expressed some concern for its companion, even though the stubborn security droid insisted that its concern was a programmed response to human distress, and he was, in no ways, actually upset about the psychotic droid getting what it deserved. This was said, of course, right before K2 had offered no less than twelve times to lend his mechanical expertise to repairing the assassin. With the speech ending and the hologram flicking to the next one, Obi-Wan tore his eyes away from his Satine, his chest aching with pain as the Dark Side festered within the wounds inside him. He was recovering, though it was a slow affair, and even two days later, he still didn't quite feel himself, like he was suffering from a flu brought on by the Force, like a two year old throwing a tantrum and ravaging its host. It was unpleasant. And messy.
"Shadow King?" a soft voice asked, and despite the surge of irritation that someone was on his ship when he specifically demanded to be left undisturbed, Obi-Wan didn't move from his seat, his fingers carefully disconnecting the central processor from HK's chest, his eyes drifting up to the hologram and reveling in the painful ache in his chest brought on by the warmth of love and the pain of loss.
"Shadow King?" came the voice again, louder this time as Sabine Wren entered the room, her back stiffening and standing straight as she entered the dark room and lay eyes on the man. "S-sorry to bother you," she began when disinterested glowing eyes fell on her. "I was just helping out on the ship and..." she trailed off, stepping forward slowly when she saw the hologram. "H-hey, I know that speech, it's famous! My mother made my brother and I memorize it when we were children!" Sabine drew up taller, a proud, smug smirk on her face. "A multitude breeds discourse, right?"
"Yes, that's right..." Obi-Wan said, his voice hollow and distant as he looked upon the hologram, and slowly, Sabine inched closer to him.
"Is that her?" Sabine asked quietly. "Is that Mand'alor Satine?" Obi-Wan said nothing, only stared at the hologram, his face blank and expressionless, his fingers absently attaching the nodes to the processor in his hands to link it up to his datapad for repairs. "She really meant everything to you, didn't she?" Sabine asked, her voice laden with sympathy, which knocked Obi-Wan out of his thoughts, scoffing slightly as he returned his attention to his work.
"Don't be absurd..." he muttered. "Of course she wasn't everything to me, love isn't that simple. You're just a child, you wouldn't understand, no teenager does." The Sith glanced sidelong at her, expecting to see offense on the fiery girl, but instead only found her listening intently as she waited for an explanation he had no intention of giving. "If she was everything," he said after a moment of consideration, "I would have nothing to live for, there would be no point, no purpose, and I have always sought order. The peace the Sith can bring to the galaxy has always been the point, my greater purpose, not something so common as love." He sighed, turning over the processor in his hands. "But that doesn't mean she wasn't important to me..."
"...my mother said she could have changed everything," Sabine quietly said. "She said Mandalore could have ruled the galaxy, and now we're just..." She scoffed bitterly, her hands balling into fists at her side. "I believed we were part of something greater," she whispered. "Moff Bo-Katan was one of us, was so close to my mother. I didn't think she'd sell us to the Empire. I didn't think she'd make her own people slaves..." Sabine's breath hitched when she felt something close around her, the air in the room seeming to chill, her lungs tight like she simply couldn't breathe deeply as the golden eyes appraised her, the Sith's brow furrowed in focus before relaxing with understanding.
"Ah..." Obi-Wan put the processor on the table beside the droid as his datapad began running the diagnostics. "Your mother is Ursa Wren. I know that was your clan, but I didn't think it would be her."
"You know my mother?" Sabine gasped, and Obi-Wan chuckled softly and leaned against the table, reaching over to mute the hologram as he looked the Mandalorian over.
"I do. She tried to kill me many times while I was defending Satine during the Clan Wars." He shrugged when the girl's jaw dropped, and he took one of the lightsabers from his belt and held it out to her. "I bested her in single combat. This is the blade I used." He extended it toward her, and she carefully took the offered weapon in her hand.
"She never mentioned that..."
"It was, admittedly, very humiliating for her," Obi-Wan said, his gaze drifting back to the muted hologram. "She has certainly changed her tune if that is what she had to say about Satine, though all Death Watch reconsidered their position after I made Pre Vizsla beg." He looked back to the Mandalorian when he heard a chair shuffle against the ground as she sat, the technical expert quickly surveying the components of the droid before her before she looked back at him and smiled.
"Do you need help repairing the droid?" she asked, her hands hovering over the open chest cavity. "I would have thought you'd be done by now, so it must be worse than I thought it was."
"I don't need help!" Obi-Wan snarled, snatching the datapad from the table and furiously watching the diagnostic's slow progress bar. "...but it would be appreciated," he grumbled after a moment, and with a smug smirk he had come to expect from his Mandalorians, Sabine began busying herself with the precision mechanics of the droid's body cavity.
"Recordings of the Mand'alor are hard to come by," Sabine said, pointing a screwdriver at the hologram. "We still study some of her speeches, but the Empire banned the holorecordings." She scoffed bitterly, poking the screwdriver inside the droid's chest and undoing the rear control covering. "And Katan allowed it. Her own sister, and she allowed the Empire to do that!"
"...did you just call your Mand'alor Katan?"
"Last I checked, she's Moff Kryze," she spat. "She's not my Mand'alor."
"No?" the Sith asked, swiping his finger over the datapad when the diagnostics pinged their completion, his eyes running swiftly over the report. "Last I checked, she's the only one you've got. Who else but Bo-Katan?"
"...I-I thought it might have been you," the girl said shyly, her eyes cast down as a deep flush spread against her face, and when he said nothing, she ventured a glance up to find him staring right through her, lost in a place where she simply could not reach him. She could feel him refocus on her when she laughed nervously. "You're the Shadow King. Do you have any idea what it's like to grow up on Mandalore?"
"Obviously not," Obi-Wan muttered, his gaze turning back to his datapad. "I grew up in the Jedi Temple, not on Mandalore."
"You wouldn't know it from the stories," Sabine said with a sigh. "Mandalore's avenging angel, the Shadow King! Rising from darkness and flames to destroy our enemies, only to disappear and return again to save his people when they call for him." She quickly picked up a precision tool and handed it to Obi-Wan when she saw him pick up the processor in his hands and examine it. "The way the stories tell it, you were greater than Mand'alor the Ultimate. My brother and I would spend hours pretending to be you when we were children. All of us did, we dreamed of the day you would return to us and bring Mandalore to glory."
"Bo-Katan really outdid herself..." Obi-Wan said, a soft smile playing on his lips, his eyes darting up to the girl when he heard her growl in protest, her nose wrinkling in distaste. "Do you honestly believe that any of that would be possible if your Mand'alor did not allow it? Especially in your mother's home, given how close the two of them are?"
"It's oppression that gives rise to the need for such things," Sabine said bitterly. "Even if my mother supports Bo-Katan and the Empire, and she does, a repressed people will dream." Her face suddenly fell, her hands releasing the wires she was working on, her eyes fixed on the table and decidedly not looking at the Sith Lord, though she could feel him looking intently at her. "I believed in the Empire once. All of me, devoted to the Empire and our Mand'alor, and I did terrible, awful things for them." She shook her head and bit down on her lip, quickly looking away from Kenobi when he scooted closer to her. "The Empire is subjugating my people..." she whispered. "Bo-Katan is complicit in it, my family is complicit in it, I was...I-I..." She stopped, her breath hitching when she felt Obi-Wan's hand upon her shoulder. "We all know it, that's why we still tell the stories of what we once were instead of what we are now. But nobody will do a thing about it. Those who ask questions or defy the Empire are thrown away, and without faith in our Mand'alor, all we have are the hopes that you'll return to drive the Empire out."
"You do know this is by design, yes?" Obi-Wan asked, and Sabine immediately tensed, closing herself off to the idea entirely. "Bo-Katan has been, and always will be on my side."
"Are you sure about that," Sabine asked in deadpan voice, her expression skeptical and her arms crossed over her chest. "Mandalore could have stood against the Empire! We could have fought, and instead, Bo-Katan sold us out for a position as a Moff!"
"A position that put her very, very close to Grand Moff Tarkin," Obi-Wan said calmly. "Or would you rather her lead Mandalore against the Empire in a war they have no chance of winning?"
"N-no, but-"
"I understand that Mandalore has it bad, but Bo-Katan has shielded you all from the worst of it," Obi-Wan explained as he returned his attention back to the droid. "You are respected members of the Empire, elite warriors made to do their bidding, but it is Bo-Katan that commands you still. She has sacrificed herself to keep your people as free as possible. Do you truly believe that Bo-Katan Kryze, feared Death Watch commander, would give up the chance for a fight without good reason?"
"I-I don't know..." Sabine muttered, shaking her head and looking over at the silent hologram. "Are you so certain she is with you? The things she has done-"
"Has killed her," Kenobi said, the slightest hint of remorse and something else in his voice, something Sabine couldn't place, and she leaned in, listening intently to the Sith. "When I call for Mandalore to stand beside me, the rebels like you will answer the call. The rest will obey the orders of their Mand'alor, and Bo-Katan will strike hard against the people who have spent the past decade suppressing her spirit."
"Which wouldn't have happened if she just fought in the first place!" the girl snapped, and Obi-Wan stared at her for a moment before a slow, sad smile passed over his lips.
"She is Mand'alor, Sabine, her life belongs to her people, not to her. Would she have been a better leader if she did as she wished and fought? Would it have been better to have her executed by the Empire as you know she would have so an Imperial could bring down the might of the Empire on you?"
"W-we'd turn to you!" she insisted, and Obi-Wan looked away from her, slowly pulling aside wires as he replaced the processor. "That's your plan anyway, isn't it? You're going to lead Mandalore to victory! You have an army already, do you not?"
"Without Bo-Katan, there wouldn't be a Mandalore to call upon, Sabine," he quietly explained. "And we are not yet ready for war. Not yet. But soon." He sighed heavily and brushed his hair back when the girl still seemed displeased with the explanation. "One day, when you are a leader instead of a rebel, you will know the meaning of sacrifice. It isn't so simple as you believe."
"...but how can you be sure she will come when you call?" she asked almost nervously. "How do you know that she hasn't become an Imperial while pretending to be one like you think?"
"I know..." Obi-Wan muttered, his fingers moving quickly now that the processor was installed, Sabine working beside him and silent as she waited for him to elaborate, but he said nothing more. She opened her mouth to ask him to clarify all the new information, all things that conflicted with what she believed to be true, but her thoughts never organized, the questions never sounded right in her head, or sounded redundant enough for her to believe she would irritate the man by asking. So instead, she stayed silent and thought, her eyes periodically drifting up to look at the hologram of the woman she had known to be a legend, the mother of the Mandalorian Empire that her kinsmen would one day bring back.
"You must have some connection to Bo-Katan," Obi-Wan said as he replaced the chest plate, the two of them working to tightly secure the heavy armor. "Your helmet's design is that of the Nite Owls, which was Bo-Katan's elite force within the Death Watch. How did you come to possess such a thing?" This time, Sabine fell silent, her lips pressing into a thin line as she stubbornly refused to say a word, and Obi-Wan chuckled softly. "We all have secrets, ner adiik."
"Nobody has secrets from you though," Sabine muttered, sinking down in her seat as she snatched her helmet from the table. "You can just read their minds and get what you want."
"Cody tells me it's...unsettling," the Sith said with a scoff. "Not the best way to build trust, he says."
"And you're trying to do that with us?" Kenobi nodded tersely, and Sabine laughed as she helped the Sith sit the droid up. "He's right, you know."
"Which is part of the reason I haven't just made you all trust me. I can do that, you know." He growled softly, his teeth grinding together as he brushed off the droid's armored shoulder. "But it wears off eventually if I don't keep it up, and if I do, the rest of your mind eventually...decays."
"And Kanan would know."
"And Kanan would know, yes..." he grumbled. "Damned Jedi..." He patted the girl on the shoulder and pulled her close to him, an affectionate gesture that made the teenager flush considerably. "Not that I would do that to you anyway, my child of Mandalore." Obi-Wan reached over to switch off the hologram, his hand hesitating over the controls for a moment before he closed his eyes and powered it down. "So," he said as lightly as he could, though Sabine could hear pain and longing straining his voice. "Shall we see if our repairs were successful?"
"Of course they were," Sabine said smugly, opening the rear panel and powering the activation sequence. "I was working on him." With a low hum, the processors and circuits were powered, the initial checks and system boots causing the hydraulics of the arms and legs to be tested, the yellow light of the visual sensor flickering on as power was restored. Unable to keep the bright grin off his face, Obi-Wan grabbed hold of the droid, supporting its back as its arms and legs twitched and jerked as the systems were engaged, the new components and improvements assimilated into its programming. When it's vocal modulator burst with static and low, mechanical groans, Obi-Wan shushed the droid as he put his hand over the grilled speaker on its face.
"Hush now, my friend, you're rebooting," the Sith quietly explained, the droid's head turning its head to look at the man, the visual receptors pulsating as it scanned him. "Everything should be online and integrated within the hour, and you'll be better than new." The door hissed open and the droid violently jerked, reaching behind it to grab for a rifle that wasn't there and then pointing its arm toward the newcomer to fire lasers from its wrists that hadn't been activated. All the while, Kanan stood, looking at the flailing droid as the Sith tried to calm it, the Jedi bored and indifferent and secure in his safety.
"You know, Kenobi, there are easier ways to kill me than with an assassin droid that's been broken to hell," the Jedi drawled. "Honestly, I'm shocked you got that piece of junk working again."
"Keep talking, Jedi filth, this piece of junk can hear everything you're saying..." With a frown, Obi-Wan rapped the droid on the head, the HK looking at him and its vocal modulator grinding with a series of beeps and whirs that emulated confusion. "...in theory, at least. And I told Cody I was to be left alone, what is this, do I suddenly have an open door policy?"
"Last I saw, Cody was chatting up one of the rebel pilots," Kanan said, a sly grin on his face that made Obi-Wan's already queasy stomach turn. "Nice girl. Togruta. I didn't want to interrupt, they seemed very involved in their conversation...if you want to count stuffing his tongue in her mouth as conversation. Which I do."
"I kriffing hate that clone..." Obi-Wan grumbled, rolling his eyes as he slapped the droid's hand away from trying to pry the armor off its forearm to check the weapons installed there for malfunctions. "What do you want, Jarrus, I've had enough of the Jedi for a lifetime, and Qui-Gon still won't leave me alone." He scoffed as he ran a hand over his face and shut his burning eyes, suddenly overcome with weariness and made all too aware of how badly his body had been damaged by Yoda's intrusion. He was physically healthy, but he still felt sick.
"I wanted to check and see how you were doing," Kanan said simply as he strolled over to the pale man, his gold irises a stark contrast to the dark circles under his eyes and the pale and sickly pallor of his skin. He certainly looked sick, though he wasn't acting it, and it was extremely likely that the man hadn't been sleeping. Again. "I ask because I don't know what the Sith do with your bodies after you die."
"Good thing you don't need to worry about that because I'm never dying," Obi-Wan hissed. "I'm just recovering, it's taking longer than I thought. I swear, it feels like a Star Destroyer fell on me, this whole transcending the Force thing is entirely unacceptable."
"Mm, think I can learn it?"
"You do, Kanan, and this relationship is over," Obi-Wan snapped, rolling his eyes as he opened one of the panels on HK-45's back to make some quick adjustments. "If you want immortality, I could teach you how to achieve it without the whole...ghost thing."
"Thanks, but no," the Jedi said quietly, grinning when he saw the faintest smile on the Sith Lord's lips, his eyes drifting to the Mandalorian working at his side. "Doing alright, Sabine?" he asked, and the girl rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, dad, I'm fine," she teased gently, lightly punching the Jedi on his armored shoulder. "Getting a history lesson, that's all." When the Jedi arched his eyebrow, the girl scoffed and snatched her helmet off the table. "It's not like I'm being seduced."
"What, my seduction attempts weren't working?" Obi-Wan asked innocently, laying a hand on his chest in feigned hurt, and Sabine patronizingly patted him on the cheek.
"I'm Mandalorian and I've been a bounty hunter for years, Kenobi," Sabine drawled lazily. "You should know I'm no stranger to this sort of thing. You're going to have to try harder than that."
"Ooh, I'm telling Bridger the girl he's pining for is used," Obi-Wan said in a sing-song voice. "He's going to be heartbroken."
"He's going to be heartbroken?" Kanan asked, trying to sound as offended as he could, but the smirk on his lips and the mischief in his eyes gave him away completely, and Obi-Wan flashed him a wolfish grin. "I'm heartbroken, I thought we had something special, Kenobi!"
"Kanan, sweetheart, you know that you're at the very least third or forth in my heart! The others don't actually mean anything to me!"
"Right, well, since you clearly aren't dead, Kenobi, Ahsoka's asked for you," Kanan said with a sigh."She's got a mission she wants you in on."
"Well, you can tell dear Fulcrum that I am not at her beck and call!" Obi-Wan snapped, powering down the droid when it tried to get off the table and gently laying it face down so he could make necessary adjustments.
"Hey, don't take your temper out on me, I'm just the messenger!" Kanan said defensively, putting his hands in the air. "Hell, I shouldn't even be the messenger, and I wouldn't have if I didn't want to make sure you hadn't died from being too evil!" He smirked when Sabine snorted with laughter she wasn't trying terribly hard to suppress and the Sith Lord rolled his eyes and grumbled curses under his breath as he tried to look busy. "Really, Ahsoka should have come here herself if she wanted to give you something to do."
"You're right, I should have." Obi-Wan groaned loudly when the Togruta stepped inside the room, followed by Hera, Ezra, Zeb and a very disgruntled Cody.
"Alright, contrary to what appears to be the popular belief, there is not an open door policy on my ship!" Obi-Wan said, his voice tight with irritation as he powered on the droid again and slammed the back panel closed.
"K2 sent us in," Ahsoka drawled with a superior smirk on her face, the Sith Lord glowering as his fist tightened by his side. "I was asking him if you were alright, and he insisted that you weren't sick or dying, you were just having yourself a sulk."
"Oh, I'll show that heap of scrap sick when I vomit on his feet..." Kenobi growled, wiping his forehead and shoving the hand in Ahsoka's face. "Look at this! I am sweating, Ahsoka, but I have chills, and those two things don't go together! I am dying!"
"Oh, for Force sake, Kenobi, you have the flu, you big baby!" Ahsoka said, crossing her arms and glaring at the man when he dramatically threw himself on the table. "Have you honestly never been sick?!"
"It isn't just a flu, it's Jedi Flu!" the Sith Lord gagged. "I was fine until Yoda went and infected me! You must see how this is all the Jedi's fault!"
"Yes, yes, we all feel very bad for you," Ahsoka said with a roll of her eyes. "But you aren't dead, and even weakened, you're still more than a match for most anything the Empire can throw at you. You'll just have to be subtle." A sly smirk slid across her face, the Sith eyeing her suspiciously as she drew closer. "You do remember what that's like, don't you?"
"Oh, please, being subtle is my speciality. If it weren't, the Jedi would have caught me long ago."
"Then this next mission should give you no trouble," Ahsoka said with a smile. "Your activities on Lothal have left behind a mess, Kenobi. A Senator and a Holonet reporter publicly executed, Lothal's Minister kidnaped, Tarkin's Star Destroyer brought down over the planet...the Imperials are on edge, Lothal is blockaded, the population is repressed, the entire system is cracking under the Imperial heel. You've created Coruscant levels of security in the Lothal sector."
"Not bad for a day's work..." Kenobi muttered, and Ahsoka glared at him.
"This isn't a joke, Kenobi. At this rate, we're going to be forced to fight them openly, and we aren't ready. A force of this size will crush us. We need more time."
"Can't we just hide out here?" Ezra asked. "When I was running the streets on Lothal and things got bad, I'd keep low and wait for things to blow over."
"A base is all well and good, but not this one," Ahsoka said firmly. "We can't keep all our strength in one place, if the Empire finds us, it'll all be over. Over fifteen years of work crushed in an instant. No, we need to split our force in case something happens. We need a new base."
"Unfortunately, the ones we know about lack the tactical advantages we need to protect what's left of the fleet," Hera said quietly. "We lost a command ship in our battle over Lothal, it's crippled our ability to successfully fight the Empire. We need a base that's easy to defend while we rebuild."
"We need a base that's close enough to aid the nearby systems suffering under Imperial oppression," Kanan said pointedly, and Hera's eyes narrowed as she looked at her lover, the tension between them caused by their differing ideals plain as day.
"We can't help others if we can't help ourselves, Kanan," Hera countered tiredly, the fight one they had several times before with no resolution. "We need more allies."
"Which is where the mission comes in," Ahsoka said softly, a faint smile playing on her lips when all eyes turned to her. "I know someone who might be able to help us."
"Then go get him," Obi-Wan scoffed, dropping down into the chair with a smirk when the droid whirred to life, it's interfaces quickly beeping as they connected to the processors, and HK slowly sat up, a hand on its head. "This isn't a mission, Ahsoka, it's an errand, and you know I don't do those." He tapped the droid on the forehead. "HK, can you hear me, buddy?"
The whirring and churning of the droid continued for a moment before the visual receptors lit up, pulsating softly as it scanned the room. "Quarry: Master, where did the slaughter go?"
"Right, you failed the slaughter when you got blown up," Obi-Wan said, pointing to the droid's shoulder. "Your arm fell off, we had to repair everything. Might take a few days to get adjusted to the upgrades."
"Shock: Me? Blown up?" The droid hung his head in dismay, a long mechanical groan emitting from its vocal modulator. "Repentant: Master, I am unworthy of being rebuilt for suffering such an embarrassing failure. I must be greatly valuable to you to be reassembled!"
"Oh, don't be stupid, you useless pile of junk!" Obi-Wan said as he smacked the side of the droid's head. "You are my property, and I dislike it when my things are ruined! I expect you to pay me back tenfold for this!" For a moment, the droid's head dropped in disappointment before it quickly looked back up at the Sith Lord.
"Excitement: in murder, Master?!"
"Of course in murder, HK, what else are you good for?" Obi-Wan asked with a roll of his eyes, patting the droid on the shoulder when an excited series of electronic bursts emitted from it's speakers in an approximation of sinister laughter.
"Declaration: beware, meatbags! I have a debt to pay!"
"Good as new, I suppose," Sabine said with a sigh. "Sounds like our repairs were a success...if this is what you'd call a success..."
"I do," Obi-Wan said, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes. "Ahsoka, please send K2 in on your way out so he can run a final diagnostic on HK. Thank you."
"Is that it?" Ahsoka asked, her arms crossed over her chest and clearly irritated "You aren't going to help me on this mission because you're sick?"
"No..." Obi-Wan drawled. "I'm not going to help because there is no mission. You have a guy in mind, go get him. You don't need me for this."
"It isn't that simple," she said between grit teeth, and Kenobi rolled his eyes and pointed to his very irritated clone. "I'm letting Cody decide if we go or not."
"Oh, come on!" Cody snapped, looking back at the smirking Sith, the superior expression on his face disappearing quickly when he paled and began shivering. With a roll of his eyes, he looked pointedly at the hopeful Ahsoka. "Alright, Fulcrum, we'll help..." he drawled, the grin on the woman's face stopped quickly when Cody pointed a finger at her. "If you call back my son."
"W-what?" Ahsoka looked at the man completely astounded, reaching through the Force to see if the hard, serious expression was just the face of a man who could keep a straight face during an absurd joke, but found him completely serious. "Y-you want me to call Boba Fett?"
"You know how many times he's called you in the past month?" Cody asked sharply. "Fifty six. And every single time he calls and you don't pick up, you know who hears about it?" He didn't wait for her to respond and pressed a finger hard against his own chest. "Me. I'm sick of hearing him pine! Call him back, and we'll go fetch...whoever."
"Really?" Obi-Wan drawled from his chair. "You're going to whore us out so Boba can have a booty call?"
"Noooo," Cody drawled, casting a lazy look at the Sith in the chair. "I'm whoring you out, you fantastic slut. Nobody in their right mind would pay for me." When Obi-Wan made to protest, Cody pointed an admonishing finger at him and the pale Sith Lord fell silent. "You wanted me to decide, Obi-Wan, so I'm deciding, so if I tell you to bend over, you better be ready to take it!"
"I hate clones!" Obi-Wan hissed. "This is why nobody likes clones, Cody, this is why! Isn't that right, Kanan?"
"Damn right," the Jedi agreed, and beside him, Ahsoka sighed heavily.
"Cody, I don't have time for this!" the Togruta said firmly, trying to keep a commanding presence, but she failed to stop the deep flush from spreading across her cheeks and down her neck, the lekku draped over her shoulders squirming in aggravation when the clone scoffed.
"It's not like it takes much time!"
"I don't have time for what he wants!" the Togruta insisted, and Cody just rolled his eyes. "I don't know if you noticed, but we're preparing for war, not...running a social club!"
"All the more reason to return his calls!" Cody chirped. "We could all be dead tomorrow, why not enjoy yourself while you can? And don't say it takes too much time, because what he wants from you takes just a few minutes!"
"Speak for yourself..." Obi-Wan scoffed, and Cody rolled his eyes and turned on the Sith Lord.
"Well excuse me, Master, but we can't all be immortal gods with eternal youth and infinite time! Some of us have to work, and Boba tells me that Bo-Katan is an absolutely brutal taskmaster."
"Sounds like he doesn't have the time either," Ahsoka drawled, and Cody laughed quickly.
"Oh, sweetness, he'd make the time for you. And I'm not asking you to sleep with him, Ahsoka," Cody said in a voice that was close to begging. "Just call the poor boy back."
"I'll think about it, alright?" the Togruta said between clenched teeth, and the clone casually sat in the chair beside Obi-Wan.
"Fantastic. We'll think about helping you in this mission," the clone said with a yawn. "What is it exactly, why can't you go get this guy yourself?"
"I lost track of him a long time ago, and my transmissions have gone unanswered," Ahsoka said slowly, almost reluctantly, and she glared at Kenobi when he scoffed, only to find him pale and trying not to heave. "Though I do have a lead about where he was last seen."
"If you have something to go off of, Ahsoka, we can find him," Kanan said, laying a hand on the woman's shoulder. "Who exactly is this guy?" At that, the woman hesitated, her eyes averting from the Jedi, and Obi-Wan felt his chest tighten. She was hiding something about this man.
"He's a military commander," she finally said. "One with leadership experience and great knowledge of the Outer Rim. He can help us find a suitable base."
"Where was he seen last?" Hera asked, stepping forward when Kanan's shoulders tensed, the man still coming to terms with being part of a military once again.
"Out in the Seelos system," the Togruta said. "We can pinpoint his last known location once we get out there."
"This sounds like a trap..." Obi-Wan muttered, and Ahsoka sighed and slowly nodded.
"I agree," she said slowly. "Which was why I was hoping to have a team for this. It's too dangerous to go alone."
"You won't have to, we're with you," Kanan quickly reassured her. "Don't worry, if he's out there, we'll find your friend."
"Thank you, Kanan," Ahsoka said with a sigh of relief, gratefully laying her hand over his.
"Do we have a plan?" Hera asked, and the Togruta quickly nodded.
"We do," she said, walking around the table and placing her hands on the smooth surface when she addressed the group. "We'll fly out to Seelos and send a survey teem down to the search perimeter. They will go in, sweep the area, and extract the target if they manage to locate him."
"Sounds like a job for the Spectres," Hera said, quickly taking out her comlink and activating it. "Chopper, get the Ghost ready to depart, we've got a mission." A series of short, agitated chatter sounded on the other side of the connection before it was rudely cut off, and Hera shook her head and replaced the device on her belt. "I suppose that leaves me in the Ghost to play lookout," the Twi'lek said, and Ahsoka nodded.
"I can think of nobody better for the job. I'll be with you, of course. The search perimeter is going to be large. With two of us out there, we should be able to find him faster, and in the event it is a trap, two targets will divide attention and aid in our escape."
"Excuse me?" Obi-Wan said, finally standing from his chair and facing the now guarded Ahsoka. "You're sending my Spectres on this mission and you're not even going to be with them?!"
"Last time I checked, they're my Spectres," Kanan drawled. "We can do this, Kenobi, relax. It's a simple extraction."
"Or a trap!" the Sith Lord snarled. "And Ahsoka isn't even going to be with you!"
"I told you, Obi-Wan..." the Togruta said with a sigh. "I'm on the mission too, we-"
"I heard what you said, Fulcrum, and splitting up isn't the same as being with him," Obi-Wan snapped. "The last time we split up for a mission, Kanan, you were captured by Tarkin and I lost you! It won't happen again, I won't allow it! I won't lose more people!"
For a long moment, everyone was silent, the room tense with the Sith Lord's fury and borderline panic, the group slowly coming to understand exactly how badly the battle above Lothal had effected the man, how many losses he had suffered, and how they had come to slowly mean something to the hardened man, how their deaths and their loss were frightening enough to make the Sith Lord bring them under his protection. They had known it before, though they had taken it with a great deal of suspicion, given Kenobi's own vicious brutality and his inclination to use people and cast them aside when they had been throughly used. Now, they actually saw they were more than tools. They were, for better or worse, family.
"Well..." Kanan said softly. "I suppose we'll just have to demand that Spectre Zero come along with us. And since I am the leader of the Spectres, I don't suppose he can say no," the Jedi said when it looked like the Sith Lord would speak, and with a soft growl of irritation, Obi-Wan crossed his arms over his chest and looked away from the group.
"When you put it that way, I suppose not..." Obi-Wan muttered, trying to sound as grumpy and reluctant as possible, but failing spectacularly when a slight smile crossed his lips. "For the record, Ahsoka, I don't like that you aren't telling us who this man is."
"If I told you, none of you would ever agree to go," the Togruta quietly confessed. "I have my reasons, Obi-Wan. You're just going to have to trust me, and when we meet my friend, you're going to have to trust him too."
"You're asking an awful lot..." Obi-Wan said, and Ahsoka rolled her eyes.
"Is it asking any more than trusting you, oh great and mighty Lord of the Sith?" she asked, her tone almost harsh, not quite bitter, but close enough, and Obi-Wan winced in response. Brutal though it may be, she had a fair point.
"I suppose not..." Obi-Wan muttered, sinking back into his chair and running his fingers along the communication array on the arm of his seat. "K2," he said firmly when the line picked up. "Is the Umbra ready to fly?"
"Oh, you're alive, Master," the droid said, sounding almost disappointed. "That's a shame. I had a bet with the Chiss on the matter, and I insisted that the probability of your survival was so low, it may as well have been negligible." A light, smug female lit could be heard in the background, and K2 groaned loudly. "Yes, I know what I said, you insufferable woman," the droid droned. "I liked you better when you were a mindless slave in a cage. You were manageable then." There was female laughter in the background, and K2 groaned loudly. "I told her that in the unlikely event that you actually survived, I would let her open me up and have a look at my security encryptions. So...thank you for that, Master."
"You are very welcome, you ingrate," Obi-Wan happily chirped, watching as HK slowly walked to stand at his side.
"Declaration: that is what you get for having no faith in the Master," HK said smugly, and K2 gave the approximation of a desperate wail, the laughter in the background growing louder.
"While I am pleasantly surprised that the Master lives, the same cannot be said for you, you useless-"
"The Umbra, K2, focus..." Obi-Wan interrupted. "Is she ready to fly?"
"The upgrades to the stealth drive have yet to be calibrated, but the basic system is available, and she is otherwise functional," the droid quickly stammered, hissing for the woman in the background to be silent, which she notably did not obey.
"Prepare her for departure, K2, I'll be in the cockpit shortly." Obi-Wan didn't wait for the droid to respond before he cut the connection and slowly stood, a hand to his forehead as he brushed back his hair, and he frowned at how hot his skin felt. "Spectres, I will be ready to leave in fifteen minutes..." the Sith muttered, closing his eyes and leaning back in his chair. "Let's coordinate our launch so we arrive at Seelos together."
"Sounds good to me," Hera said softly as she turned away from Obi-Wan and motioned for the others to follow, her crew quickly obeying her.
"Ahsoka," Obi-Wan called when the Togruta made to follow the Spectres out, and everyone stopped to look at the man, the woman stepping forward and crossing her arms. "I would like it if you flew with me to our destination," he quietly continued. "I sense some tension between us that wasn't there before, and I think it has to do with what happened between me and Skywalker on Lothal." The sharp intake of breath and the brief tightening of her shoulders was enough, but the quick and sudden change in the Force as the Togruta quickly shut herself behind her defenses confirmed it. "I dislike friction between us, and I should like to clear the air," Obi-Wan said as soothing as he was able. "This rebellion functions best when you and I are in sync, and right now, we are the furthest thing from it."
For just a moment, Ahsoka tensed further, the long ends of her lekku twisting in her agitation, and with a heavy sigh, she nodded. "I'll see you above Seelos, Spectres," she said, and with a quick nod of acknowledgment, Kanan ushered the others out, allowing the two friends to sit together in silence, the Force between them intermingling as they lowered their defenses and opened themselves to each other, the former Jedi and the Sith Lord slipping into an easy meditation as they became one.