Author's Note: Come on peoples, review! Let's make it to a hundred by this episode's end. How hard is it for you to say a few words about each chapter, even if it's a short message like "Great job" or "Update soon" or even "I didn't like this too much." Reviews motivate me in doing this, and as explosive as the last chapter was, I expected more then what was received. Thank you to Thrawn716 and MissNaye though. And someone named Carolina, though the review you gave was for chapter 4, yet it concerned last chapter's events. Thanks anyway. In response I'll only say that one of your predictions does come to pass.
Chapter 37 responses:
Thrawn716: Sorry if I bored you too much, I simply wanted to introduce the Kenobis a bit in detail and explore their lives in exile before launching into the conflict.
MissNaye: In light of your last review, you'll be so ticked by what occurs at this chapter's end. I'll say one thing, it has to do with Luke.
Episode VI: The Golden Age of the Empire
Chapter 38: The Escape
All these troops to track down one man? Obi-Wan mused silently as he continued shooting over his shoulder at stormtroopers hot on his tail.
The former Jedi High Council member had re-entered consciousness about an hour ago to find himself no longer in his home on Tatooine, but in a detention cell aboard Lord Vader's Super Star Destroyer, Executor. His wrists and ankles were bound with Mandolorian iron and his mouth gagged. He was able to roll himself around on the floor but nothing else. There was a single fluorescent light above on the ceiling. Besides that, the room was bare.
Thoughts of what happened before he was knocked unconscious came back to his mind the way a river rapidly flows down a waterfall. Waking up and having Antellica tell him that they'd been found out. Vader and Zenevieva's sarcastic friendly manner towards him for Alex's sake before then knocking the boy out and showing their true colors. And Antellica...her betrayal of him, Yoda, and the only hope that now laid in the galaxy.
Antellica had always been overprotected of Alex. Overprotected to the length of doing anything to keep him safe. It was because of this that Obi-Wan shouldn't have been overly shocked by what Antellica did – telling Vader where his children were to insure Alex's safety. He wondered if Vader than killed her after he got what he wanted. A quick search through the Force told him she and Alex weren't on the Executor. Luke was though, with his father strolling about the ship.
Obi-Wan sighed. There goes one hope lost. He could only hope that Yoda fled Dagabah in time with Leila to hide someplace else.
Continuing his search for his wife and son, Obi-Wan found them aboard the Executor's sister Star Destroyer, Executrix. That was obviously Zenevieva's Star Destroyer because the two of them were in the Dark Lady's quarters. Obi-Wan gasped though at the essence of Antellica's Force presence. It had changed. Once surrounded by luminous light, it was now shrouded in darkness.
No, no she couldn't have. She wouldn't.
But there was no other way to explain it. Antellica had indeed returned to the path of the Sith and he doubted that even he would be able to turn her back this time. The only love she held within her heart was for her children, sister, and brother-in-law. That was obvious. Why else would she go back?
The thought of her being forced to return never once entered Obi-Wan's mind because the path of the Sith was something one choose freely. You couldn't simply force someone to turn. They sincerely and utterly needed to want the power and accept it into themselves.
Antellica returning to her former self meant she would have no room in her heart for him any longer. He had lost her. Just as he lost Anakin...and the way he would lose his children. Since Alex was with Antellica and their unborn daughter still in the womb, it was obvious Antellica would have them trained as Sith.
The only thing that had Obi-Wan skeptical was the Emperor and Empress. How would they react upon learning Antellica had rejoined their rakes? Did they know yet?
Somehow, Obi-Wan didn't get the impression that they'd welcome her back with loving arms. But who knew, now that Antellica was back with Vader and Zenevieva, Vader might take this opportunity to dethrone Sidious. For even now that the Emperor had a daughter, consort, and son, his apprentice still outnumbered him two to one.
Once Sidious and Baynetta were destroyed, Vader would rule the galaxy. Obi-Wan wasn't entirely sure how he felt about that, but it's not like he had any say in the matter. Or did he?
Yoda had once wanted himself and Obi-Wan to destroy the Sith despite the fact of being outnumbered. The only ones out of the five that had been faced were Zenevieva, Veradisia, and Sidious. Neither of the Jedi had ever had a confrontation with Vader or Baynetta in battle. If Obi-Wan were to fight Vader, who would be the victor?
Vader, in his arrogance, would probably assume himself, but Obi-Wan thought he might have a chance against the young Sith. It was he, after all, that had trained him since he was a small boy, not Sidious. And though Anakin had been a Sith for five years now, he couldn't have changed his fighting pattern that much. And so Obi-Wan decided: He would get himself out of this cell, escape the ship, and deliberately let the Imperial fleet track him to a planet where he and his former apprentice would duel to the death, whoever winning being the victor. Obi-Wan knew Vader would want to face him alone, and so he would let him. But first, he needed to get out of this cell.
Taking in his surroundings once more showed him the same. There was nothing inside except the fluorescent light that lined a part of the ceiling. But when he looked back up at it again, an old, nearly forgotten memory came back to him.
Early in his apprenticeship under master Qui-Gon Jinn, the two of them had gone on a reconnaissance mission in the outer rim. To cut to the chase, it didn't go as expected and they ended up getting captured not long into it. Following this, their hands were cuffed in Mandolorian iron and they were thrown into a cell.
Much else happened on this mission, but what had come back to Obi-Wan was how he and Qui-Gon managed to get the cuffs off their wrists. At first, Obi-Wan had his lightsaber – which strangely their captors hadn't taken – hover above his wrists and used the Force to have it come down to cut the iron. But it hadn't done anything. This was when Qui-Gon told him that Mandolorian iron was resistant to lightsabers, a piece of info he himself passed down to Anakin and Antellica when the three of them were being held prisoner on Cato Neimoidia during the Clone Wars. That mission, of course, had always been something the two enjoyed teasing him about during that time. Thinking back to this, what seemed like an era ago, Obi-Wan couldn't help but miss them. However, he did not dwell on them. Reliving the past through memories would do nothing concerning the present.
After Obi-Wan's attempt with the lightsaber had failed, he'd frustratingly banged his head against a wall, resting his cuffed hands in his lap. The way the cuffs had been sitting on his wrists and the angle he'd been sitting at, the light that shown above the cell he shared with Qui-Gon reflected back onto his wrists at such a way that after beaming on them for so long, Obi-Wan found when he woke the next morning that the brightness of the light had burned off the iron cuffs. Showing this to Qui-Gon, he'd had his master sit in the same spot and rest his wrists the same way Obi-Wan had, having the bright light reflected back onto it. At first, nothing had happened, but after about ten minutes a change could finally be seen. Slowly and gradually the iron had began to melt and after about another hour, they'd melted to the point that you could easily take your sore wrists out of them.
As Obi-Wan thought about this, he did the process in his cell. The same happened, only varying give or take a few minutes. Taking his iron-coated wrists out of the remains of the cuffs, he took the gag out of his mouth and reached into the Force to tell him the situation outside the cell. Twenty armed guards, half of which were stormtroopers – the Empire's new and more advanced ones – were stationed outside the door and a mechanical powered lock sealed the cell door shut.
Obi-Wan allowed a small smile. Anakin always had been one who put too much faith in mechanical things, without caring about and giving a death ear to their flaws. Once again reaching into the Force, Obi-Wan disconnected the wires that kept the door sealed shut. It slid open instantly.
It took about a second for the guards to realize what had happened, but that's all the time Obi-Wan needed. In that second, he called a blaster from one of the clones' hands, and just as the guards began to open fire, sent Force pushes at them.
He then started to run down the hall straight ahead, shooting blaster bolts over his shoulder at the approaching guards and clones. He was making for the docking bay, but that was still a good ways off.
As he continued on, running down through and past various halls, passages and officers, still firing bolts over his shoulder he began to feel the anger of Vader through the Force. The Sith knew he was trying to escape. As if on cue, a large troop of clones began to chase after him, and then even more. To top that off, Obi-Wan then felt the Sith himself coming after him as well.
He was able to make it to the docking bay though. Only upon arrival, he received quite a surprise. Luke was standing in front of his and Antellica's star cruiser, Spiraled Avalanche, with Obi-Wan's lightsaber ignited and was glaring right at him.
Obi-Wan assumed the boy was supposed to be guarding the ship, but the sight of a almost five-year-old trying to look threatening with a lightsaber in hand was more comical then anything. By now, the boy's mind would've been filled with nonsense from his father, but Obi-Wan still attempted to reason with him.
"Luke, a little one such as yourself should not be-"
"Shut up!" the boy spat. "Just shut up! Hands up where I can see them!"
"Luke, there's no reason to be rude," Obi-Wan said his voice still neutral.
"I said Shut Up!" the boy all but roared, and Obi-Wan found himself being knocked off his feet. Luke had obviously used a Force push on him. When he looked up it was to see the boy charging at him, eyes ablaze.
Also at that moment, the clones and guards that were following him finally caught up and entered the docking bay with Vader bringing up the rear.
Seeing he was outnumbered, Obi-Wan darted off the floor, grabbed Luke, deactivated his lightsaber, and ran for Spiraled Avalanche.
As Luke began spitting curses at him, Obi-Wan heard Vader calling Luke's name. Luke made no response to them, though Obi-Wan knew he heard them. He merely continued to bite out words no four-year-old should even hear, let alone say.
Once inside the ship, Obi-Wan locked Luke in the nearest closet and ran into the cockpit. There were sure to be tractor beams outside the Executor just waiting to catch him, yet with the Force he knew he could escape them.
The ride outside the Executor's docking bay was a bit of a pull being as Vader was using the Force to keep the ship back but Obi-Wan was able to fight against it, pushing the ship to its limit.
Though the idea was crazy, Obi-Wan quickly made the calculations to light speed once out of the star destroyer and its tractor beam. The prospect of making the jump in the other Star Destroyers tractor beams was risky and unheard of but Obi-Wan kept insisting to himself that he could do it. And with the power of the Force to assist him he was able to, heading for the deep realms of the Outer Rim.
Author's Note #2: Well, what did ya think? I'd love to hear any predictions you may have about how you think this episode's going go down in ending. Three people die towards the end, all of which occur in Chapter 43. Who do you think it'll be and why? Do share your thoughts. I really am interested in them.