Chapter 38 – Alderaan

The cockpit was almost uncomfortably quiet when Obi-Wan finally managed to drag himself to the pilot's chair. He dropped into it and slumped almost instantly as the last of his strength, that had kept him on his feet, faded.

Ahsoka blamed him for Anakin not being here. He could understand why she was upset. After all, Anakin was her master, not him. He was not the person she wanted - or needed.

Funny, somehow the feeling seemed familiar.

'You are a disgrace to Qui-Gon's teachings. I wish you wouldn't be here but him!'

Anakin had screamed that in his face. Not for the first time, he thought about his former master. Qui-Gon would not have made so many mistakes - would not have failed miserably so often. Ahsoka would have her master right now, and probably wouldn't have met Maul in the first place, since the Sith would never have survived Naboo. Much could have been prevented, he was sure of that.

Carefully, he let his fingers slide along his nose and immediately drew in a sharp breath. It hurt, but he couldn't be mad at Ahsoka. Her reaction had been predictable and he should have been more careful. His nose would definitely be black and blue tomorrow, and he wasn't looking forward to having to explain to Satine or Padme how that had happened. Ahsoka would certainly agree with him, he had seen how unpleasant the whole thing had been for her, which was why he had said nothing more about it. After all, the proof was literally written all over his face.

It was still a few hours to Alderaan. He had hoped that Quinlan would send him an update in the meantime. But no - there was absolute radio silence. Waiting was the only thing he could do. So far, a few coordinates were the only thing he had. A place somewhere in the middle of nowhere on Alderaan. Hopefully they would be safe there for the time being. He would wish it on Ahsoka. The teenager needed some normalcy, if one could even speak of it now.

Obi-Wan was sure that by now the Empire had learned of his escape. They would definitely be looking for him, perhaps even Anakin himself. That would put everyone in danger. As long as Palpatine was in control, his friend was unpredictable. Would he hesitate to kill his wife or Padawan? His children? Did he even remember them? Anakin definitely remembered him, but in a twisted, sick way. The man definitely wouldn't think twice about murdering him. But their bond had still been there before it was torn. Did that mean Anakin could sense Ahsoka and his children? Could he relate to the connection? Or had the chip twisted and erased his entire memories?

Obi-Wan didn't know.

He tried to take a more comfortable position on the seat, but somehow it was an impossible task. He would have preferred to just lie down, but someone had to keep an eye on their route. Besides, the only free bed was in the small quarters in the back of the ship - where he had left Ahsoka. He would respect her wishes, which was why he had to make do with the pilot's seat for now. Obi-Wan scratched his head absently, pulling a few clumps of mud and sand from his hair. He hadn't really had a chance to wash properly, except for his arms and face. His skin itched where the dirt was already starting to stick uncomfortably. His previously black clothes were now rather brownish in color, and he could also see a few tears in the fabric where Maul had caught him in the fight. He wrinkled his nose, he really looked like a tramp - not that he could do much about it right now.

He carefully stretched his legs away from him and winced a little as he moved his ankle in the process. The boot on his foot had started to pinch some time ago and he knew that this could only mean that the joint was swollen. It was better not to take the boot off for now, he would look at the injury later.

Too lost in thought, he didn't notice the little droid until it gently nudged him with its gripper. Turning his head, he noticed that the astromech was holding a ration bar out to him.

'If I'm right, you haven't eaten since we started our trip', it beeped softly.

Obi-Wan huffed but took the food from the droid. "Did Quinlan tell you to do that?"

'No, I was just calculating that a dead man doesn't really make a good pilot.'

"Wise words, I'll try to remember them", he muttered, taking a bite from the bar, "Can you get Ahsoka something to eat, too?"

'Why don't you go yourself?'

"She wanted to be alone. But I think she'll make an exception for you."

'If it makes you feel better, fine.' The droid began to roll away, but Obi-Wan quickly stopped it.

"Wait", he called and grasped something from his pocket, "Here, give that to her as well. I forgot earlier."

The astromech eyed him briefly with its sensor, but finally took the two lightsabers from his hand.

"Thank you."

He watched as the droid rolled out of the cockpit and he was alone again. The ration bar was starting to feel heavy in his stomach, so he carefully wrapped the rest back in the paper. He didn't feel like eating right now. Over the years, he had to consume dozens of these things in their endless field campaigns. And somehow the bars managed to taste worse each time. His men had even started drowning the damn things in sauces out of desperation. Unfortunately, the attempt had little success and only resulted in many of the troopers ending up at Helix with aching stomachs.

Obi-Wan wondered what had happened to his unit. The Negotiator had been orbiting Coruscant when he left the planet. He had been lucky that the flagship had not spotted and pulverized him.

Hopefully there was a way to disable the chips. He didn't know if he would be able to kill his own men - not after all they had been through together. He owed the clones his life more than once. When Grievous had defeated him on the Invisible Hand... That would definitely have been the end of him if Cody and his squad hadn't come looking for him. It had been strange at first. Being made a general. To be put in charge of his own unit. It went against all the ideals the Jedi stood for. He had never been trained in the arts of warfare, unlike his men. And yet he had been expected to lead them successfully through the battles. Among the soldiers, the opinion had long prevailed that they were not considered human beings - that they were replaceable. It had taken Obi-Wan months before his men finally trusted him and warmed up to him. When they finally understood that they were more than clones to him, they quickly grew together - accepting him as one of their own. Obi-Wan knew that the bond of Vode was sacred to them. He felt all the more honored that they had taken him in.

And now? Probably they would open fire as soon as he stepped under their eyes. He was nothing more than a traitor for them.

When he thought about it like this, he realized that there was really no point in racking his brains. Without new information about the chips, he couldn't do anything anyway. He'd better concentrate on things he could do something about. Get them safely to Alderaan. Keep an eye on Ahsoka. Find Satine, Padme - and Anakin's children. It was still insane that his friend was actually a father now. Somehow it was hard to imagine Anakin in that role - not that he didn't trust the young man to do it. It was just surreal that the boy who wanted to travel the galaxy wanted to retire. Obi-Wan smiled softly; times had changed. He only hoped Anakin would still get the chance to enjoy his family life. That Ahsoka could finish her training with Anakin by her side - if that was still her wish. After all, the future of the Jedi was uncertain.

But one thing he was sure off; he wouldn't give up without a fight.

Obi-Wan spent the next few hours in silence, trying to sort out his thoughts, until at some point his eyes fell shut.

After the little astromech had surprisingly handed her her lightsabers along with a ration bar, Ahsoka hadn't known what to do at first. She had briefly thought about going to her grandmaster in the cockpit, just to see if he was okay. In the end, however, she had decided against it when her body demanded the rest it needed. She had choked down the ration bar, grateful that there was anything to eat at all, even if it literally turned her stomach. Afterwards she had taken a short shower, scrubbing the dirt of Zygerria from her skin. Her thoughts were still rattling through her head when she finally settled back into bed, wrapped in a blanket.

Space was still freezing cold. She knew that the room was probably relatively warm, but the fever still made her feel chilly. Ahsoka would prefer to forget what had happened, but this new reality was literally screaming in her face. Hunted like criminals. It was hard to believe that the Chancellor had managed to turn the people against the Jedi so quickly. For years they had tried to protect the civilians and many of the Jedi had lost their lives on the battlefields. But those sacrifices were forgotten. What remained was the brand as traitors. And they had her master. Was she angry at Master Kenobi for not trying harder? For leaving Anakin behind? Maybe she shouldn't judge him, she hadn't been in his situation. Anakin had torn the bond apart. Ahsoka didn't want to imagine how her grandmaster had felt. It was always taught that a bond that linked Jedi was sacred. If it was brutally severed - by death or pure intent - the sudden loss could cause severe psychological and even physical damage. Master Kenobi had said nothing about it, but she had seen the pain in his eyes.

It was not the first bond he had lost like this. Did one get used to it at some point? Or did a new loss rip open all the old wounds again?

Ahsoka pulled the blanket tighter around herself and tried to sleep a little. Maybe that would make her feel better. She even managed to rest for a few hours. But she was jolted out of sleep when the Force suddenly changed. The feeling was muted, but she still felt it clearly. The Force was screaming in agony, was loud, restless. Searching for her children. It took Ahsoka a moment to understand what was going on. Master Kenobi's shields must have dropped a little, and immediately the whirlwind that occupied the Force was palpable. The Padawan reinforced her own shields and slowly sat up on the bed. Was this what her grandmaster had been feeling all along? And she had only caught a faint glimpse. Ahsoka slipped on her boots and quietly left the room.

When she entered the cockpit, the first thing she saw was the droid monitoring the engines.

"Hey," she whispered, and the astromech beeped softly in acknowledgement. On light feet, she stepped forward to the pilot chairs. There he was. Master Kenobi was asleep; arms folded, his head dropped on his chest. Sand and dirt still encrusted much of his clothing and body. He was snoring a little, but that was not surprising when she observed the distinct discoloration and swelling of his nose and the areas around it. It had obviously bled a little again, as she could guess from the blood in his beard. Ahsoka bit her lips. She didn't know how she was going to make this up to him.

Should she wake him up?

A glance at the navi computer told her that it was just under an hour to Alderaan. She had slept through almost the entire flight. Placing her unbandaged hand lightly on his shoulder, Ahsoka tried to wake the jedi.

"Master...?"

With a grumble, he began to stir. His eyes still closed, Ahsoka watched as one of his hands reached up to run over his face. Before she could think twice about it, she grabbed his wrist.

"I don't think you want to do that."

The reaction was almost instantaneous. His eyes shot open and his head snapped in her direction. Apparently, it took him a moment to recognize her.

"Ahsoka."

Slowly, she let go of his wrist again and squeezed out a small smile.

"Yeah, sorry. I thought it would be better to keep you from touching your nose. It was bleeding again, by the way."

She made a hand gesture, pointing under her own nose. He frowned, apparently still half asleep, until he eventually understood what she was trying to show him. With a quick movement, he wiped the blood from his face with the back of his hand. At least he tried. Most of it had dried up by now.

"Wait, I'll get you something." She disappeared quickly and grabbed a small towel, which she wet and pressed into his hand when she returned.

"Uh, thanks. I think," he mumbled, his voice a little rough. He used the towel to wipe the blood from his face. The Jedi was relatively silent again, and Ahsoka wondered if that was her fault.

Now that he was awake, she noticed how the feeling in the Force disappeared again as he became aware that his shields had weakened.

"Did the Force wake you?" he asked, a tired expression on his face.

Ahsoka nodded slightly and sat down across from him in the co-pilot seat, cradling her broken hand against her chest. "Yes," she breathed, "though I have only been able to feel a fraction."

Obi-Wan hummed and averted his gaze. "If I hadn't fallen asleep, this wouldn't have happened. I'm sorry."

"No," Ahsoka shook her head vehemently, "you need your rest, too. I can only imagine how exhausting it must be to hide two people in the Force." Judging by the dark circles around his eyes, it was straining him more than he would ever admit. Besides, she knew he'd been suffering from constant headaches since the incident with Dooku and was in danger of getting another brain hemorrhage if he wasn't careful. Master Che had specifically told Anakin and her that.

"I'm afraid I can soon add two more people to that list," her grandmaster muttered, hand resting against his forehead.

"What do you mean?" she asked, irritated.

She watched him raise his eyebrows in surprise until it dawned on him.

"Oh, you don't know yet."

"Don't know what yet?"

He sighed and propped himself up on his legs. "Padme had twins just before this whole thing."

"Oh Force."

She received a shallow nod in response. "A friend told me he sent them on their way to Alderaan. Hopefully we'll meet them there."

Ahsoka looked at the navi computer again. Half an hour was left. "How do we get past the planet's security? The Empire has a bounty on your head – and probably on mine as well."

"Padme and Satine hopefully got past them together with the other fugitives. For us it is not that easy, I'm afraid. I would like to avoid making acquaintance with security. Since we're not heading for the capital, I was hoping we might be able to slip through their barricades."

"That's a big risk. Does this ship happen to have a cloaking device?"

"We can disappear from radar. But become invisible? No, I'm afraid not."

Ahsoka chewed on her cheek as she thought about it. "What if we try to attach ourselves to a large ship? If we're lucky, we'll find one of the supply ships whose surface we could hitch to undetected. They'll get us through the blockade, and once we're through, we'll undock."

Obi-Wan snorted. "That's so insane it could almost work. But our ship is far too large to be overlooked on a simple freighter. We need something bigger."

As they approached the planet, Ahsoka's eyes grew wide. She turned to her grandmaster who was looking through the glass just as aghast.

"Is a Separatist cruiser big enough?"

Eyes still locked on the flagship; he shook his head. "We can't do that, Ahsoka. It's far too dangerous."

"Do you have a better idea, Master?"

He screwed up his face in thought. "You take after your master far too much, young one."

She quirked a smile. "He must have learned it from someone, though."

"Mhm, blame it on your grandmaster," he replied dryly, yet she could still see the small smile that almost disappeared into his beard.

"Buckle up," he said then, taking the control sticks in his hands, "and let's hope those tinheads over there aren't paying attention."

After activating their cloaking device, he steered their ship toward the flagship from the underside.

"What are they doing here, Master?" asked Ahsoka.

"I don't know, but I have a bad feeling about this."

"Are they trying to occupy Alderaan?"

"No, I don't think so. I think they want to pressure the government into joining the Empire. But Senator Organa will not surrender to those threats."

"I hope you are right."

Ahsoka watched with bated breath as they flew past cannons and hangers. So far, no response. Her grandmaster was also visibly tense as he finally placed their vehicle on the underside of the ship.

He exhaled heavily and quickly deactivated most of the equipment. "That would be part one."

The rattle of the flagship above them boomed so loudly in the cockpit that Ahsoka felt like she was going deaf. But she didn't care. With a spellbound gaze, she stared ahead, where she could already make out the scanners.

"It will be any moment now."

"Get ready." Obi-Wan gripped the wheel again, his hand hovering over the button that would once again activate the turbines. The scanners were now in close proximity. But they were still moving forward, and soon they had passed through them.

"We're through," she called over the noise of the cockpit.

"Don't rejoice too soon. We can't detach directly."

Slowly, the ship brought them closer to the planet. It felt like an eternity until he finally uncoupled their ship and they shot towards the surface.

"I think I just aged ten years," Obi-Wan huffed as he steered them toward a forest.

"You can say that again," chuckled Ahsoka, who let her gaze wander over the Alderaan's landscape. She had never been here before, but she liked what she saw. The planet was green, full of water and plants. Simply beautiful. With a light bump, they touched down on the earthy ground of a clearing. With a hiss, the engines deactivated and for the first time Ahsoka could hear the chirping of the birds that populated the forest.

"Come on, let's go," Obi-Wan snapped her out of her trance.

Packed with new energy, Ahsoka jumped out of her seat and moved with quick steps to the loading ramp to lower it. As soon as it was open, Ahsoka strode down, overwhelmed by the idyll that surrounded her.

"Wow," she gaped in awe.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" As she turned, Ahsoka noticed that the droid had already rolled beside her and Obi-Wan was still standing at the top of the ramp, smiling slightly, bracing himself against the wall.

"It is," she confirmed, "Do you need help?" She remembered that he could barely walk last time.

"If you don't mind," he said.

"Never," she chirped and walked up the ramp again to put his arm around her shoulders. Slowly but steadily, they made it down, nearly slipping more than once. Once at the bottom, her grandmaster tried to pull his arm away again, but Ahsoka held on to it.

"Come on, you really shouldn't be walking on that foot any more than you have to."

He sighed, but finally relented, exhaustion not entirely unconcerned in the process. "Fine," he pressed a small device into her hand, "Lead the way."

The device showed their current coordinates and those of their destination, in flashing red numbers. It was no longer far.

"Okay." Ahsoka tightened her grip on his arm and they slowly started moving, the droid close behind them. The forest thickened around them once more, and she almost thought they were lost until a small hut came into view.

"Is that it?" she asked.

Obi-Wan was about to answer until the cry of a baby interrupted him. He smiled and gently nudged her forward.

"I think you just got your answer."

They quickly covered the last few meters and, in a few moments, they were at the door. Ahsoka knocked gently, her heart almost leaping out of her chest. Obi-Wan pulled his arm back and this time she let him. A rustling could be heard from inside, and muffled voices, until light footsteps finally approached the front door.

The door opened with a slight squeak and the head of a well-known brunette poked out of the opening.

Ahsoka smiled broadly. "Padme!"

A small reunion :) Let's see how our group manages on Alderaan.
Let me hear your thoughts :D