Chapter 10: Out of Darkness
The city of Jibuto on Rajtiri was ancient, beautiful, and crawling with smugglers. It was a world built on lawlessness, the planet having birthed and fostered more smugglers than anywhere in the galaxy outside of Hutt Space, the streets filled with species that Kanan had never seen, and many he recognized as Separatist supporters during the war, all of them heavily armed and armored, and he spied several, humans, near-humans, and non-humans, wearing the armor of Mandalore. More than once, they passed by people fighting in the streets, and four times, they watched someone get shot and killed. Brutal, bloodthirsty, lawless were the people of Rajtiri, so naturally, Kenobi seemed right at home.
If not for the roughness of the population, Jibuto would have been something grand, something elegant. The streets were lined with intricate, beautiful buildings and homes, and from anywhere in the city, one only needed to look up to see the elaborate mausoleums, hundreds of them scattered among the gently rolling hills of Jibuto, large as mansions looming above the city streets and buildings. Kanan distracted himself from the shady dealings musing about the massive tombs, constructed for the honored dead, heroes of the people, kings, people of great esteem and respect, so he imagined.
It wasn't until he got closer to one when he realized what they were for. Tombs, yes, for mothers, fathers, sons and daughters, beloved and respected who had died in the line of unlawful duty. A questioning, confused, seriously amused grin spread across Kanan's lips as he read the plaque, dedicated to a woman who had stolen and smuggled nearly fifty full shipments of highly illegal spice out from under the Empire's nose to be sold and distributed to drug lords running out of Coruscant. She was shot down and killed by the Star Destroyer Executrix, the personal command ship of Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin himself, and in doing such, she had been made a martyr and was hailed as a hero. So it was that sort of world.
After doing business with the most vicious, irate Lurmen that Kanan had ever seen, the diminutive primate obviously having missed the memo about his race's pacifist tendencies, Kenobi had procured the highly specialized fuel cells needed to power the Umbra for an absolutely absurd price, which the Sith Lord didn't seem to mind paying. Kanan kept close to the Sith Lord on their way back to the ship to drop off the crates of supplies they pushed before them, the Jedi keeping a watchful eye on the lawless people in the streets, who Kanan was certain were eyeing the expensive merchandise.
"Where do you get your credits?" Kanan asked, nudging Obi-Wan in the ribs, and the man looked at him like he didn't understand the question. Huffing in mild annoyance, Kanan asked again, and the Sith ran a hand through his wind-swept hair.
""I'm fabulously wealthy," he drawled like it was self-explanatory, and Kanan felt like a peasant. "I'm a Sith Lord, a Lord is like nobility. Of course I am wealthy."
"Yes, but how," Kanan asked. "You don't have a family because of your upbringing and I can't imagine you holding a job, so...what? Smuggling? Bounty hunting? Fortune telling?"
Obi-Wan shrugged. "A great deal of my wealth comes from my share of Damask Holdings, which you wouldn't have heard of, but the account was made for me by my Master, and I had the good sense to transfer the funds to a more...personal account when it seemed as though I would be leaving his service." He shrugged. "The Serenno fortune left behind by Dooku also went to me, as his successor. After I killed him..." he muttered bitterly, but Kanan could detect a slight touch of something that seemed like remorse in the Sith's voice.
"He must have liked you a great deal if he'd leave you his fortune." Beside Kenobi, Cody snorted with laughter.
"He and I hated each other," Obi-Wan said softly, his pace quickening slightly as they reached the space port. "But...we developed something of an alliance, and when I needed him most, he was there for me." He pushed the crates up the ramp of the Umbra and into the cargo hold. "I don't regret killing him," he said, turning off the repulsor and securing the crate to the ground. "He needed to die, but...I wasn't in my right mind when I did it. I regret the way it was done, not that it was." He nodded, satisfied with his answer, and smiled at the Jedi. "Alright! Ready for round two?"
"...round two?" Kanan asked, looking at the stack of crates in the hold and wondering what more the Sith Lord could possibly need. "We got your fuel your kitchen's restocked, you picked up a crate of highly illegal weapons, so-"
"Come on, Kanan," Kenobi drawled, walking off the ship beside Cody. "Best pilot in the galaxy, remember?"
"No, not in the galaxy!" Kanan called after the Sith Lord, jogging to catch up with him and coming to stride beside the man. "That wasn't what we decided, the bet was if you were better than Hera!"
"And you think she's the best in the galaxy, which makes me..." Kenobi gasped and laid his hand on his chest. "Sweet gods of the Sith, that would make me the best in the galaxy!" He punched the Jedi's arm. "According to you, of course."
Kanan sighed and hung his head. Arguing with the Negotiator was a terrible idea. "Alright, alright...where to next? What more could we possibly need?"
"I told you, Kanan," Kenobi drawled, throwing an arm over his shoulders and patting his chest with his other hand. "We are procuring the essentials. The most important things we have yet to acquire."
Kanan said nothing as he walked beside Kenobi, the Sith Lord talking to Cody in quiet Mandalorian. When they first arrived, Kanan had been a bit uneasy, less about the criminal element and more about being separated from his crew and at the mercy of a Sith Lord. He had spent several years among smugglers, bounty hunters, drunks, brawlers and roughnecks, but now, he had been several years away from it after making a new life for himself with Hera on the Ghost. They shared a home together on the ship, even if they didn't share a room, they had a family, the shared the same dreams, the same cause, and slowly but surely, Kanan had regained a piece of who he used to be. Even if he would never be Caleb Dume again, it felt good to have a cause, to be fighting for something good, to be part of something that would right the wrongs of the Empire.
But now, as he walked the lawless streets of Jibuto, he felt himself slip into who he was so many years ago, when he bitter and resentful at the Force for allowing the Jedi to die, when he spent his nights drinking to forget and laying in the arms of a new woman nightly so he could feel pleasure instead of the pain of his loss. The Jedi way as he was taught it just...didn't work for Kanan, and in a way, it still didn't. He loved being in love with Hera, though he could put aside that relationship and focus on the mission when it called for it. He couldn't remain aloof and unattached like the Jedi taught, but when the time came, he could focus on the task at hand. Not every Jedi that was passionate was an Obi-Wan Kenobi or a Count Dooku. Not every Jedi that loved or got emotionally attached fell to the Dark Side. With temperance and reason, Kanan felt he could love and be loved without the risk of the encroaching darkness. Kenobi was teaching him that, even if he didn't mean to.
The world was far more gray than the Jedi led him to believe.
"Obi-Wan," Kanan said softly as he walked beside the Sith, and Kenobi leaned toward him, his eyes quickly darting over and assessing the people that passed him by. "I have questions."
"I'm sure you do," Kenobi said, craning his neck around to look at a stunning woman with pale blond hair as they passed by, but frowned when Cody wrinkled his nose and shook his head. "Most of which I'm sure are deeply personal, so-"
"Where's your armor?" Kanan asked, putting his hand on the smaller man's head to ruffle his hair, and Kenobi snarled and batted his hand away. "Aren't you supposed to be hiding? Aren't you extremely wanted?"
"Sure, the Shadow King is," Obi-Wan muttered, swiftly running his hand through his hair to correct the mess that Kanan had made of it. "But not me. Obi-Wan Kenobi is dead, remember? When the Empire gives you a gift, use it."
"Seems like a double-edged sword," Kanan said, and the Sith shrugged.
"True, it does complicate thing, especially when it comes to uniting former members of Confederate worlds, but it does make it a bit easier to disappear when the Empire views most Mandalorians with suspicion, now that the Shadow King is active."
"It diminishes your threat," Cody said softly, and Kenobi rolls his eyes.
"Yes, but I hear they make a pill for that now, so it should be fine." Kanan snorted as he inhaled, making the Jedi start coughing and gagging, and Kenobi just grinned at him. "Anyway, anyone who is as roguishly handsome as me shouldn't be hiding under a helmet. Honestly, it's a galactic crime. I think the Empire has laws against that."
"The only crime here is that we have to look at you, Kenobi," Kanan wheezed, and the Sith Lord stopped, looked at him in astonishment, and began to laugh.
"No, really?" Kenobi asked, his tone light with laughter. "I can't believe how wrong I got that! Oh well, I've always been suited to being an outlaw. The ladies love a bad boy anyway."
"Boy is that the truth..." Kanan muttered, and Kenobi patted him on the back.
"I think I like you," Kenobi said, smiling at the man and pushing him toward a building on the side of the wide street. "Our final destination." Kanan looked up at the building, unique from the others around it, but no less elegant, and Kanan marveled at the beauty of the arches, the gently curving awnings...and then his eyes drifted to the sign above the door, carved in flowing lines in Galactic Basic, and read, The Wanton Wellspring. For a long moment, Kanan just stared at it, and then he swiftly turned on the Sith Lord.
"A cantina?!" Kanan shouted, his voice rising a full two octaves in his outrage. "Oh, Obi-Wan, you lied to me! You said this was a supply run! No tricks, no missions, no Sith shenanigans!"
"Mm..." Kenobi thought, his hand absently stroking his beard. "No, no, I don't think so. You said this was a supply run. I said we were going to get all the essentials. And," the Sith chirped, his arm around Kanan's shoulders and leading him toward the door, "since we're here, you may as well have a drink with us."
"And this is essential..." Kanan drawled in a flat voice, and Kenobi simply drew up to his full height, his chest swelled with pride.
"Booze, blood and boning. The three B's of being a Sith Lord."
"I seriously hate you."
"Careful, Kanan, hate leads to the Dark Side. And besides, you won't after I buy you all your drinks tonight." The Jedi remained unmoved, and Obi-Wan rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on, Kanan!"
"Kenobi, I haven't been drinking in years!" Kanan gasped. "Mind you, I used to drink like a fish, and there were many nights I'd wake up on the bar floor, but it's been a while..."
"Well!" Kenobi strongly said in an admonishing tone. "That settles it. As your Master, I can't believe that you'd neglect your training like this!"
"Look, I'm sorry, I just..." Kanan stopped, looked at the grinning Sith, and felt his blood pressure beginning to rise. "Alright, first of all, you aren't my Master! And secondly, drinking isn't part of our training!" Kenobi scoffed.
"That's what you think."
"Ugh!" Kanan gripped his head in his hands and tightly shut his eyes, as if not seeing anything would make it magically go away. "I need a drink..."
"Well, you've come to the right place!" Kenobi chirped, his hand on Kanan's back and gently urging the compliant Jedi to step into the cantina. "Never argue with the Negotiator," Obi-Wan whispered to Kanan as they stood in the doorway and surveyed the room, watching as Cody casually walked across the room and threw himself into a booth in the back, chatting amicably with a beautiful Togruta barmaid as she passed by. "I always get my way..."
"Really, really hate you..."
"Good..." Obi-Wan said, his voice smooth and deep and almost not his own as he pushed Kanan slowly across the cantina. "Your anger, your hatred gives you power and focus. Embrace it..." He looked out of the corner of his eye at the Jedi, the taller man's jaw clenched tightly, and with a wicked smirk, Kenobi laid his hand on Kanan's chest. "Sorry, my mistake, I thought you were someone else." He cleared his throat. "Oh no! Be careful, Kanan, those feelings will lead to the Dark Side!"
"One drink!" Kanan said firmly as he slid into the booth after Kenobi. "One drink, and it's back to the Ghost. I'm worried about Hera."
"One drink!" Kenobi gasped. "Kanan, you don't come all the way to Rajtiri for one drink!"
"No, I came because I lost a bet!" Kenobi fished him a wicked grin.
"Care for another wager?"
"...no!"
"Learn your lesson, Jarrus?" Cody asked softly, smiling at the barmaid as she brought him a bottle of a deep, amber liquid and three tall, thin glasses, and the clone quickly uncorked the bottle, filled the glasses, and pushed one in front of the Jedi. "One drink," Cody said, "and I'll take you back to the ship while Kenobi seduces some poor idiot." Kanan groaned loudly as he watched Obi-Wan quickly snatch his glass from the table and drain it, holding it out to Cody so the clone could fill it again.
"Of course we're here for women..." He took the glass in his hands and observed the liquid.
"Not all of us have lovers like you, Jarrus," Cody whispered as he pushed the now filled glass back to Kenobi. "The best we can do is the temporary kind." Kanan sighed.
"Just...tell me next time, alright?" the Jedi mumbled. "So I could bring a book or something..." Kenobi gasped loudly.
"Sith hells, there's going to be a next time?!" Obi-Wan grinned. "You're alright, Kanan." He raised his glass and looked expectantly at the Jedi. With a sigh, Kanan held his own glass before him.
"One drink," he said firmly, and the Sith Lord nodded.
"One drink," he agreed, and both men tossed back their glasses, Kanan nearly gagging after he swallowed and began coughing against the burn. "Mandalorian narcolethe," Kenobi said, answering Kanan's unasked question. "It's something of a favorite of mine."
"I've never tasted anything so strong," Kanan wheezed, and with a knowing smirk, Kenobi patted him on the shoulder.
"One drink, Kanan," Kenobi smoothly drawled. "Just one."
Half an hour later saw one full and four empty bottles of the strongest alcohol the cantina carried laying on the table, their tall glasses emptied and overturned, and the entire bar in a frenzy as Kanan Jarrus, Jedi and rebel leader, dodged the huge, blue fist of a particularly large and extremely drunk Chagrian, who didn't seem to like that Kanan had called him an idiot for...well, Kanan couldn't remember why at this moment, and he also didn't like that the Jedi had called him ugly either. Kanan did remember the reason for that, and he remembered it again as he looked at the blue face contorted in anger. He was ugly.
Kanan swayed in place as the Chagrin lowered his horned head and rushed him, and though his reflexes were dulled in his intoxication, they were fast enough for Kanan to step out of the way, grab hold of the long, protruding horns, and use his momentum to throw the blue skinned alien into the crowd that surrounded them. It was right about then that Kanan realized how unbelievably drunk he was, because for a moment, he couldn't distinguish between his Chagrin opponent and a bawdy, blue skinned Twi-lek observer, and when his fist connected with blue skin, he realized too late that he had struck the wrong blue-skinned alien. The Twi'lek wasn't bigger than the Chagrin, or even bigger than Kanan, for that matter, but he was much less drunk and much faster, and within moments, Kanan was trying to bat away the Chagrin, brandishing a broken horn in his hand, while attempting to throw the Twi'lek off his back.
"Hey!" Kanan called as he stumbled backwards and slammed the Twi'lek against the wall near the booth where Obi-Wan and Cody sat with three beautiful women, the Togruta barmaid from before straddling the clone's lap as she ran her hands through his graying hair, and a lusty, pink-skinned Zeltron and a light blue Twi'lek flanked Kenobi as they lavished attention on him. "Hey, a little help here, guys?" Kanan growled in a slurring voice that lacked the menace it would have usually had. A lazy, lust-filled haze left Kenobi's golden eyes sharp and glowing with the dark power that coursed through him, and he casually leaned over, observing the Jedi as he grasped the thick wrist of the Chagrin to keep the sharp, broken horn away from him.
"Good job, my friend," Obi-Wan said as he leaned back in his seat, pulling the giggling women toward him and groaning in satisfaction as they kissed at his neck. "You can do it, you're doing great."
"That isn't helpful!" Kanan snapped, looking over at the Sith Lord swiftly for half a moment, and when he felt the Chagrin's weight shift, he quickly spun his back toward him, sandwiching the Twi'lek between himself and his large, drunk adversary, and with a swift jerk forward with his arms and an equally quick backwards shuffle, Kanan threw the Chagrin over his shoulder, sending both the Twi'lek and the horned menace to the ground. Before either could get up, th Jedi stepped on the Chagrin's wrist and wrenched the broken horn from his now loose grasp and tossed it behind him, the horn clattering to the ground and sliding under Kenobi's table. Clearly outmatched, the Twi'lek quickly scrambled to his feet and ran into the crowed, grateful to get away from the drunken brawler and the unfortunate Chagrin that made the poor decision to escalate the situation.
"I am helping, dear," Kenobi drawled, running lazy fingers through the Zeltron's light hair and over the Twi'lek's sensitive, squirming lekku. Never doubt the power of encouragement. See?" He pointed to the groaning Chagrin on the floor. "You didn't best him until you were bolstered by my moral support!" A sly grin crossed his face as he stared at Kanan, swaying drunkenly where he stood and looking at the Sith with a stupefied expression Obi-Wan flourished his hand in the air. "You're welcome. You should thank me."
"Thank you?!"
"You're welcome!"
"Now, you see here," Kanan began, shuffling toward the table with his finger raised menacingly, but he was attacked once again from behind by the dazed, angry Chagrin. With a grin of satisfaction, Obi-Wan laid back in the seat and sighed as the women returned to their attentions.
"Oh, look out, he's gotten up again..." Kenobi called in a bored, half-interested voice, his hand over his mouth as he yawned.
"Shouldn't you help your friend?" the Twi'lek asked, keeping her eye on the fight as she slid her hand up into Kenobi's hair. Obi-Wan chuckled softly, the laughter becoming a growl of desire as the Zeltron's hands drifted south.
"And deprive him of the glory of winning this brawl all by himself?" He kissed her flushed cheek. "Sweetheart, what kind of a friend do you think I am? I wouldn't do that to him..." He reached out and grabbed the bottle from the table, poured a glass, and pressed it into her hand. "Here, drink this," he muttered. "You aren't nearly drunk enough if you can't understand the nature of such a beautiful friendship." The Twi'lek did what was asked of her, quickly drinking the glass of sweet, potent liquor and returned her attentions to her prospective lover when his wandering hands prompted her to do so.
Kenobi slightly relaxed his hold on the Dark Side, the beast snarling in anticipation as he was stroked and caressed. It was little wonder that the Twi'leks were considered a slave race. Even away from their Imperial overlords and their crime lord masters, they so willingly submitted. The Syndulla family, it seemed, was an exception to the rule. Perhaps it would be worth it to go and look for Cham again. With his daughter in his possession, the Twi'lek freedom fighter idiot may be more willing to cooperate with Kenobi's commands. At the very least, there was something to be said for the destructive power of Cham Syndulla. Not everyone could simply take down a Star Destroyer while Darth Vader himself was on the ship. Sith hells, Darth Sidious had been on that ship, though with so many eyes on him, he had been restricted in his use of the Force. Even if things went poorly with Cham, Kenobi would still win, if not by gaining an ally, by throwing the destructive idiocy of the elder Syndulla at the Empire.
A loud cheer went up in the cantina when Kanan slammed his fist into the Chagrin's face, sending the man sprawling to the floor, and without wasting a moment, Kanan grabbed his one remaining horn, lifted his head up, and slammed his face back to the ground, the massive creature going still with unconsciousness. Kenobi grinned as Kanan stood, swaying in drunken exhaustion, but his eyes bright with the rush of adrenaline. No wonder the Empire never found young Caleb Dume. He was a drunken brawler, a roughneck, hardly the image of a Jedi. And a good thing too. Senseless nobility is ultimately what got Luminara killed.
"Alright," Kanan slurred loudly as he leaned against the bar. "Listen up, you idiots. Next one that messes with me gets sent to the hospital!"
"Someone get that man a drink!" someone from the crowed shouted, and Kanan started to respond, but quickly stopped and shrugged. It was a good idea. With a new glass pressed into his hand, Kanan quickly drank the dark, amber substance, sweeter than what he had been drinking with Kenobi the past hour, but no less powerful, and he staggered to the back of the cantina to rejoin his group after his brawl. He reached the table, took a look at the empty bottles, rubbed his eyes and looked again. Sure enough, it was their table, but the Sith Lord, the clone, and the women were gone. He stepped back and frowned, looking at the adjacent tables and their decidedly non-human occupants and concluded that they were not Obi-Wan. Where could he have gone? He swore the man was here a moment ago...
"Hey, have you seen my friend? Sort of a slut. I can't find the stupid whore anywhere!" Kanan asked anyone close enough to him to hear as he staggered around the booths against the walls. "He's got..." He touched his face. "Here. And..." He pointed to his eyes. "Ooooooh, creepy..." Nobody, it turns out, had seen the non-descript man, and Kanan shook his head, closing his eyes as he swayed and tried to muddle through a plan. He was soused, and hadn't been this severely impaired since he crashed an Ithorian wedding on his way to find employment on Gorse. This Sith Lord was a bad influence. There was a good chance that he wasn't stranded yet, since Kenobi had left with women, presumably, and the law of the Umbra was that there was no sex to be had upon it. He'd have to go looking for the lustful Sith before Kanan ended up with no means of getting off this criminal inundated world. After another drink. Another one wouldn't hurt at this point. He was already looking at the galaxy's worst hangover, and so long as he was already hammered, he may as well go on.
Kanan stumbled his way to the bar and ordered another drink, which the bartender quickly produced, and Kanan took the glass in his hand and slowly sipped at the liquid. He had come this far without retching, and he wasn't about to start now. "Hey..." he slurred at the bartender when the dark skinned Zabrak turned away from him, and Kanan smiled unevenly when the man turned once again to face him. "Have you seen..." he started, and swallowed his words when he brought the glass back up to his lips. The Zabrak smiled in understanding.
"You came in with Ben, right?" Kanan stared blankly back at him and slowly began to nod, despite the face he had no idea who Ben was. "I've never seen him with anyone other than his Mandalorian partner in crime. You new to his crew?" Again, Kanan absently nodded, slowly sipping at the last of his drink. The Zabrak laughed.
"He a regular here?" Kanan slurred, holding out his empty glass and letting the bartender fill it.
"Wouldn't say that, no," the Zabrak said. "But he makes it here once or twice a year. Networking, making good with other smugglers, making a spectacle of himself. He's a friendly sort, in any case. Can't complain much, but he wrecks my barmaids if they strike his fancy..." He shrugged as he dried off a glass with a rag and indicated toward the ceiling with his chin.. "We've got rooms upstairs. That's where he's gone, most like. Big room at the end, can't miss it, the stairs are over there," he said, pointing to a door at the side of the bar, and Kanan quickly downed his drink, rose to unsteady feet, and muttered a slurred thank you as he shuffled his way to the stairwell.
There was a reason, Kanan supposed, that the establishment was called the Wanton Wellspring, and the hallway that linked the rooms upstairs seemed to be why. Tucked in dark corners, against walls, or simply standing in the middle of everything were smugglers and pirates and bounty hunters in various states of undress, engaging in carnal pleasures with partners they met in the cantina below. When the lawless made it back to port, it was usually with cause for celebration, and they celebrated by drinking and whoring their way to oblivion. From the look of it, this was the establishment to go for strong drink and easy partners. Kanan stumbled down the hallway toward the room at the end, skirting around two enthusiastically kissing Zygerians, and he sighed heavily. The combination of copious amounts of alcohol and the smell of sex in the air was making him miss Hera.
He felt Obi-Wan in the Force before he even got to the quiet room at the end of the hall, the lingering people keeping closer to the stairwell and leaving this area in relative quiet, save for the soft moans coming from beyond the many doors and the rhythmic pounding upon the walls. He fell to his knees, thinking at first he tripped, but a moment later, he felt the Force rush hot with intense pleasure, raw and primal and savage, and he took deep, calming breaths, his thoughts turning inward as he closed himself off to Kenobi's overwhelming presence. Gritting his teeth and rising to shaking, unstable legs, Kanan stumbled to the door at the end, tuning out the loud moans of the women in the room beyond, and he sat, committed to wait for Obi-Wan to finish so they could get back to the Ghost. With any luck, Hera wouldn't be too mad...
"You've walked into a mess, haven't you, Kanan?"
The Jedi scoffed. "You're telling me..." he drawled, looking to his side at the speaker, and his eyes widened, his breath caught in his throat as he looked into the face of Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. The ghost face of Qui-Gon Jinn. With as much dignity as he could muster, Kanan leapt to his feet and screamed, pointing with a shaking hand at the spirit as he backed down the hallway, the previously entangled couples looking at him with irritation and confusion.
"Ghost!" the Jedi shrieked. "Kriffing hell, this establishment is haunted!"
"Lay off the drink, you sodding idiot!" a nearby Trandosian snarled, pushing Kanan with both his hands back down the hallway toward the spirit, and Kanan quickly scrambled on the ground to put some distance between them. "There's nothing there!"
"Yes there is!" Kanan insisted, reeling on the irritated reptile. "I saw it, he's right-" He pointed down the hallway toward Kenobi's room, but there was nothing there. The spirit was gone. With another vicious snarl, the Trandosian smacked Kanan with his tail, sending the Jedi sprawling to the ground as the reptile dragged his partner away from the crazy man. Kanan sat up and looked in confusion at the door. He was right there. He saw him with his own eyes, hadn't he? With a groan, Kanan dragged himself to the corner and put his face in his hands. This was not what he was expecting when he left the Ghost that morning.
"They can't see me, you know," the voice said again, and though he jumped, this time, Kanan was better prepared. He carefully looked between his fingers and spied the ghostly figure sitting on the ground before him, a small, kind smile on his lips as he curiously observed him. "One needs a connection with the Force to see me, and that is something of a rarity these days," Qui-Gon said quietly, and Kanan laughed and shook his head.
"I've really outdone myself this time," he slurred, the spirit sobering him slightly, but with how drunk he was, that wasn't saying much. "I'm so soused I'm hallucinating..."
"A hallucination, am I?" the spirit asked, folding his arms and throughly amused. "A common reaction to seeing me, to be sure." He chuckled softly. "Even Master Yoda thought he was losing his mind."
Kanan looked suspiciously at the ghost, his features clear as if the man himself were sitting right before him, just as he had once so long ago in the Jedi Council Chambers back on Coruscant, just after Master Billaba had awoken from her coma and dragged young Caleb Dume with her to report in on her mission over a year after its conclusion. Kanan squinted. If the vision before him wasn't ghostly pale and slightly glowing, he'd have thought the man was alive. There was no sign of injury, no evidence of a killing blow, no nothing. He reached out a hand to touch him, and groaned loudly as his fingers passed right through the apparition. This was shaping up to be his strangest day ever.
"So, uh..." Kanan began, waving his hand through the spirit before he reached back to rub his neck. He had nothing better to do anyway. He may as well indulge his drunkenness by talking to his hallucinations of a long dead Jedi Master. Kriffing hell, why not? "So, Master Yoda knew you were, uh...alive?"
Qui-Gon laughed gently, a soft, easy thing that made Kanan feel warm, like he was touched by the breath of the Force itself. "No, I'm not alive any longer. Not in the way you understand it."
"Alright, good, because I don't understand anything." He groaned and rubbed his head. "Oh, I bet Kenobi slipped spice into my drink! Ooh, that incorrigible reprobate, I knew there was a reason he kept me alive!" Kanan wailed mournfully, and Qui-Gon just laughed and shook his head.
"This isn't a hallucination, Kanan. Search your feelings, what do they tell you?"
Kanan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "They tell me I need another drink..." he drawled, and the Force spirit shook his head. "If I'm seeing things now, I've been conscious for too long. This is the Force's way of getting me to drink my way to sweet unconsciousness." Kanan frowned when Qui-Gon said nothing. "...that, or I'm about to slip into a drug induced haze so the great and mighty Lord of the Sith can date rape me..." Kanan gasped. "I know!" He pointed at the ghost's chest, losing his balance as his hand passed through him, and he fell to the ground right through the spirit, shivering as he felt touched by a warm breeze. "I know exactly what you're going to tell me," he muttered as he pushed himself to his knees.
"Oh, do you?"
"Yes!" Kanan insisted. "You're going to tell me that right now, the Sith Lord is vulnerable." He hiccuped, his face feeling flushed as he relaxed into his inebrieated state. "Now is my chance to rid the galaxy of a Sith."
"What?" Qui-Gon said in surprise. "No, I don't want that. We need Obi-Wan."
"Oh." Kanan slumped in the corner. "Good. I sort of like that son of a bitch...not that I can kill him anyway, I'm barely a Padawan, and he's a Master."
"It's true that Obi-Wan has achieved mastery, yes," Qui-Gon said softly, settling in beside the Jedi. "But I feel you may be selling yourself short, Caleb Dume." Wide, teal eyes looked at the Jedi Master, and Qui-Gon met his gaze, amused and almost playful. "What? You think I do not know who you are? I did not know you well, and we did not spend much time together before I was slain, but you left something of an impression."
"Master Qui-Gon..." Kanan muttered in amazement, rubbing his eyes and focusing on the spirit when he didn't disappear, taking him in as if it was the first time he had seen him. "Qui-Gon Jinn...you're the Jedi that trained Obi-Wan."
"I am also the Jedi that failed him," Qui-Gon said mournfully. "My life was paid for with his soul. It was not an exchange I ever wanted, but the price was paid anyway with my foolishness, poor handling of my student."
"...I don't understand," Kanan said quietly, shaking his head, and Qui-Gon waved his hand in the air with a soft chuckle.
"That is not a concern of yours, Kanan."
"So...you're a ghost?" Kanan asked, and the Jedi slowly nodded. "...how did you die?" He quickly shook his head before the spirit had a chance to speak. "I mean, I heard what happened, but the reports were always really unclear, and Kenobi says that he's the one that killed Dooku, so..."
"That much is true," Qui-Gon said softly. "Obi-Wan killed his Sith brother that day, immediate revenge for my death."
"He avenged you?" Kanan gasped. He had heard the stories, but they had all been confused, conflicted, whispers of insanity surrounding every rumor regarding Kenobi only making things more difficult to comprehend. But this made less sense than even the most outrageous rumor. Or maybe he was just too drunk to understand. "But...he blamed you for his fall, didn't he? Even you said you failed him."
"I did," the spirit said frankly. "I cannot fully explain Obi-Wan's soul, and even if I could, it's not mine to explain."
"Is there even a soul left?" Kanan muttered, and Qui-Gon sighed and looked back toward the door when the loud, female moaning reached a crescendo.
"Not much, I'm afraid," Qui-Gon said softly. "Grief has destroyed much of it, darkness has twisted that which remains, and Satine took the majority of it when she was murdered." He was silent for a moment, his eyes downcast, and Kanan could feel sympathy and mourning through the Force, a shared loss with the Lord of the Sith. Kanan watched him intently. The Master had known Satine as well. "Whatever was left after the Dark Side burned the heart out of him was ripped away when Quinlan Vos was killed."
"Maybe he deserved it," Kanan said softly, but his heart wasn't in it, and he felt wrong for even saying such a thing out loud. "Maybe...that was the price for his part in murdering all the Jedi."
"All of them?" Kanan's face fell.
"Well...yeah. I heard about the Sith attack on the Temple. I heard about the senseless slaughter that happened all across the galaxy. I felt it." He sighed heavily. "I'm the last one..."
"...maybe not the last." Kanan looked at the spirit as intensely as he could through his drunken haze. Did he hear that right? He couldn't have. "I feel your mistrust, Kanan. You are right to be cautious. But going forward, you're going to need to trust Obi-Wan."
"There are others?" Kanan gasped, beginning to reach for the spirit again before he quickly withdrew his hand. "Where? How?"
"In time, Kanan," Qui-Gon said softly. "There are many things at work you are unaware of, and perhaps it was wrong to tell you this, but your faith in Obi-Wan must be absolute going forward."
"B-but there are other Jedi?" Kanan asked almost frantically. "Some others survived?" A secretive smile played on Qui-Gon's lips.
"Yes and no." Kanan scoffed and rolled his eyes.
"I forgot how vague the Jedi were..."
"Just know that Luminara did good work the night the Jedi fell, and none of it would have been possible without Obi-Wan's warning of the unavoidable things to come."
"...he saved the Jedi?" Kanan gasped, looking wide eyed at the spirit, and he slowly shook his head. "I'll say this, Master Qui-Gon. This has been one hell of a hallucination."
"Talking to yourself, Jarrus?" Kanan looked bleary-eyed at the clone as he approached, has armor neat and immaculate, almost as if he hadn't been recently out of it, which Kanan knew he had been. He looked to his side at Qui-Gon, the spirit sitting tall and straight and smiling brightly at the clone.
"Y-yeah..." Kanan said quietly. "Guess so." He thrust his thumb at the door. "Done so soon? Your friend is still going." Cody shrugged.
"I'm getting older, Jarrus, I don't have the stamina I used to. I finished a while ago." Cody drummed his fingers on the armor plating on his arm. "I get business done while Kenobi indulges himself." A wry, lazy smirk spread across Kanan's face.
"Still a slave, clone?" Cody scoffed.
"Hardly. You're an asshole when you're drunk, Jarrus." Kanan grumbled, wilting slightly under the harsh gaze of the Force ghost.
"S-sorry..." Kanan cleared his throat. "So, uh...what business?" Cody shrugged.
"Keeping an eye on the big name smugglers, looking out for fast ships. That sort of thing." He smirked as he leaned in toward the severely drunk Jedi, and Kanan wondered why the clone didn't appear inebriated at all. Maybe the man had executed temperance, which Kanan found to be a severe lapse of judgement. "One of the fastest ships I have ever seen just changed hands, and her new owner is far more agreeable than he last. I just got out of talks with her new owner, sort of an infamous gambler and smuggler, though..." He frowned, rocking his head from side to side. "Not the best pilot. He wasn't receptive to dealing with Mandalorians, but you might have more luck. His name's Calrissian. Pass the name along to Hera."
"...why are you sharing this?" Kanan slurred. "Won't your Master be angry you're giving away secrets?" Cody rolled his eyes.
"Kenobi isn't my Master, he's my friend, and he's my brother. And we're allies now, fool. I know you're drunk, but kriffing hell..."
"Trust, Kanan," Qui-Gon said kindly. "So much is hidden from you, I know, but Obi-Wan is the key to the destruction of the Sith. Faith is needed for hope to thrive, and you must have faith in him. Sometimes help comes where you least expect it."
Kanan was about to respond when the comlink on his wrist went off, and with a huff of irritation he checked the device, slowly read the message left for him, blinked, and read it again. It...didn't make sense, and a slow panic rose within him. Before he could stop himself, he used the Force to open the door to Kenobi's room and rushed inside, stopping suddenly when he was grabbed by the Dark Side and lifted into the air, brought quickly to float before Obi-Wan as he lounged on a couch with a glass in his hand.
"Once, just once," Kenobi snarled, "I want a friend that understands how to knock." He indicated to the bed behind him where the two girl lay softly moaning in exhaustion, the powerful pheromones secreted by the Zeltron slowly bringing the girls back into a state of high arousal. "Look at them, Kanan, the girls want me, and you are getting in the way of this beautiful, beautiful thing!"
"Do they actually want you?" Qui-Gon asked, appearing beside the floating, displeased Jedi, and the Sith's eyes narrowed in anger. "It's so hard to tell, consent is such a tricky thing with you, Lord Lumis."
"Damn it, Qui-Gon, you always do this!" Obi-Wan shouted, throwing his hands in the air and jumping up from the couch, Kanan dropping in a heap on the ground as the Sith strode to stand face to face with the Force ghost. "Every single time, Qui-Gon!" Kenobi snarled. "Are you just jealous, is that it? Didn't get enough in life, so now you're vicariously enjoying sex through me?" The Jedi rolled his eyes.
"Don't be absurd," Qui-Gon said softly, folding his arms into the sleeves of his robes and looking briefly to Kanan, who sat on the floor and stared at the apparition in bewilderment. "I'm simply concerned for you, I know how your heart bleeds."
"Yeah, well, it doesn't bleed when I'm inside a woman!" the Sith Lord snapped. "You're lucky Kanan's here, or I'd make you watch me take those girls as hard as I can! Mark my word, next time, I will!" Golden eyes shot to the Jedi on the ground, the man gaping and pointing at Qui-Gon, and Kenobi groaned and rolled his eyes.
"You see it too!" Kanan said in a voice that cracked with his disbelief. "It's a ghost, it's real!"
"Sith hells, Kanan, of course it's a ghost!" Kenobi cried, throwing his hands in the air. "On top of everything else, why wouldn't I be haunted?!" The Sith Lord reeled on the spirit. "Don't you have a job to do?! I gave you a task, you were supposed to teach them-"
"I did," Qui-Gon swiftly interrupted, "and they accomplished the task. Obi-Wan, they are growing terribly fast. They need you, not me."
"Mm..." The swell of pride within the Sith Lord quickly vanished when Kanan Jarrus could no longer hold it together and vomited on the floor. Kenobi looked at him with disgust. "All that expensive liquor, wasted on a Jedi. Typical." He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the man as he finished retching. "Why didn't you just purge yourself of the toxins?!"
"...you can do that?!" Kanan asked in disbelief, and Obi-Wan rolled his eyes and helped the man to his feet.
"Of course you can do that...Sith hells, the Jedi truly are dead. What did I tell you, Qui-Gon?"
"A fact I never denied," the spirit said, and Kanan looked at him in wonder. It was Qui-Gon, not some alcohol induced hallucination, which meant...
He looked up at the Sith Lord, hie eyes blazing gold and bespeaking of the corruption that lay within him. This man had saved Jedi. Not just Luminara, who he cared for, but other Jedi. The spirit was vague about it, like Hera was vague about Fulcrum, but Kanan felt immediately that he could trust the Force ghost. He respected Kenobi before, but now, he trusted him.
"Well, the mood is dead," Kenobi said in a low, tired growl, rolling his eyes as Kanan threw his arms around him and didn't let go. "Why did you barge in here, Kanan..."
"Hera and Sabine were picking up a shipment for Fulcrum," he muttered into the Sith's chest. "The Phantom wasn't repaired right, they're stranded and they're in danger..."
"Serves your stubborn girlfriend right," Kenobi said with a sigh, prying the Jedi off of him and extending his hand toward the girls on the bed, both of them shivering violently for a moment before they fell still, forced into deep sleep. "She should have let me do the repairs, she's worse than her father."
"She's not my girlfriend," Kanan drawled, swaying and being held up by the sheer power of his will alone. "She's my loooooooover..."
"Right..." Kenobi drawled, dragging the inebriated man up by the shoulder. "Come on, then. Let's go save your Twi'lek. I've got a few bottles for the trip."
Hera and Sabine crouched behind a stack of crates for cover as they waited for the stalking beasts to emerge from their lair. The creatures, sleek, black quadrupeds whose yellow eyes were painfully sensitive to sunlight, had been nesting inside the hangar of Fort Anaxes, a large, Republic military base that had been left abandoned since the end of the Clone Wars, and it had since become a popular place for secret meetings, something the Empire had yet to pick up on. The Fort used to be on the planet Anaxes, but a cataclysmic, geological disaster ravaged the planet, leading to its complete destruction, the entire planet rendered into little more than an asteroid field. The Fort miraculously survived, and now, the large asteroid was subject to the full light of the system's primary sun at all times.
Unless another asteroid happened to pass in front of it.
With the shade came the creatures, the savage beasts snarling and hissing as they stalked out of their lair, and Hera and Sabine were left to defend themselves, shooting at the beasts while they charged and retreating as they took cover and hoped for the asteroid to pass. It didn't take long for the sunlight to return and drive the beasts back into their cave, but a much larger asteroid was slowly floating above them, and there wasn't much time before it blocked the sun completely. The creatures would return, and they were running low on charges for their blasters. A close call with one of the creatures left Sabine with large, deep gouges in her arm, the exposed flesh below her limited armor bleeding profusely, which left her aim with her secondary hand shaky at best.
"That is the last time I'm letting those two repair anything unsupervised!" Hera said firmly as she tore the ripped leg of her pants with her teeth into strips and carefully wrapped Sabine's arm. "I'm so sorry, Sabine. This is my fault."
"How could they not notice a fuel leak?" Sabine absently asked, looking over the long landing strip before them and observing their assets. It wasn't much, but it may be enough to help them survive until the massive asteroid passed them by. And to her delight, yes, there were explosives among the crates. When all else fails, blowing things up had always worked for her. A well-placed explosion could make one person look like many people.
"I don't know, but when they get here and we're safe, I'm going to let them have it," Hera grumbled, tying off the strip of cloth, blood slowly soaking through, and with a frown, she began laying on another strip. "Got a plan?"
Sabine nodded and pointed to the red canisters among the crates. "An old friend of mine. Highly explosive rhydonium."
"Well, it's nice to have friends, isn't it?" Hera said, a sly smile on her face. "We don't have much time. Can they be moved?" Sabine nodded, watched as Hera tied off the next strip, and she moved her arm, wincing in pain, but it was manageable. "Let's get them in position to cause the most damage possible."
"Hera, we can blow up a lot of them with this, but we don't know how many-"
"I know, Sabine," Hera said, laying her hands on the girl's shoulders. "We've called for help, it's all we can do. I promise, I will keep you safe for as long as I can."
"We'll keep each other safe," Sabine said firmly, and the Twi'lek nodded swiftly and the two were off to move the explosive canisters into place. Sabine had some trouble with trust as of late, the business with the secrecy surrounding Fulcrum rubbing her the wrong way, but here, in a moment of crisis, Hera was steadfast and reliable, the trust and care she felt for the Mandalorian coming through with her every action. It was enough, and Sabine put aside the conflict and decided that, if they survived, she'd have faith in this rebellion they stood on the fringe of. Her Shadow King was a part of it, yes, but the important thing was that the crew of the Ghost, her family believed in it. And that was enough.
A shadow passed over the ground, and Hera and Sabine dove behind the stacks of crates, their weapons trained on their first line of explosives, watching as the shadow reached across the landing strip toward the hangar that served as the creatures' nest. When the sun was hidden behind the asteroid, hundreds of glowing, yellow eyes peered at them from the darkness, the snarling beasts slowly stalking out of their cave. With a feral roar, the beasts began to charge, rushing for the Twi'lek and the Mandalorian, and when the creatures reached the line, Sabine shot the canister, the contents exploding in a blaze of red and green fire, the vicious beasts flying and howling in pain.
And still they came.
Retreating to their next position, Hera and Sabine shot at the creatures that came too close to them, and they dove behind their next cover point, shooting the next line of canisters and ducking as the next explosion rocked the area. As soon as it was clear, the women resumed their retreat toward the fuel-less Phantom, the creatures following close behind. Past the third, fourth and fifth line of explosions, the creatures still followed, gaining ground and their number hardly seeming to dwindle at all. There were not ten feet from the Phantom's open hatch when they had to turn around and make a stand, blasters shooting with deadly precision against each beast as it pounced, each woman covering the other as claws cut and fanged jaws came far too close to latching on to hands and limbs. Without any explosives left, they could do no more than what they were doing, and it wasn't enough.
Something made the snarling beasts stop their aggressive charge for a moment, just long enough to give Hera and Sabine a few free shots at the closest ones, and then they felt it too. A deep, reverberating thrum in the air that vibrated deep in their chests, and with a smile, the two women drew closer together, increasing the fury of their fire as the beasts shook out of their stupor and began the attack again, all the while the thrum growing louder into the high pitched whistle of powerful engines. Their help had arrived, though not the help they were expecting.
Within seconds, the sleek black of the Umbra hung in the sky above them, blotting out any light the asteroid didn't cover, and from the open access doors beneath the ship, a dark figure dropped to the ground, landing in a crouch between the women and the beasts, and Obi-Wan slowly rose, his hands hovering over the hilts of his lightsabers. A moment later, and a second figure fell out of the ship, this one not landing with the feline grace of the Sith Lord, but with a loud thud as he collapsed on the ground in a laughing, obviously drunken heap. Hera stared at the Jedi in a mix of disbelief and outrage as Kanan stood, swaying on unsteady legs and quickly brandishing the blaster he kept strapped to his thigh.
"Hera!" Kanan boldly declared, his speech amazingly slurred, "I've come to rescue you from these foul beasts!"
"Oh, have you?" she said sweetly, so unlike her usual tone, and Kanan's chest puffed as she drew near, "I'm so glad you've come to my rescue..." She swiftly punched the man's arm, sending the drunken Jedi stumbling back a few steps before he caught his balance. "If those beasts don't kill you, I will! Are you drunk?!"
"Nooo..." Kanan drawled. "I'm soused, I'm way beyond drunk..." He pointed an accusing finger at the Sith Lord. "It's his fault! Him and his ghost friend!"
"Hey, don't you go blaming me for this!" Kenobi said without looking back at them, his hands held out before him as he felt at the creatures, the beasts pacing cautiously before him, afraid and uncertain of what to do with the new powers that had arrived. "But I'll give you that it is Qui-Gon's fault. Things often are, and he is very distressing."
"Well, you really can't let boys do anything, can you?" Sabine asked, her weapons primed and watching as the Umbra magnetized the Phantom and brought the little transport up into its hold.
"Don't worry, Sabine, I've got this!" Kanan said, pointing his blaster at the creatures and firing rapidly, not a single bolt hitting any of them. Kanan examined his blaster mournfully. "Hey, it's broken!"
"Stop shooting, you idiot!" Obi-Wan snarled, reaching out with the Force and tearing the weapon out of the Jedi's hand, the beasts finally emboldened once again and they moved closer, one particularly vicious one pouncing at the Sith Lord. Kenobi felt the beast just before it struck, and he swiftly called his lightsaber to his hands, the blade igniting while the hilt flew into his grasp, and he turned and slashed upwards, cutting the creature right through down the middle, the two halves tumbling toward the other three people.
"Uh, eww!" Sabine shouted, looking at the mess that came to rest right before her, quickly diverting her attention back to the beasts who began barking and hissing and snarling as the circled the group, the Umbra slowly lowering toward the ground.
"Kanan, get the girls up on the ship," Kenobi commanded, his hands out before him as he brought the Force down on the beasts, the creatures whimpering and whining as their minds were dominated, the Sith's eyes closed in concentration as he exerted his will upon the massive pack, his hands shaking from the weight of the effort.
"Alright, come on..." Kanan said softly, grabbing their hands and quickly sobering, the rush of the Force around him clearing away the severity of his intoxication, and with a quick look back at Kenobi, he rushed the girls inside. "Kenobi!" Kanan shouted from the ramp, the Sith Lord not moving at all as he wrestled to control the throng of creatures that swarmed over the asteroid. "Kenobi, they're safe, let's go!"
Slowly, Obi-Wan backed up toward the ramp, his hands extended and shaking, his grip beginning to slip as the beasts grew more frustrated, more frantic, and with a final surge of energy, Obi-Wan let lose the Dark Side, the howling, vicious wrath greater than that of any creature that hunted them, and the Force tore at the creatures, sending them flying away from Kenobi and the Umbra as the nexus exploded outwards, the beasts howling and whimpering in pain as their primitive minds were savaged. Left feeling drained by the overwhelming use of the Force, Obi-Wan found himself caught by Kanan and helped into the ship, the ramp closing behind them as the Umbra took off, flying away from the asteroid field and out to open space.
When they got to the cockpit, they found Hera with her hands in the air, a petulant look on her face, and Cody standing with both his blasters drawn, one pointed at Hera and the other at Sabine, the younger Mandalorian's own blasters trained on the clone. Obi-Wan rolled his eyes as Kanan's support left him. This was not his day.
"Ooh, I knew clones couldn't be trusted!" Kanan said, his voice still slightly slurred and clearly still drunk, though not nearly as severely as before.
"Sir," Cody said firmly, "the bitch tried to take the pilot's seat." Hera simply shrugged.
"Can you blame a girl for trying?" Obi-Wan flashed the Twi'lek a patronizing smile as he snapped at Cody, the clone returning his weapons to their holsters. With a sigh of relief, Sabine put her own weapons back on her hip.
"Sure can, sweetheart," he drawled as he took the pilot's seat, his hands flying effortlessly over the controls as he set their destination into the navicomputer and pulled the hyperdrive lever, the ship sliding into hyperspace with such ease that Hera could barely feel the ship accelerate. "You don't get to ride mine until I get to ride yours. Umbra's a very particular slut. Not everyone can talk to her right, can they, baby..." he cooed as he stroked the console. "Damn, I must be getting old..." Obi-Wan said softly, running his hands over his face. "There was no way something like that would exhaust me like this during the Clone Wars..."
"Sensors picked up hundreds of life forms down there, brother," Cody said as he slipped into the pilot's seat. "You've never dominated so many minds at once."
"Primitive minds," the Sith Lord sneered, and the clone beside him rolled his eyes.
"Sure, but I saw a big one in the back." The Sith's golden eyes looked at the clone, and Cody simply grinned. "Really big."
"Shit, we've got to go back fro it," Obi-Wan muttered, his hands flying over the naivcomputer before Hera quickly reached out and grabbed his wrists.
"Oh, no you don't! You are getting us back to the Ghost!"
"But mom!" the Sith Lord whined. "I want to go back for the giant, scary beast! I want it to fight my rancor!"
"You can go back on your own time, Spectre Zero," Hera said, her face far more gentle than her tone. "We need to get back." The Sith Lord shook her grip free, and he leaned back in his seat, his eyes closed as he touched the Force, willing it to clear away his exhaustion. "Where is the Ghost anyway?" the Twi'lek asked. "I expected Ezra and Zeb to answer our distress call, since they were the ones that got it."
"They were too nervous to fly the Ghost," Kanan said, the man sitting back in the passenger seat and fighting to remain awake, but it was a battle he was losing. When Hera laid her hand upon his head and gently rubbed his scalp, the Jedi fell asleep almost instantly.
"Well, they should be nervous," Hera said softly, and the Sith Lord smirked. "This whole mess is their fault."
"It's your fault, Syndulla," Kenobi said softly, his grin getting wider when he felt the pilot's angry eyes on him. "If you had just let me fix the shuttle, you wouldn't have been in this mess."
"If you hadn't taken Kanan with you on your...drunken escapade, he would have come to the rescue sooner, and he would have been sober enough to do it himself!"
"We wouldn't have had to come to the rescue at all if you hadn't scraped the Phantom in the first place!"
"And that," Hera said firmly with a triumphant smirk on her face, "only happened because Kanan's plan went south."
"Ah..." Obi-Wan said, leaning back in his seat and looking at the unconscious Jedi. "I might have known all this was somehow his fault."
"It always is." She smiled softly at the Jedi in the seat beside her, her hands lovingly stroking his face. "You know..." she said slowly. "You were late in bringing him home..."
"...I know." Obi-Wan sighed and leaned back in the seat. "So, what was the deal? I take the kids on my ship for a few hours?"
Hera smirked. "What's this? Not trying to get out of it?" Kenobi simply shrugged. "Huh. Honor from a Lord of the Sith. Now I've seen everything."
"Usually when you say things like that, impossible things start happening," Obi-Wan said softly. "Stick with me, Syndulla, and you'll have your fair share of impossible."
"I believe it..."
Kenobi flashed her a tired smile, his fingers lightly tapping the comlink on the control console. "Rest up. We'll rendevous with the Ghost near Lothal in about an hour. I'll contact Fulcrum and tell them you've got their stuff."
"...thank you." She laid a hand on the man's tense shoulder. "You're an awful influence, but I'm glad you're working with us." Obi-Wan didn't look at her, but Hera could see the golden eyes flick downwards, a faint flush on his cheeks as a small, modest smile played over his lips. "Try not to ruin the kids while you have them."
Obi-Wan turned to her and grinned, the modesty of before suddenly gone. "It's just for a few hours, Syndulla. How much damage can I honestly do?"