AN: HOLY CRAP. Ok, this is like, two chapters in one, but it felt wrong to divide it up. I hope it's worth the wait. Enjoy, lovelies! As always, your thoughts are much appreciated. Let me know!
Chapter 23: The Assault on Bandomeer
The Imperial administrator of the Bandor mining and refining complex wasn't a gambler. He had a gambling problem, and in Lando's experience, that made all the difference. It was indicative of a greedy risk taker, someone who didn't know when to stop, someone who didn't understand that lady luck never favored one person for long, and as such, they were terribly easy to manipulate. As Obi-Wan had said, the administrator had been waiting for him, and once inside, it had been an easy thing not only to convince him that he was an independent mining contractor in service of the Empire, but he got him to agree to a friendly game of sabacc. After intentionally losing a few hands to the Imperial, that friendly game had become a game of much higher stakes as the administrator's few victories whetted his appetite for wealth, and once greed had sunk its fangs in, there was no letting go.
Which led to now, sitting comfortably in the administrator's office in the command center with a winning hand as he awaited the signal from K-2SO to execute his part of the plan. He watched Chopper out of the corner of his eye as the feisty droid rolled from console to console and discretely familiarized itself with the systems and security measures of the facility. It was a shame that at the end of this mission, Chopper would return to Hera. It was a particularly useful little droid, crafty in ways that most droids weren't, but since divulging the plan to trade its Twi'lek owner to a crime lord for mining equipment, Chopper had been particularly foul tempered toward him. Lando supposed it couldn't be helped. It was a reasonable reaction, after all.
"You sure you don't want to quit while you're ahead?" Lando asked in his smooth, carefree drawl, his tone light and teasing and intended to goad the other man, which was not difficult to do, and Lando knew it had the desired effect as soon as the man looked up, excited and eager and so, so greedy. "It's not too late to back out, you know."
"You'll be eating those words soon enough," the Imperial said, a wolfish grin on his lips. "I feel like your luck's about to run out."
"Is that right?"
"That is right!" the Imperial said, leaning in toward Lando and fanning him cards in front of his face. "What do you say to upping the wager, hmm?"
"Such confidence!" Lando said smoothly, reaching down and producing a stack of credits from the pouch on his belt and placing them in a neat stack upon the table. Having a wealthy benefactor was very nice, and it felt even better when the administrator's eyes widened. "You can still fold, my friend. I don't believe you have so much to wager."
"Don't underestimate me!" the Imperial snapped, slamming a datacard on to the table. Lando moved to pick it up, and the administrator quickly laid his hand over it. "Not so fast."
"But what is it?" Lando asked. "It isn't a wager if its worthless. You could be conning me, for all I know." Smiling wickedly, he held up the small card.
"This he said, "are coordinates and a special invitation to a tibanna mining facility out in the Anoat Sector. The region's controlled by mobsters and criminals and it isn't exactly safe..." He drew up proudly. "But I'm in good with Baron Administrator Raynor." He leaned forward. "Bespin is a gold mine, and being able to provide interested parties with tibanna gas could be quite profitable."
"Oh yeah?" Lando asked, suddenly very interested as he heard opportunity knocking. "Is this Raynor looking sell?"
"He's been open in the past, yeah," he said, smirking. "You'd like him. He's quite a sabacc player."
"You're right, I would like him..." Lando drawled, pushing his credits forward. "I'll accept that wager." Lando watched as the smirking administrator laid his cards out on the table, a very high hand, just as the earpiece he was wearing sounded with soft static as it picked up on the encrypted frequency between his comlink and the Umbra, in space above Bandomeer at this very moment.
"Scoundrel Calrissian," K-2SO said through the com in his ear, and it took all of Lando's self-control to not roll his eyes. "The infiltration teams are in position and are awaiting your signal. Deactivate the shields and disable the security systems and report when your task is complete."
"Very good..." Lando said, laying his cards on the table and watching the triumphant look on the administrator's face turn to disbelief as he looked at the Pure Sabacc on the table. "Sorry," Lando drawled, a smirk on his face as he watched disbelief turn to red-faced anger. "I'm piggybacking on the luck of another. I couldn't lose." Behind him the furious administrator, Lando could see Chopper plug himself in to the central console with its interface arm. With the swiftness of a man that had spent his entire life dealing with criminals, pirates and con men, Calrissian drew his blaster under the table and shot two stunning rounds into the administrator, the force causing the unconscious man to go tumbling back in his chair as it struck the floor.
"Nice work, Chopper," Lando said, picking up the data card and swiping the credits off the table and securing it all in pouches on his belt. "How's it coming?" Chopper rocked back and forth on his wheeled supports, beeping indignantly and waving its service arms in the air, and Lando chuckled softly as he backed off. Alright, alright, I understand, you're good, I get it. I wasn't trying to insult you," he said, tapping the earpiece. "Umbra, this is Calrissian. Security has been disabled, and shields are down. We're good to go."
"Understood," K2 said. "Monitor the situation from there and report to me with any developments. Prepare the facility for lockdown on my signal."
"You got it..." Lando said, dropping into a chair at the monitoring stations and leaning back, his hands behind his head as he prepared to watch the show.
Kanan ducked behind a conveyor belt, blaster fire flying over his head, his lightsaber tightly in hand, and with a deep breath to resolve himself, he peeked over his cover to look at the absolute chaos of the mess he was a part of. Above the high whine of the blaster fire, Kanan could hear gleeful, maniacal laughter as a flash of deep red armored plating rushed by, followed by the ear splitting roar and super-heated blast of air from an explosion. HK-45 had managed to get hold of a rocket launcher. Again.
The droid was a thing of beauty. Fluid, fast and agile, it moved like no droid Kanan had ever seen, an impressive thing, since Kanan was under the understanding that this particular model was ancient, thousands of years old, its series long since out of production. From the way it moved, though, there was absolutely no indication of any wear, of anything other than engineering perfection due to the upgrades and modifications that Kenobi had made on the droid's frame. The deep, rust red armor at the very least was new, a dark, beautiful sheen only seen on newly forged plating. He wouldn't have known what it was if Sabine hadn't been fawning over the droid in the shuttle down to the facility. Beskar. Mandalorian Iron. A rare ore only found on Mandalore and its moon Concordia, and known for being the single most durable metal in the galaxy.
It's programming, though, hadn't been replaced or adjusted, and it showed, time and age degrading the programming until it ended up like this. Or, Kanan assumed that had been the case. Surely nobody would have programmed a droid to behave in this manner. It was the only explanation he could find for HK's gleeful dedication to murder. But on that count, the droid was an artist. Kanan had heard that assassin droids often developed sentience due to the independent nature of their programming, and that was certainly the case with HK-45. Only his sentience was that of a psychopath.
"Declaration: meatbags incoming, Jedi Jarrus!" HK said, climbing up on the conveyor belt and helping to pull Kanan up beside him. "Quarry: do you require assistance in killing these squishy organics? I have killed significantly more than you." HK drew up in an approximation of pride. "I have executed approximately eight times as many of these fleshy sacks as you have."An electronic grind came from the droid's vocal modulator in what may have been a scoff. "Derisive: do they truly believe that armor will make them any less easy to kill?"
"Well, that is the idea..." Kanan said between grit teeth, breathing deep as he prepared for the reenforcements to arrive. The droid's head turned toward him and carefully examined him.
"Observation: you don't wear armor, Jedi Jarrus."
"I find it restrictive," the Jedi said, his eyes focused on the large, open supply doors, his body tense and ready for the incoming stormtroopers. He could feel them in the Force, nearly twenty of them, all of them headed their way, just as the plan called for. "I value speed and agility when I'm fighting."
"Ah," HK said. "Comprehension: you value the increase in your movement speed because you understand that your slushy insides are futile to defend." The droid nodded. "A wise choice, Jedi Jarrus. Very practical."
"Oh, I bet Kenobi loves you..."
"Exclamation: he does!" HK said gleefully, pointing the rocket launcher in its hands toward the door where incoming stormtroopers now ran, and with a pull of the trigger, the entire refinery was washed in heat and the glow of flames from the ensuing explosion. When the smoke cleared, the entire group lay dead or dismembered, a few unfortunates left screaming from the pain of torn limbs and burns from their melting armor. "Correction: I have now killed nine times as many as you."
"I don't know if you were listening, HK, but my directions were to be a distraction." He held the lightsaber up. "Just being here and swinging a lightsaber around is bringing them to us. Jedi these days are very rare."
"Revelation: Jedi Jarrus, perhaps you are falling behind in killing these meatbags because you believe your options to be limited." HK dropped the empty rocket launcher and took the sniper rifle off its back. "There are many ways to terminate you weak and fragile organics! You can shoot them, electrocute them, blow them up, crush them. I am a fan of incineration."
"I am so glad I'm on your side..." Kanan muttered, his lightsaber swinging and deflecting the shots fired from the door as new troopers entered, the quick deflections sending the bolts back at the stormtroopers, and the troopers scattered to duck behind cover when the droid drew a heavy blaster and shot suppressing fire at the troopers. Immersed in the Force, Kanan's blade swung effortlessly before him, each of the rapidly fired shots harmlessly deflected away as he protected himself and the droid beside him as HK carefully lined up his shots with his sniper rifle. Reenforcements came in constant stream, their numbers rising and falling as new soldiers took up arms from their fallen comrades, the troopers fighting with more caution than the reckless first wave.
Kanan felt a tug in the Force, a clear and present warning, and he reached out to feel for the cause of the disturbance. He felt it before he saw it, and without wasting a moment, Kanan dove behind the conveyor belt for cover and reached out with the Force to pull HK-45 down beside him just as rapid heavy fire filled the air above their heads. The high whine of blaster fire was drowned out by the sound of metal grinding in rapid rotation and the deep, forceful thrum of powerful discharge, and Kanan felt his chest tighten with the realization of what it was, his mind drifting back to a time when he was a younger man, a different man, with a different name, fighting beside an army of clone soldiers.
Z-6 rotary blaster cannons.
"HK, scan the area, tell me what we're dealing with!" Kanan commanded, and the usually mouthy droid immediately followed the Jedi's orders, its visual sensors glowing deep yellow as its advanced scanners were activated.
"Analysis: Thirty six enemy meatbags, Jedi Jarrus," HK said quickly. "They have brought two turret-mounted rotary cannons with them." HK gripped the sniper rifle closer to its chest. "Declaration: How exciting! They must find us terribly threatening to bring heavy weapons! Congratulatory: Well done, Jedi Jarrus!" HK peeked out over the cover when the rapid firing stopped, and quickly ducked below again when the turret continued to fire. "Excitation: you saved me!"
"You're an ally, HK, of course-"
"Correction: not from certain destruction, Jedi Jarrus," the droid said quickly. "Master's upgrades to my plating make me nearly indestructible. However, the force from such rapid firing may have knocked me off the conveyor belt. It would have been terribly embarrassing."
"Right, that's the last time I'm saving you..." Kanan muttered as he peeked over the conveyor belt, got a clear look at the two shielded turrets, and ducked back down when the firing began again in earnest. "You want to test that durability?" he asked, indicating toward the turrets with his thumb, and for a moment, HK simply looked back at him and stared with its glowing sensors.
"Admission: perhaps that may not be the wisest course of action." Its vocal modulator whirred in a low hum. "Clarification: I do not doubt my Master's upgrades, but Mandalorian armor is expensive. I must take care of Master's investments."
"A good policy, considering how he feels about people messing with what he considers his..." The earpiece in his ear softly buzzed, and he put his hand to it as he reached out and grabbed a soldier with the Force that was attempting to flank them, and with a wave of his hand, he threw the stormtrooper into the barrage of fire from the rapidly firing cannons.
"Jedi Jarrus," K-2SO said, "the Ghost and the Slave I have landed in the shipment depot unimpeded."
"What about the cannon teams?" Kanan asked, looking over the conveyor belt as HK threw a grenade toward one of the turrets, and using the Force, Kanan pushed the grenade the remainder of the distance to land right behind the turret, and with a piercing bang, the rapid fire stopped for just a moment before the second and last remaining rotating blaster began firing.
"Mandalorian Wren and CC-2224 have yet to report their status," K2 said hesitantly. "Was that an explosion, Jedi Jarrus?"
"Yes, but just a small one," Kanan said, his voice raised over the noise of the revolving cannon. "You should have heard it earlier, HK got hold of a rocket launcher."
"Declaration: it is a day that will be long remembered by the meatbags," HK said, and K2 softly groaned.
"Oh, are you still operational?"
"Quarry: did you believe it could be otherwise?"
"No, but one can hope..." K2 bemoaned. "Jedi Jarrus, Scoundrel Calrissian reports that reenforcements are incoming, and they are bringing heavy equipment."
"Shit..." Kanan said, drawing his blaster from its holster and firing at the stromtroopers as they attempted to surround the droid and the Jedi, HK beside him swiftly firing fatal shots at the soldiers the moment they emerged from cover. "We're getting overrun here, I don't want those reenforcements to arrive. How long before Lando locks the facility down?"
"Not until the cannon teams report," K2 said. "Lock down cannot commence until the Ghost and the Slave I have cleared the facility. Are you in need of assistance, Jedi Jarrus?"
"Denial: no!" HK said quickly, and Kanan shot the droid a withering glare.
"If at all possible, yes." The droid make an electronic groan and threw the second grenade, and followed its trajectory with the sniper rifle, saw it falling just short of the turret, and before the grenade his the ground, HK fired and struck it, the device exploding in the air and instantly killing the turret's operator. The force of the blast knocked the heavy mounted cannon to the ground, torn from the power pack it ran on.
"Understood, Jedi Jarrus," K2 said after a moment of silence. "I will have Mandalorian Wren detonate the charges set on the north ion cannon. A secondary crisis will split the force. Is this acceptable?"
"Only do so if they're well clear and it's safe," Kanan said firmly, and beside him, HK stared at him as it shot over its shoulder at the troops moving behind them, every shot hitting its mark.
"Accusation: you are moving these meatbags out of my way on purpose." He paused when the Jedi glared at it. "Quarry: is this because I have far surpassed your confirmed kills?" HK didn't wait for the Jedi to respond. "Soothing: don't feel bad, Jedi Jarrus. You never could have won the competition because you are inferior in every way."
Any response Kanan had was cut off by the sound of a large, distant explosion, the stormtroopers in the refinery immediately scrambling together to deal with this new potential threat, and in the ensuing chaos, Kanan Jarrus and HK-45 rushed forward, weapons in hand, and got to work.
Zeb and Sabine pushed through the throng of miners and factory workers, the rooms filled with screams of terror and panic as people of several species pushed and jostled each other, running in every direction and unsure of which way was safe. They could hear explosions, blaster fire, the harsh shouts of stormtroopers as they answered the calls of their comrades. It was absolute chaos, and it was perfect. Sticking close to the large, powerful Lesat, the crowd didn't so much as part as they scrambled to get out of the way of the intimidating pair, and soon enough, they were running down the long, empty service corridor toward the ion cannon.
"Chaos and explosions, running around an Imperial facility, busting heads and blowing things up." Zeb sighed wistfully. "Just like old times."
"Yeah, no kidding," Sabine said beside him, her twin blasters primed and raised as she caught sight of two stormtroopers at the end of the corridor, and with deadly accuracy, she fired, the red plasma bolts striking her targets in the chest before they could raise their own weapons. "It's been a long time since it's been just you and me." She sighed as they rounded the corner, and she could hear Zeb laughing deeply beside her when the caught sight of the large, domed structure at the end of the hall, its door guarded by two stormtroopers. Both of them increased their speed to full sprint, ignoring the command to halt and drop their weapons, and blasters raised, they made short work of the soldiers.
"Oh, I've missed this..." Zeb said when Sabine placed her hand on the door controls, and the dome's entry hissed open, revealing two soldiers standing guard in the doorway Without missing a beat, Zeb reached out, grabbed each of their helmeted heads in his massive hands, and slammed the two heads together, the Imperials dropping to the ground when the powerful Lesat released them. Once inside and having checked the circular room for any hidden enemies, Sabine sat herself at the control chair and immediately set to work unlocking the weapon and familiarizing herself with the controls while Zeb sealed the door shut and locked it from the inside. If the Imperials wanted to get in, they were going to have to try very hard to do so."
"So..." Sabine said, her fingers quickly running over the controls as she listened to the general update from K-2SO in her ear piece. "What do you think about all this?"
"What, the mission?" Zeb said, laughter in his voice. "It's great. Fighting against the Empire, smashing up their assets, putting their stupid soldiers on the ground...this is what we've always wanted, isn't it? We've always wanted to make a difference, not just be a nuisance so minor we're just ignored." Zeb grinned. "This is the real thing. We take down this Admiral, and they'll feel it all the way on Coruscant."
"No, that's not what I meant," Sabine said, her tone almost cautious. "I mean...with Fulcrum."
"Ah, right," Zeb said, his hand on the back of her chair as he watched the weapon's expert work. "You had some hang-up about Fulcrum before, right?" Sabine was silent for a moment, her hands slowing over the interface as she collected her thoughts, and slowly, she shook her head.
"I don't like following orders without knowing what it is I'm doing. I'm all for fighting the Empire, but blindly following commands is what the Empire had me do. This is different. We're...finally becoming part of something larger. We can finally make a difference. Finally."
"It's what Hera's wanted all along," Zeb said, his ears flattening against his head as he thought. "We've been getting intel from Fulcrum for a long time without really being trusted, but it looks like all that's about to change. Fulcrum's going to bring us in."
"Do you think we'll get to see him?" Sabine asked, and Zeb sighed, his hand running over the soft purple fur on his head.
"I don't know, Sabine..." the Lasat softly growled. "I'm not bothered by the secrecy like you are. Sometimes its necessary, maybe it is with this Fulcrum." He shrugged. "So long as I'm busting Imperial heads, I'm good."
"...I just don't know that I want things to change," the Mandalorian whispered. "We have a good thing going here, you know? You and me and Hera and Kanan and Ezra, flying across the galaxy, stealing from the Empire, causing them problems where we can..."
"You're the one that wants to make a difference, Sabine," Zeb said, laying a hand on her thin, armored shoulder. Besides, your Shadow King seems to trust Fulcrum. I'm sure he'll ease whatever fears you have once this mission is over." Sabine's helmet concealed the smile that spread across her face.
"Yeah, I guess so. Thanks, Zeb. I feel a lot better about this whole thing." Zeb grinned, laughing as he clapped the girl on the shoulder.
"It'll be different, but it'll be better. No more running around, selling weapons to criminals for credits. I bet this rebellion takes care of its people. And Hera wouldn't get us involved with something she didn't think was worth it." The Lesat grinned, showing his long, sharp canines. "What about your Shadow King, huh? He everything you dreamed of?"
"I...don't know what to think of him," Sabine quietly confessed. "And he's been spending so much time with Kanan and Ezra. It's been hard to pin him down and get to know him. I have so many questions, and if Mandalore's going to be saved, if my people are going to be saved..." She was quiet for a moment, her fingers moving swiftly over the switches and levers on the console as she inputted her commands. "I've made so many mistakes, Zeb..." she said quietly, her hand gripping tightly to one of the levers. "For so long, I clung to the idea that the Shadow King was real, that he could help save my people from the mess that I was complicit in for so long because I knew there was never anything I could do." Sabine exhaled sharply. "To think that he's not only real, but everything the stories say..."
"Make it seem like we have a chance, the way you talk," Zeb said, a pained, angry glint in his eyes. "I couldn't save my people from the Empire, but we can save yours. I won't see another race destroyed by those Imperial scum."
"You know," Sabine said, laying a hand on the Lesat's thick, muscular arm. "Mandalorians have a history of adoption. You could be Mandalorian, if you wanted. You could have a people again." For just a moment, the edge of Zeb's mouth curled up, his long fang protruding over his lip, his eyes darting away from the girl. With a low, husky laugh deep with the strain of emotion, he rapped his claws against her helmet.
"What, and have another Mandalorian on the Ghost? We don't have enough with you and Kenobi?" He shook his head, his ears laying flat. "You're all crazy. Someone needs to hold the ship together. In any case, I don't want another people," he growled under his breath. "I've got a family on the Ghost, and that's good enough for me." Sabine said nothing, only laid her hand on the Lesat's and squeezed it affectionately. She admired the Lesat. A survivor of the genocide of his people, left bitter and angry and alone, and still, he carried on, sure of his place and his purpose, confident in the path he walked. There was no doubt in Zeb, no questions on what he should do, on where he belonged, and what was right. He just knew, and Sabine wished she could be freed of her own doubts as he was. Her other hand to her helmet, she activated her comlink.
"Umbra, this is Ion Team Two. The weapon is primed, ready, and under my control." There was silence for a moment, the two Spectres waiting expectantly as the com's output buzzed softly.
"Acknowledged, Mandalorian Wren," K2 said. "Preparations are nearly complete. Please standby."
Ezra didn't know much about Mandalorians. Before his time on the Ghost, he had only ever seen one once, though he was given to understand that it was a bounty hunter, not one of the fearsome Imperial Mandalorian warriors. No soldier so great, so respected would ever venture out to someplace as remote and unimportant as Lothal. Even when the Empire started taking a greater interest in the planet because of its valuable natural resources, there was never a need to send the fearsome Mandalorians. All Ezra ever knew is that they were dangerous, their distinctive armor worn with pride, making them both instantly recognizable and instantly feared, and that was enough for Ezra to know to run and never, ever look back.
And then he met Sabine. Fiery, passionate, beautiful Sabine. He'd been smitten since the moment he saw her, and everyone knew it, and Sabine neither returned nor rebuked his feelings. She simply let him be, let him feel and express, unwilling to impose in any way on what she felt was his expression, since she valued hers so highly. She was an individual, a free spirit, one that could not be contained by anyone. Sabine brought new meaning to the armor of her ancestors, and she wore it as a symbol of self-expression, a thing she painted and repainted as the whim struck until the armor itself became...Sabine. Something beautiful and free, something that cried for rebellion, something that, to Ezra, made him forget all the terrible things he had heard about the Mandalorians.
Cody was nothing like that.
Running beside him, Ezra could feel the fear, the authority, the power that the clone commanded, his armor read and black like blood and smoke, fearsome and intimidating, and he remembered why it was that Mandalorians were considered the greatest warriors alive. It wasn't the only set of armor he had seen. Ezra had seen Obi-Wan's armor once, the armor of the Shadow King, a perfect, harmonious weaving of armor and robes, the flawless fusion of warrior and Sith Lord, a thing that exuded royalty and respect and command and above all else, fear. Terror, paralyzing and consuming, made complete by the curved, sweeping horns that crested his helmet and ran front to back. But more often than not, Ezra saw Kenobi in fine black robes that spoke of wealth and elegance, keeping the armor tucked away out of sight, like it was something dear and precious he was reluctant to use.
If the Shadow King was the most fearsome thing that Ezra had ever seen, and it was, than Cody in his black and red was easily the second. He didn't know that two colors could change a person so much, but where Sabine's bright, colorful designs and paint-flecked armor was personal and inviting, Cody's solid red and black felt like death and darkness, like fire and blood, like blazing life and its inevitable end. As Ezra ran beside the clone, he could only imagine how terrifying it would be to be standing opposite that on a battlefield, and the entire image was only made more frightening by the blazing blue lightsaber he held in his hand.
"Hey, can I use that?" Ezra asked, his hand extended and pointing at the saber that Cody thrust through the back of a stormtrooper as they rounded a corner, his blaster in his other hand firing swiftly and with deadly accuracy at the other three soldiers in the squad. The Mandalorian's helmeted head turned slightly, Ezra biting his lip as he stared into the T-shaped visor, and wrenching the blade to tear out the side of the stormtrooper, Cody let the body fall to the ground with a heavy thud. Blood splattering the walls and their legs from the large organs and arteries that couldn't cauterize quickly enough.
"Not a chance," the clone said, his tone cocky and slightly amused as he thumbed off the weapon and held the hilt reverently in his hand, the silver cylinder rounded with a thick ring of gold near the end where the blade extended. It was beautiful, much more so than Kanan's more industrial darker, less elegant blade. "Do you even know how to use it?" Cody asked as he began running once again, the teenager rushing to keep up as he pouted indignantly.
"It's not like I haven't used one before," Ezra bit out as they rushed down the long hall, the dome-shaped structure at the end like a beacon, their target laying just inside. "Kanan's let me train with his, and I'll have my own soon enough." Cody scoffed.
"Yeah, sure, Bridger, you keep dreaming."
"I will!" Ezra growled, his blaster raised to shoot at the guards standing at the door to the ion cannon, but the clone beside him fired two quick shots, and both guards dropped dead. The teen glared at the armored man. "What good is a lightsaber to you anyway? You don't have the Force, you can't do what a Jedi can!"
"And you're a Jedi?" Cody asked pointedly, and the teenager quickly made to retort, and bit down on his lip when he found himself at a loss for words. "I may not have the Force, Bridger, but I have almost twenty years of hard, intensive training under one of the greatest lightsaber duelists of all time. The Force can only take you so far, most of it is training." He slammed his hand on the door controls, the thrum of the lightsaber activating concealed by the hissing of the door as it slid open, and swinging the blade around his head, Cody slashed at the two guards inside, their helmeted heads falling to the ground when the blue blade bit through their necks.
Cody strode into the room without a second look at the bodies, switching the saber off and fixing it back to its place across his belt on his lower back and immediately set to work on the ion cannon, Ezra grimacing as he stepped over the dead troopers and sealed the door shut. He quietly approached the Mandalorian, observing him as he worked, the man standing before the console, his fingers swiftly running over the controls as he imputed commands and bypassed security, an easy thing to do since Lando had disabled the facility's security measures.
"Look, you're just older than me, alright?" Ezra grumbled. "I don't have much training, and this stuff isn't easy." Cody sighted, hanging his head before he removed his helmet, the man's graying black hair ruffled and his expression almost bored.
"I wasn't going to say anything, and Obi-Wan made me promise, but..." He glared at the teenager. "You want to hear what I think?" He smiled, a tight, forced thing that held something beneath it that Ezra wasn't sure he wanted to know about. "Just from me to you, Mandalorian to prospective Jedi."
"U-uh..." Ezra swallowed hard. "Y-yeah, sure." Ezra didn't see the clone move, but a moment later, he was pitching forward, pain rushing through him from where Cody's heavy hand had struck him on the back of the head.
"You are an idiot!" Cody harshly snapped, grabbing the boy by the collar and throwing him into the chair by the command console, and he spun it around to face him, the teen sinking low when the furious Mandalorian loomed over him. "You want to be a Jedi," he said hatefully, his voice dripping and venomous, "but you will never be one. At your disposal, you have Obi-Wan Kriffing Kenobi, a Jedi legend turned nexus of the Dark Side. He's not just a master of lightsaber combat, he walks the Force like it's his birthright." Cody scoffed. "You are not just dealing with a Lord of the Sith, boy, you are dealing with a Master. Do you even understand what that means?"
"W-well, I-"
"I sincerely doubt it," Cody spat as if the boy hadn't spoken. "If you did, if you understood, if you truly knew what that meant, you'd shut up and listen instead of running your fool mouth. You know nothing, and you are choosing to wallow in ignorance." The clone poked his finger hard against Ezra's chest. "That is why you will never be a Jedi." Cody turned away from the boy in the seat and returned to his work on the ion cannon, and all Ezra could do was watch him, stunned and scolded and at a complete loss for words. His head hurt from the clone's uncompromising, open hand smack to the back of his head, and he felt stupid.
"Why do you serve him?" Ezra asked quietly, slowly lifting himself out of the chair, eyeing the clone cautiously, uncertain if getting up was an option. Cody didn't seem to mind, since the man didn't show any interest in engaging him at all.
"He's my king, why else," Code said, calm and expressionless, his voice almost seeming distant. There was more to it, but whatever it was, the clone wasn't sharing.
"Isn't he, you know...evil?" Ezra asked, and the clone's shoulder's slightly tensed. "I mean, he's a Sith Lord, right? Kanan says they're evil, he says they feed on the pain of others. You know...the Dark Side. I've felt it, and it feels cold...wrong. I mean, that's what the Inquisitor uses, so-"
"They are not the same," Cody growled. "They aren't even close to the same. That insignificant shouldn't even be mentioned in the same breath as Obi-Wan." The clone sighed and ran a hand through his hair, waiting for the information he imputed to be processed and applied to the cannon. "Why do I serve him..."
"Kanan says you're a clone, right?" Ezra asked quietly, though the man didn't move. "So, you've been with him for a long time, since the Clone Wars, probably. You said he's been training you for nearly twenty years, so..." Cody chuckled softly, his hand running almost affectionately over the helmet that he had placed on the control console.
"Is that what this is?" the clone asked almost gently. "Is your complete idiocy in your training with him because you're not sure if you can trust him?"
"Wouldn't it be the same for you?" Ezra asked. "I don't know him. All I have are stories, you know? About Sith Lords and war and Shadow Kings and burning planets. About the Dark Side and evil and the deaths of thousands of Jedi, and Kenobi's at the center of all of it." Ezra took a deep breath. "Can you blame me for being afraid?" For a long moment, Cody was silent, his fingers making small adjustments and changes in the commands on the cannon as he thought.
"Make no mistake," Cody said slowly, his voice soft and low, almost hesitant. "I've seen him do terrible things. Things that will haunt a person for the rest of their days, things that could drive a man mad just by witnessing it." Ezra drew back slightly, his breath held, and the clone finally looked at him, a wicked smirk on his face. "Afraid yet, boy?"
"N-no," Ezra said in a voice that audibly quivered with fear he couldn't quite repress. "I want to know. I have to know. If he's going to teach me..." He took a deep breath, much calmer this time. "If I'm going to learn from him, I need to know who I'm learning from."
"...I've seen him capture and enslave entire villages of people," Cody said quietly, though his voice held no regret and no remorse. "I've helped him do it, all so he could bring them to his palace and experiment on them, alter them, transform them into something vicious and monestrous using the power of the Dark Side. And they want it. He makes them want it, he makes them beg for the chains he hands them." The grin on Cody's face widened when Ezra paled considerably. "I've seen him take women so hard, so savagely, I thought they'd break. I've seen them beg and cry and resist, but in the end, he makes them want it too. Even the most fiercely independent he makes crave his approval, and they will do anything for him."
"...like the woman on his ship," Ezra whispered, and Cody nodded.
"Just like her. And oh, how she fought him." He shrugged. "She wouldn't leave now, even if she could. He doesn't need to keep her caged or chained anymore, she had free access to the ship because she doesn't want to leave. All she wants is to service her Master in every way he commands. She is a pleasure slave because he wants her to be., and what he wants is all that matters to her because she doesn't have a will of her own anymore."
"T-that's awful!" Ezra said, his eyes wide and horrified. "Why would he do such a thing?!"
"Because he can," Cody growled. "Because the Force makes it his right to do so, because it is his talent and his gift to manipulate minds, and he has taken that talent and run with it." The smirk on Cody's face twitched slightly, his eyes suddenly looking distant and pained. "That's not it, of course. It's not like he spends all his time controlling people and making him do his bidding..."
"It doesn't matter, because he's evil. Kanan was right, the Dark Side taints everything."
"Yeah, maybe..." Cody said, his eyes returning to the console and watching the program run, its security measures falling one by one. "No matter what he does, he never does anything in halves. He's nothing if not dedicated to his passions." Again, that smirk faltered slightly, and Ezra watched closely as it faded completely. "And then there's everything else..." Cody sighed heavily. "I've seen what it's like when he loses himself. I've seen him consumed with pain and grief so deep that it eats away at him, so severe that hunger and exhaustion escape his notice so completely that his body begins to waste away. I've seen what it's like when the Force takes him, when he turns himself over to the Dark Side so he can be rid of himself for a time, for so long at times that I've feared he'd never find his way back."
"...the Dark Side comes from feeling of pain, right?" Cody slowly nodded. "...is that why he's so powerful?"
"I suspect so..." He sighed heavily. "But I've seen what he's like when he hits those depths. I've seen the fires of insanity rush through his blood, burning like a thousand suns and incinerate everything within him. I was there when he burned Ord Mantel. I saw what he was like. There was no rage, no anger, no revenge. There was no good or evil, no dark or light, there was nothing. He tore a bloody wound in the fabric of the Force, billions of people died, and he felt nothing." Cody smiled sadly, and Ezra could feel a stab of pain in the Force, an emotional wound forged from a deep connection. "They burned because he was burning. Everything had to burn. The people of Ord Mantel weren't special, they were just the first. He would have reduced the entire galaxy to ash if we hadn't managed to pull him out of it."
"You did?" Ezra asked, and the clone shook his head.
"No, it wasn't me. A good deal of it was Quinlan, I think, and..." He trailed off, his mouth drawing into a thin line. "...it wasn't me." Slowly, the slight smile returned to the clone's lips. "But then, I've seen Obi-Wan with his lover. His real one, the only woman he truly loved. I've seen him fawn over her, worship her like she was all that mattered. I've seen him reach the highest peaks of joy when she carried his child. I've seen him prepare to face insurmountable odds and kill his Master in order to keep them safe. I've seen the unbreakable bond between him and his friends, and I've seen in him the determination of a man that would stand against anything to keep them safe. And..." Cody stopped, holding his breath for a moment before he sighed heavily. "And I saw what happened to him when he lost it all."
"They died?" Ezra asked quietly, and Cody nodded. "All of them?"
"All of them." Cody took a deep breath and pulled back a lever on the control console when the security finally lowered, the weapon humming as it was primed. "There's darkness in him, to be sure, but I've seen greatness in him as well. I've seen him liberate ships full of clones, thousands of us, all freed from our slavery to the Republic. I've seen those hands covered in blood, I've seen him rip the very souls out of creatures to feed his own youth, but I've also seen those same hands caress a lover, or soothe a crying child." He smiled softly. "He's a monster, sure, but nobody is free of demons. He just embraces his."
"You really respect him..."
"I do." Cody looked back at Ezra, and the smirk faded from his face, replaced instead by a hard scowl. "So what he's doing wasting his time with an ungrateful shit like you, I'll never guess. I don't know why he doesn't just kill you and be done with it."
"And that's what you'd do?" Ezra snapped, offended, and Cody rolled his eyes.
"Obviously not, because you're still alive. Obi-Wan sees something in you, clearly, or he wouldn't suffer your idiocy, but don't think that won't change in an instant. You'd do well to listen to him. A Master of the Force need not suffer fools, and Obi-Wan doesn't have the patience of a Jedi."
"Yeah, I noticed..."
"Why I serve him..." Cody growled under his breath. "I don't serve him, Bridger. I stand beside Obi-Wan because he's my friend." Ezra nodded slowly, closed his eyes and breathed deep, taking in all he had learned. He'd been reluctant and resistant to Kenobi's teaching for a variety of reasons, and a great deal of that was his own fear, the memory of his brush with the Dark Side vibrant and terrifying in the recesses of his memory. It didn't help either that Ezra was naturally stubborn and instinctively bucked against any and all authority, and Obi-Wan was a king. There wasn't a higher authority for the boy to rebel against. As usual, as he discovered with Kanan, the problems stemmed from him. He wanted to learn, he did, and Obi-Wan could make him great...
A Master. Ezra frowned as he contemplated the meaning of it. What was it that made Obi-Wan a Master? What was it that made him greater than Kanan? Was it simply time, or was it all he had been through, experience and life forging him into something cold and dark and fearsome in its power. Like a black hole that consumed everything around it, Ezra had seen Obi-Wan harness power from death, syphoning off the fading life forces of the slain around him to fuel his power. Was it that? Was it having such an understanding, such a connection with the Force that left him open and able to put the Force to creative use? He didn't know, but he was determined to find out. There was a great deal to learn from Obi-Wan, about that, Cody was right. Ezra could grow powerful if he could shut up and listen.
"Can I ask a question?" Ezra asked, and the clone rolled his eyes, his hands quickly finalizing the work on the ion cannon.
"Can't promise I'll answer."
"Anakin Skywalker." The clone froze, and Ezra could feel a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. What ever it was, whoever it was, it wasn't good. "Obi-Wan said I'm like him. I-I don't know what that means. I know he was a great Jedi, I know Obi-Wan killed him, but-"
"A cautionary tale, that one..." Cody sighed and put his helmet back on his head. "And it's not my warning to give you. When the time is right, Kenobi will tell you what you need to know." It wasn't a satisfactory answer, but Ezra nodded, quietly accepting it as something within him shied away from the subject. It was a dark one, a dangerous one, and one he was not ready for. Cody held his hand to his helmet. "K2, this is Cody. The ion cannon is primed and ready for combat."
"Acknowledged, CC-2224," K2 responded swiftly. "Standby for the attack. The Ghost is leaving now."
Hera yanked the yoke sideways, sending the Ghost spinning out of the way of a cloud of smoke and flames and twisted metal as the TIE fighter that had been swiftly flying toward her exploded, the flames blooming larger when another TIE behind it failed to get out of the way fast enough and collided into the doomed ship. Pulling back on the yoke and the accelerator, she exited the spin and shot upwards, catching sight of a troop transport out of the corner of her eye moments before the green particle beam of concentrated ion energy fired from the facility's defenses, piercing the hull as if it were nothing, the now flaming transport plummeting toward the ground.
From behind her, the Slave I shot past, spinning as it shot at the oncoming TIEs, drawing their attention away from the Ghost. Recognizing this maneuver from earlier, Hera wrenched the yoke down and sideways, sending her spinning back down toward the ground far below just as the seismic charge went off, the condensed sound waves ripping through the TIE fighters and tearing the bolted metal apart. It had been the third time Fett pulled this stunt, and each time, as the threat he generated drastically increased, more and more TIEs got caught in the blast. Whoever they were, these pilots weren't learning from the mistakes of the ones who came before them.
"You alright there, Ghost?" Boba said over the encrypted com channel opened between the two ships. "That was a close call you had back there."
"Nothing I can't handle, Slave I," Hera responded, smirking slightly to herself. She was certain that Boba Fett knew exactly how good of a pilot she was, which was why he was shooting like an absolute maniac. The stunts he was pulling were only possible if both pilots had been flying together for a very long time, or if the defending pilot was particularly excellent. Which Hera was. Fett was a fair pilot. Maybe even a good one, even by Hera's exacting standards, but where he truly shone was in his destructive capabilities, a field in which he was a master class unto himself. He was flexible and creative, approaching standard maneuvers with disdain and altering them until they became a deadly art form. It more than made up for any deficiencies in his flying, since the highly aggressive pilot shot his opponents down before they could get within range.
"You're an awfully good pilot, Ghost, where's you learn to fly like that?" Fett asked, and Hera grinned widely.
"Trade secret. Afraid I can't tell." She chuckled slightly when she heard Boba groan. "What about you? I've never seen anyone so destructive."
"I spent a lot of time with Kenobi, so, you know." He whistled. "I've been trained as a Mandalorian warrior from the moment I could stand by my father."
"Cody?" Hera asked, and there was a moment of silence before Fett chuckled deeply.
"In a sense, yeah. Fourth wave incoming, look alive, Ghost." Hera nodded, her hands grasping the controls as her scanners lit up with twenty approaching TIE fighters. By their count, there were only twelve of the fighters that had yet to be deployed from the Star Destroyer.
"I see them, Slave I," Hera said, flipping switches on the console and checking the ship's status, smirking when she found all systems operational. "Fall in behind me, let's give Sabine and Cody something to shoot at."
"Copy that, Ghost." The Slave I immediately dropped back into position behind the Ghost, and flying up toward the oncoming ships to give them something to shoot at, Hera pulled back on the Yoke and flipped the ship in a wide loop, angling down and speeding back toward the facility far below. The Slave I continued on its path long enough to fire a few volleys at the TIEs, destroying two in the process before he followed the Ghost, the Imperial starships in hot pursuit.
"Hey, what did you mean by in a sense your father?" Hera asked, her brow furrowed in concentration as the dot that was the mining facility came into view. This time, Boba laughed loudly, a warm and gentle thing.
"Alright, Cody's a clone from the war, yes? He's a clone of a Mandalorian warrior, a man named Jango Fett. They have altered DNA that allowed them to be grown at a faster rate by doubling the speed at which they aged. Well," Fett drawled, "I'm an unaltered clone of Jango Fett, and he raised me as his son until some Jedi scum killed him."
"You're a clone?" Hera asked, the facility coming rapidly closer, and without decelerating, Hera pulled back on the yoke, the ship cutting upwards right before she slammed into the domed roof of the facility. Seeing what she was doing, Boba pulled up much earlier, flipping around to shoot at the TIEs as they attempted to follow the Ghost. Three TIE fighters didn't succeed in altering their trajectory before they slammed into the roof, and several others crashed when they attempted to follow Hera as she wove through the tight rows of smoke stacks.
"I'm a clone, yes," Boba said when the Ghost shot back into the sky, followed by a line of TIE fighters, and the Slave I dropped down behind them, firing at the line and destroying one after the other. His console blared with warning when his sensors picked up the ion cannons priming, and he looked ahead and saw the Ghost tear out of the line, and Boba quickly made to do the same. A bright green line of laser fire shot past them as the ion cannon fired, cutting through the line of TIE fighters that they had once been a part of and disintegrating them on contact, only a few three of the fast, shield less crafts escaping destruction. The Slave I shot past the Ghost as it accelerated to full speed in pursuit of the remaining TIEs.
"K2," Hera said, pressing down the com button to connect her to the Umbra, "please send my compliments to the ion team, that was a beautiful shot."
"I am reluctant to do that, Pilot Syndulla," K2 said over the com, the droid's tone almost bitter. "Further compliments will only serve to stroke their already severely inflated egos. Mandalorian Wren and CC-2224 have been doing enough of that as it is." The droid seemed to groan in irritation. "They have been...fraternizing."
"As Mandalorians do," Boba said. "Don't worry about it, K2."
"I disapprove of this behavior," the droid said flatly. "It is flirtatious." With a roll of her eyes, Hera disconnected her link with the Umbra, angling the ship upwards and spinning out of the way of explosions as Boba destroyed the remaining TIE fighters.
"You know, Hera," Fett's voice said over the com as he flew the Slave I beside the Ghost. "With your piloting talent, and my weapons expertise, if you and I had a baby, that child would be the greatest starfighter pilot of all time." Hera laughed and shook her head.
"Sorry. Afraid I'm spoken for."
"Oh, it's the Jedi, isn't it?" Boba groaned. "Jedi go and ruin everything." He chuckled softly, and Hera couldn't help but smile and shake her head. "As it so happens, I'm spoken for as well."
"Oh?" Hera asked, an eyebrow arched as she looked at the com and her scanners, a small smirk on her lips when the scanner lit up with distant, incoming ships. "Your eyes sure do seem to wander for one that is spoken for."
"I am!" Fett protested. "She just doesn't know she wants me yet."
"Ah..." Hera pressed her finger to the button on the com and reconnected to the Umbra. "K2, by our count, they are launching what may be the last wave of TIE fighters."
"Master concurs," K2 said somberly. "I am contacting the others to begin heading to the extraction point. We shall see you when this is over, if we all happen to survive. Which, I remind you, is still highly unlikely."
With a roll of her eyes, Hera cut the com, grabbed the yoke and the accelerator, and flew full speed toward the oncoming ships.
The secondary hangar was empty when Obi-Wan landed the Umbra right next to the wide open entry leading out into the depths of space, the massive opening sealed with an environmental shield. The low hum of the ship's engines was masked by the deep, pulsating thrum of the Chimera's enormous thrusters, and with the stealth engaged, the Umbra remained entirely visible. The Sith Lord ran through a final check of the cockpit and the droid in the copilot's chair before he stood, checking to make certain that his lightsabers were tightly fixed to his belt, his eyes closed and touching the Force to ensure its calm, even flow.
"Take the Umbra and keep your distance," Obi-Wan commanded. "The teams on the ground are your priority should they need assistance in the extraction."
"But what about you, Master?" K2 asked, its visual sensors looking over the Sith Lord. "The probability of your success is distressingly low. I advise keeping the Umbra close at hand in the highly likely event that something goes wrong."
"That is why I need you to take care of them first," Obi-Wan said firmly. "Children and woman and families are down there, and I never intended for any of them to be involved in this." Kenobi frowned, his eyes narrowed as he felt the cold rage of protection deep within him. "This is my fight, and they will not die for me. Nobody will die for me."
"I find this highly inadvisable," K2 said. "Your intrinsic value is far greater than many of those fighting for you."
"What do you know of value, droid?" Kenobi growled, turning furious golden eyes on the mechanical. "You aren't even truly sentient, you have less value than any of them!" Obi-Wan looked straight into K2's visual sensors, unexpressive lights built into a cold, hard shell, and Obi-Wan looked away as he turned to leave the cockpit. "If you need to save them, K2, if things go very wrong, make certain you get away as well."
"Master-"
"That's an order, droid and you will not disobey it." Obi-Wan adjusted the comlink on his wrist and tuned into the Umbra's frequency. "Contact me only if my team needs to be saved." Obi-Wan didn't wait for the droid to respond, his long stride taking him from the cockpit and down the long corridor to the access hatch, his hand touching the console and opening the door without extending the ramp, Obi-Wan leapt from the ship and landed silently on the hard ground of the Chimera's hangar. He quickly rushed away from the Umbra, listened to the engines whine as they engaged from idle, and with a smooth, building roar, the ship sped out of the hangar. Breathing deep and surrounding himself in the Force, Obi-Wan dissolved into the shadows of the Star Destroyer.
Obi-Wan walked down the halls of the Star Destroyer, the schematic of the ship in his mind as he followed the quickest path to the bridge. He passed by officers and soldiers, techs and stormtroopers, pilots and gunners as they rushed around in a panic, barking orders and trying to make sense of what was going on down on Bandomeer. It was chaos, just as he suspected, and Obi-Wan could breathe the fear in the air, took it within him and allowed it to deepen his connection with the Dark Side. Not a single person saw him, noticed him, even suspected he was present, the collective panic only aiding the Sith's deception. Here he walked in the dark of the Force, a mere shadow in his surroundings as he walked unseen through the halls of the Chimera. To the perceptive observer, something would have seemed off and unnatural, a shadow disconnected that moved through a will of its own, not simply cast upon the wall but flickering in the very air before them.
It wasn't that Lumis became shadow, not exactly. A clever blending of concealing one's presence and subtle, passive, very advanced mind control allowed Obi-Wan to rend himself invisible to life around him. A technique he learned from one of the holocrons that he had stolen from Sidious on Empire Day so many years ago, the original technique required the bending of sound and light to render the user invisible to everything, though the concentration and energy demanded of such a thing was immense, and would leave the practitioner taxed. It was a useful skill, if an inefficient one, but Obi-Wan had lacked the talent for such a thing.
Instead, he was left to rely on his own natural talents, and instead of the bending of light, he bent the minds of those around him, commanding the Force to warp the perception of those who looked upon them, the softest whisper sneaking into their minds like mist and forcing them to believe that nothing was there. His previous development of the ability to melt into shadows only aided the technique, and when combined, Obi-Wan could walk with the Force pulsing through his veins and be completely unseen. It was a work in progress, a thing he was still experimenting with, but in the chaos of the Chimera, it worked beautifully, the Imperial attentions focused elsewhere, making his deception a simple one.
Droids could see him, or course, and he'd be able to be seen on security monitors, and were someone even remotely talented in the Force, they should be able to at the very least notice that something was there. But that was a concern for another time. For now, chaos served him well, and Obi-Wan effortlessly made his way through the ship, and before long, had stepped into the elevator that would bring him to the bridge.
The elevator doors hissed open to a bridge filled with officers frantically trying to bring order to their rapidly failing assault, and Obi-Wan wasted no time in stepping out onto the walkway, eyes shooting to him as they slowly began to notice the unauthorized person on their ship. His hand extended, Obi-Wan wasted no time at all in bringing the weight of the Force down upon the bridge crew, his eyes closed as he grasped at their frantic minds and swiftly rendered them docile, the officers slumping in their seats and their gaze hazy and unfocused as the Dark Side dominated them.
When the bridge fell silent, save for the small beeps and chimes from the whirring consoles, Obi-Wan opened his eyes, the glowing gold drifting over the bridge and admiring his handiwork. Most of the officers lay still, their gazed distant, their heads hanging down to their chest, though a few gasped with effort, their eyes shut tightly and their teeth grinding together as they struggled to retain their minds. Slowly reaching out to each of those that struggled, Kenobi swiftly entered their minds and took their will from them, their bodies becoming instantly limp as they collapsed upon the ground, their eyes blank as their ragged breathing slowed.
Kenobi stopped before the last of the officers, a wiry man with a commandant's rank plaque upon his chest, and he frowned, his eyes narrowing as he observed the man. On a Star Destroyer of this size, it wasn't unusual to have more than one very high ranking officer on the ship, but the fact remained that of all the men and women upon the bridge, not a single one of them was Thrawn.
So where was he?
"Commandant," Obi-Wan said, his hand extended, his fingers gently wriggling, and the man grasped his head in his hands, a soundless scream in his throat as his mind was effortlessly pried open, another voice in a smooth, accented drawl speaking into his thoughts and drowning out everything else. "You are mine, do you understand me?" The man said nothing, his body rigid with his struggle, and with just the slightest tightening of his hand, the Dark Side sunk its claws into the officer, and he too went still, swaying slightly on his knees as he fought to keep his eyes open. Obi-Wan placed his fingers under his chin and tilted his face up, the dazed officer looking up into golden, glowing eyes with complete submission.
"This is my ship, understand? You are mine," Obi-Wan said softly, and the man mindlessly nodded, groaning softly when the Sith ran his thumb over his cheek. "That's it, pet...tell me, where is Thrawn."
"Thrawn..." the man repeated, his eyes shutting tight and shivering before Kenobi's grip on his chin tightened.
"Thrawn. The Chiss Admiral. This is the Chimera, this is his ship, so where is he?!" The man stared blankly at him, wavering slightly for a moment.
"The 96th Task Force, Master..." Obi-Wan growled in frustration, his hand gripping the man tighter. He had, perhaps, broken this mind too far, and if he was broken, the others certainly were as well. He pushed the man to the ground with a sneer of disgust, his hand extended and breathing deep as he entered his pliable mind, searching through the hazy memories and found exactly what he was looking for. The deck below the bridge, once used as a conference center, had been converted into the captain's quarters, designed to afford the occupant a view of the blanket of space before them. An entire battle could be commanded from there, and if Thrawn was anywhere, it would be there. Obi-Wan quickly swept from the bridge, entering the elevator and taking it to the next floor down.
"K2," Obi-Wan said into his com as he walked out of the elevator and toward the door leading to the spacious captain's quarters. "I'll be ready to go very soon. Prepare the infiltration teams for extraction."
"Right away, Master," K2 said quickly. "Will you be ready for extraction as well?"
"Soon enough. The Chimera is mine, so I'm in no rush. Inform me when everyone is safely off the planet." He cut the com after K2 muttered an affirmative, and he slowly laid his hand upon the door's controls, and frowned when he was refused entry. With a vicious snarl, he quickly contacted the bridge, demanded entry, and a moment later, the console beeped, the lock disengaging, and the door slid open. Stepping into the darkness of the room, Obi-Wan silently melted into the shadows.
He walked on silent feet inside the room, the door hissing closed and locking behind him, leaving him to gaze out through a large viewport wall, Bandomeer hanging green and blue and beautiful in the darkness of space dotted by distant stars. He surveyed the room, reached out with the Force to search for life and found...nothing. On the ship, there were thousands, all chaotic and panicked and rushing with new fear as the bridge failed to respond, as they found doors locked and sealed, trapping thousands within sections of the ship with no hope of escape. Above him, he could sense the mind broken, obedient slaves he had created of the officers, all docile and helpless without their Master to direct them. But on that floor, in that room, nothing.
Obi-Wan felt a hard, sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, the back of his mind exploding with warning as the Force tore at him. A hard, sharp crackle of energy erupted behind him, and Obi-Wan swiftly ducked just as an electrostaff swung over his head, its ends sparking with deep, purple energy and held in the hands of a sleek, powerfully built Imperial Sentry Droid. The droid thrust the end of the electrostaff down toward Obi-Wan, and the Sith Lord deftly flipped backwards, drawing his lightsaber in the air and igniting it, the blade filling the room with a red glow, and the moment he landed, he pushed off the ground, dashing toward the droid and swiping low, cutting its legs off at the knees, the heavy body slamming to the ground, and with a savage grown, the Sith Lord plunged the blade through the droid's head and down into its body, instantly destroying its central processors.
He wasn't angry, he was furious. This trap he had so carefully planned turned out to be developed within the jaws of a trap set by Thrawn himself. Not only was the Chiss not here, but he had planned on Kenobi being here. When the Sentry Droid deactivated, the room was filled with the high whine of electronics being powered on, and all around the room, Obi-Wan could see the red, glowing eyes of a dozen Sentry Droids as they activated, a written protocol to be enacted upon the destruction of one in their group. The crackle of electrostaffs filled the air, and as they advanced, weapons held out before them, the Sith Lord had enough.
Hands tightening into fists as he grabbed the Force, the Sith Lord pushed out with all his force, sending the droids slamming against the walls so hard the durasteel dented. The droids quickly rose to their feet, preparing to rush again at their target, but the didn't get far as they were all lifted into the air by the tense, wrathful Sith, the Dark Side howling with such might that even in the confines of the Star Destroyer, a savage wind blew, whipping at the ends of his robes and sending anything not bolted down flying around the room. The sharp, grating screech of metal bending reverberated off the walls as the droids, hanging suspended in the air, began to dent and bend, twitching unnaturally as they were crushed, their hard frames crumbling like paper in the grip of the Force. Snapping wires and the sound of shorting electronics punctuated the groaning of metal, and when the droids hovering in the air resembled little more than compact, misshapen orbs, they dropped to the ground with a dull, heavy clang.
Obi-Wan began to place a call to the Umbra when he caught a flash of light out of the corner of his eye, and he drew his lightsaber and spun toward it, his chest tightening when he stared at the holographic image of Admiral Thrawn, projected by the command chair that sat in the center of the room. His lightsaber hissing off, he slowly approached the hologram, his eyes darting over it and checking for any abnormalities, anything that felt wrong or off, but he felt...peace. Calm, something oddly soothing about the faint glow of the hologram, the faintly amused expression of the Chiss, the sound of shorting wires from the droids he destroyed. Whatever danger that had been here had passed.
"Master Kenobi," the hologram said in the Chiss' smooth, even monotone, his native language flowing melodiously off his tongue, "if you are listening to this, you have no doubt destroyed my droids and possibly stolen my ship, as expected. My duties, unfortunately, keep me from being there today, and therefore, this message has been regretfully prerecorded. The business of the Empire has kept me...rather busy, as you can imagine, and I have heard that some men of your particular talent can exert their control over a being so long as they are in active contact with them, be it in person or over a com connection." A faint smile tugged at the edge of the Chiss' thin lips. "Until I know the extent of your powers, I'm afraid that our communications will have to be indirect, until the time in which we actually get to meet. On my terms, of course."
"Oh, we'll see about that, you Chiss bastard..." Kenobi growled, his face alight with excited anticipation.
"I wanted to thank you for the gift you sent me," Thrawn continued. "Do not think the meaning of such a gift is lost on me. I understand the value of the Sith Language to your kind, and I appreciate that these days, only the Lords of your order are permitted to learn it. It makes the value of this information immeasurable, and I thank you deeply for it. The language is difficult, and were I at all proficient, I would have attempted to deliver this message in Sith." Again, that faint, imperceptible smile. "But there is always next time, and there will be a next time. I feel that our correspondence is not yet at an end."
"In return for such a gift," the Chiss continued, "I felt it only proper to give to you something that is of equal value. A difficult thing, since no value can be placed upon what you gave me. However..." The Chiss folded his hands behind his back, the stiffness in his shoulders relaxing. "I went through the restricted Senate records of the Republic and compiled for you a data card that you will find inserted into the reader of the command chair beside the recording of this message. On it, you will find several holorecordings of Duchess Satine Kryze during her many addresses to the Galactic Senate, both before and during the Clone Wars. A thing of little value to anyone, but I believe you will find it priceless."
Obi-Wan couldn't breathe. He couldn't think. If Thrawn's idea was to disarm the Sith Lord, it was working. The recording ended with a swift and courteous farewell, and the sincerest hope that they could meet very, very soon, and when the hologram flickered off and the room fell dark, all Obi-Wan could do was stare at where the holographic image had stood only a moment earlier. He slowly shuffled to the command chair, looking around the room in search of something sinister, as if another trap lay just within reach, but there was nothing. Only the two data cards inserted in the chair's slots, just as the Admiral had said. He didn't dare touch them.
"Master," the com on his wrist crackled, and Obi-Wan absently brought the device up before him.
"Report, K2..." the Sith said in a flat monotone.
"The crews have been safely extracted, as you requested," K2 said, his tone pleased, but disbelieving. "We are ready for immediate departure...oh." The droid stopped, and Obi-Wan's eyes fixed on the viewport just as three Star Destroyers blinked out of hyperspace above Bandomeer, the fleet flanked by two Interdictor Cruisers, the massive gravity wells upon the hull of the ship effectively keeping anything in the area from jumping to hyperspace. They were trapped. "Never mind, sir," K2 said almost cheerfully. "We're going to die."
"Not yet, not today," Obi-Wan snarled, swiftly removing the data cards from the reader and tucking them safely away into a pouch on his belt. He rushed for the elevator and swiftly stepped inside, his hand slamming on the command to bring him to the bridge. "Tell Hera and Fett to set a course for our rendevous coordinates just outside the Lothal system."
"Master," K2 tiredly drawled. "I don't know if you realize this, but Interdictor cruisers mean we are going nowhere. We're all going to die, cold and alone, in the vacuum of space." The droid paused. "Except for me. And HK-45, I suppose. And C1-10P. We can survive in space."
"Hey, idiot," Kenobi snapped as he rushed out on to the bridge, the Commandant quickly approaching him and bowing deeply. "What did I tell you? This ship is mine. We're getting out. Come and get me. Dock as close to the bridge as you can, I'll give you access." He didn't wait for the droid to respond before he cut the com and stood before the viewport, the entire bridge awaiting his orders. "Alright, Imperials, there are two Interdictors in orbit." Obi-Wan grinned viciously. "Destroy them."
Immediately, the entire bridge snapped to action, nearly thirty men and women working under a singular will, and the Star Destroyer lurched forwards as the engines were engaged, bringing them within range of the other Imperial ships. Once close enough to shoot with critical accuracy, the Star Destroyer opened fire upon the Interdictor with plasma torpedoes and ion cannons, the smaller ship exploding in a torrent of flames as the shields were quickly penetrated, and the other Star Destroyers jerked, their noses turning away from the ship that suddenly attacked them. The com channel beeped with frantic calls, but the com officer ignored them all as they set their sights on the second Interdictor.
As space erupted with the blaze of light from the counter attacking Star Destroyers, Obi-Wan accessed the central command console, looking up the ship's information, and groaned loudly when he saw a signature modulator fixed to the Star Destroyer's identification, classifying it as the Chimera. Removing the modulator revealed the ship to be the Malevolence. Of course. It was the oldest trick in the book, one that Hera employed upon the Ghost. With Thrawn concealing ships and designating them Chimera, there was no telling how many Star Destroyers were masquerading as the Chiss' ship. It made him impossible to find, each Chimera the located a potential trap. Just when he seemed so close, Thrawn had once again drifted just out of reach.
One day. One day...
The Star Destroyer continued to rock and jolt under the heavy fire, but the continuous fire wasn't enough to destroy the formidable Imperial ship, and moments later, the second Interdictor exploded, the arrow-shaped ship splitting in two as explosions erupted along its spine.
"Master," K2 said over the comlink. "The Ghost and the Slave I have made the jump to hyperspace, and I have docked to the safest possible location. I am sending you my docking information now, Master."
"I'll be there shortly, K2," Obi-Wan said absently, and he ran from the bridge, abandoning the Malevolence to its destruction.