AN: Alright, start Act 2, GO! Things will pick up quite a bit next chapter, and while I will be following Season 2 of Star Wars Rebels, there will be a hell of a lot of diversions from canon here. Get hyped!
Chapter 32: Drafted
Kanan had become a celebrity overnight. Not just to the rebellion, who had grown significantly after the Spectre's message and the destruction of Grand Moff Tarkin's flagship, all of them coming together to rally around a surviving Jedi, but to the Jedi younglings as well, who viewed him as not just a fellow survivor, but a teacher, a man that had been trained by a Jedi Master, had been a Padawan, had fought in the war, and survived on his own without any help from the secret network designed to support them. They had all been trained to survive, to conceal their presence from those around them, but Kanan was a cut above the rest, and the young Force sensitive Mandalorian warriors had flocked to him to learn all they could.
It wasn't just Kanan, of course. All the Spectre's were enjoying their time in the spotlight. As a young Jedi learner, Ezra had dived into his training with all the other Force sensitives, benefitting from the sense of community that they provided and learning from those who had been officially taught the ways of the Force for the better part of their lives. Zeb found a sense of comradery with Kenobi's rancor and quickly became the beast's new playmate when he wasn't helping to train the rebel forces in close quarter combat, something the powerful Lasat was uniquely gifted in. Sabine quickly found her niche in creating and improving weapons and explosives, putting her genius in the art of destruction to the betterment of the rebellion and working closely with Kenobi's Chiss slave to make improvements to the Umbra's stealth drive. Her Basic was shaky and broken at best, though she quickly discovered that the exotic alien was, in fact, fluent in Mando'a, and work progressed quickly after that. She had also, in her downtime, painted several ships.
But the one who was truly thriving was Hera. Here at the temporary base of the greater rebellion against the Empire, Hera had everything she ever wanted. Finally, she was a part of something larger, was ready and able to put her skills to work for the betterment of the galaxy. She was working very closely with Ahsoka, was growing close to other Fulcrum agents, most notably Captain Cassian Andor, a former child soldier fighting for the Separatists. In the two weeks they had been stationed on the base, Hera had run several missions for the rebellion, from attacking and raiding Imperial supply caravans to breaking blockades to pick up Imperial prisoners sympathetic to the rebel cause. Everything she did, she did on a larger scale, the ability to call upon her rebel allies to provide her with additional ships and firepower letting her do what she was doing before, but much more effectively. The ability to steal one shipment of weapons and material from the Empire became the ability to steal ten, leaving the Spectres feeling as though they were finally making a notable difference, just like they had always wanted.
Kanan hated every second of it.
Before, it had just been them, their small family, he and Hera parent to a couple misfits, flying around and doing good deeds for a noble cause. They stole from the Empire, yes, but most of the time, what they took from the Empire they brought to the people that were suffering under their yoke. But now, it was a military thing, with Captains and Commanders and Generals and Fleet Admirals. There were codes and protocol and a thousand, thousand rules to protect the integrity of the rebellion, a million procedures that needed to be followed to maintain order and group cohesion and secrecy from their enemies.
Kanan didn't like it. He had done the military thing before. He had served in the Grand Army of the Republic beside his Master and their battalion of clone troopers, and he remembered how it all ended. Now, he found himself suddenly thrust into another military on the brink of another war, and he wasn't ready for it. He had always known that it would end up like this, with another galactic war, but part of him didn't believe that it would ever truly come to this. The Empire was too big, too powerful to actually stand against, and people were too afraid. In a galaxy ruled by fear, anger and outrage rarely saw the light of day, which made any real, significant uprising impossible. And while that wasn't fine, Kanan had been happy with doing good on a small, personal scale. But war, another war following the one where he had lost everything...
He could feel the wandering drifter within him drawn out once again, the one that he had become after Order 66, and while he never let Hera go on her missions without him, they second they returned, he was off, running away as far and as fast as he could for the long forgotten Jedi Enclave where the Mandalorian Jedi lingered, coming and going as they pleased, training and fighting together in hand to hand combat and a variety of weapons, from blasters to staves to Kali sticks in the wide open space surrounding the subterranean temple. Within, away from prying eyes, they studied the Force, trained with lightsabers, practiced all the skills that would make them as Jedi in the greater galaxy, though these were not Jedi.
The younglings had been trained to be Mandalorian, and the code they followed was not the Jedi Code, but Mandalore's Resol'nare, the six tenants of what it meant to be Mandalorian. The warrior mentality these younglings were brought up with made them something new, something unique, and Kanan could think of very few things in the galaxy that were more frightening than a Mandalorian with Force sensitivity. But it made them loyal, not just to Mandalore, but to each other, who they considered their secret family, and Kanan was a part of that, dragged into their excited, willing embrace as both brother and teacher. Each time Kanan returned to them, he was surrounded by teenagers and young adults of several different species, all clamoring to pick his brain and learn what they could, all quietly asking if it was true that he defeated the Grand Inquisitor, and not their Sith protector. And when he confirmed it was so, the real training began, and Kanan found himself with not one student in Ezra, but hundreds.
It was overwhelming, and it didn't take long to discover that what Kanan had in sheer determination, he lacked in official training, his long years of living without the Force and trying to put the life of a Jedi behind him contributing to a serious deficiency in his training. These younglings, however, had been meeting in secret for years, as a collective group and in smaller units to train and hone their skills. They had grown under the instruction of Grandmaster Yoda, had learned to walk the balance with Ahsoka Tano, had learned combat and martial skills from the likes of Bo-Katan and Boba Fett, all under the watchful eye of the Sith Lord Obi-Wan Kenobi. There were warriors with formal training, not just in the Force, but in the art of survival, and the older, more skilled among them quickly took Kanan under their wing with offers to fill in the gaps in his training.
It was like being around family, like having a hundred brothers and sisters in the Force, just as it had been back in the Jedi Temple before everything was destroyed, but with one key difference. What unified the wasn't just the Force, or a common cause, but trauma, the same black, empty space inside them that was left when the Jedi fell. The memories of Order 66, the horrors of Operation Knightfall, all of them shared a similar experience. They remembered what it was like to hear the Jedi Temple Guards dying, they remembered the heroics of Luminara and Yoda and Ahsoka, who risked everything to see them to safety, they spoke about the devastation of the Force when they were left homeless and purposeless on Alderaan, taken in by the planet's prince, Bail Organa. And they remembered their new purpose, their new families when Bo-Katan led her warriors into the city to choose the children they would raise.
It wasn't the same for Kanan, of course, but the pain was the same, as was the fear. Instead of the screams of dying Temple Guards, he saw his Master fall, dying to give him a chance to escape the slaughter. He saw the clone soldiers, their close friends and allies on the battlefield, Grey and Styles and Soot and Stance and so, so many others, brothers in arms that had saved his life more than once, and then saw them turn their weapons on them without warning to execute them, betrayed by the ones they depended on. Kanan's pain ended in family as well, but only after many years of drifting, a drunken roustabout who did everything in his power to forget about the Force, who drank to forget the past. It united him with these would be Jedi, and whenever he was able, he escaped the confining military of the rebellion to come be with them.
There were ranks among them as well, but it was much more fluid, less structured, and nobody gave orders. If they did, they weren't expected to be followed. In true Mandalorian style, orders were treated like helpful suggestions that could be taken or left. These were a fiercely independent people, made even more so by the whims of the Force that guided them. And it suited Kanan just fine.
What did strike him as odd, though, was Obi-Wan Kenobi. He was essential to the rebellion, vital, a founding member, and yet he held no rank, was no General or Admiral or Commander, and stranger than that, now that he had the time to think about it, Kenobi didn't seem to have a motivation. Yes, he was fighting against the Emperor, his former Master that had betrayed him, but he didn't need a rebellion for that, and he certainly didn't need an army of former Jedi younglings. It would have been just as easy for Kenobi to break away and go off on his own to fight the Sith Master on his own, possibly would have even been easier, and even more than that, it didn't seem as though Obi-Wan was against the Empire, only the Emperor that ruled it. Even more than that, Kenobi had been one of the architects of the Empire, a creation of the Sith for order and domination over the beings of the galaxy by the Dark Side. So why.
Even stranger, Kenobi all but disappeared from view as soon as things were settled at the base. Being without a ship, he hadn't left, but the man was nowhere to be found, answered no calls, returned no messages. More likely than not, the Sith Lord had retreated into the dark somewhere where he could do evil away from the prying eyes from his morally upstanding allies, a fact that Kanan hadn't ignored before, but was only just beginning to realize what it really meant to be allies with a Sith Lord. Kenobi was Sith, absolute evil and enemy of all life, if the Jedi were to be believed. He had seen the cruelty in Obi-Wan, had seen him torture people, had witnessed the terrifying power of his mental manipulations, knew of the beings he enslaved, was keenly aware of the women he had raped, all on his whim, as if the lives of others simply existed to serve him if he wished it.
Was this the creature that they wanted to be allied with? Did they seriously want to help such a man when his goals and ambitions were hidden to them? It was certain that Kenobi wanted to rule, and it was a good assumption that he fought to sit on the throne of the Empire, but was that what they wanted? To destroy one Sith Lord, only to see another on the throne who may be worse? His time around the rebels made it seem as though the point of the rebellion was to do away with the Empire completely and replace it with another Republic, which Kanan was certain that Obi-Wan would have nothing to do with. At what point would the rebellion stop being of use to Obi-Wan? And when that day came, would the Sith Lord turn on them as well? Would the Jedi younglings he helped save follow the Shadow King, as all true Mandalorians would, or would they follow Ahsoka, the former Jedi that saved them?
He didn't know, and that made Kanan want to crawl into a hole and never come out.
But then, there was the occasional moment that he did see Obi-Wan, when the Sith Lord would crawl out of whatever den of evil he had made for himself, and on those days, he visited the Jedi Enclave and was greeted by the warm, welcoming hands of the rescued Jedi. Obi-Wan was...different with them, the arrogant, cocky swagger in his step gone, the bemused smirk replaced with a tired smile, the boisterous, commanding presence faded into something quiet and patient. The way he taught them was far different from his own intense, painful lessons with Kanan, the harsh hand of the Sith Lord replaced with the caring, gentle hand of a father. So much so, when looking at the Sith, Kanan couldn't imagine him not being a parent. The patience, the stern but gentle instruction, the way he handled these teenagers was something instinctive, something learned from experience, and it was clear that he had, at one point, must have raised his own children.
Perhaps it was simply a holdover from a time when he was going to be a father to a Mandalorian prince, the son he had lost with his lover so long ago. Perhaps he was simply seeking to replace the family he lost with others. Or maybe he had a family secretly tucked away from prying eyes somewhere out in the galaxy. Kanan wasn't sure, but what he did know was that when he watched Obi-Wan teach, he looked every bit the Jedi Master he may have been had he not been driven to the Dark Side.
It was nat at all what he'd expect from an infamous Lord of the Sith, but strangely, it was exactly what he expected out of Obi-Wan Kenobi, the man that had saved them time and time again, had taken them under his wing, had made them stronger, had introduced them to the rebellion and given them, well...everything. For Zeb, an infinite supply of Imperials to destroy. For Sabine, comradery with the Mandalore she lost through the Shadow King. For Ezra, a way to learn to control his darker leanings, harness them for power, and then let go when he was finished. For Hera, the rebellion, in all its fledgling glory. And for him, the Jedi brothers and sisters he had lost. But again...why. Were they being used and manipulated? Would they be destroyed if they came to oppose and defy him? Could they in good conscience work with a torturer, a rapist and a slaver?
Kanan missed it when life was simple. He missed it when it was just him and Hera on the Ghost. Hell, he missed seeing her, and even though they had been here two weeks now and had seen plenty of each other, he and his lover had yet to be lovers once.
He really missed that.
Kanan needed to talk to Kenobi, really talk to him and find out his intentions. The way forward seemed tied up in the Sith's plans, and Kanan needed to know if he should guide the Spectres on a path that ran beside Kenobi, or away from him. That is, provided the Spectres were still his to guide. He felt the distasteful pull of resentment within him, the sudden repulsion to their current path that he disliked so much. Kenobi, at least, didn't give them ranks. He wasn't military, he was just morally bankrupt. At least he was an evil that valued them personally. They weren't some small piece of a larger whole to Obi-Wan, they were...he wasn't really sure. Friends, absolutely, maybe even family. He was the weird, creepy, immortal brother that dad fathered on a virgin sacrifice during some cult bloody orgy. Because every family needed one of those.
They could also just be pawns, but Kanan didn't think so. Not after all he had done for them, not after he had come to his rescue aboard the Sovereign. And seeing him interact with his Mandalorians, the former Jedi that he helped save...he couldn't help but believe that there was something deep inside him that was unmistakably good. Perhaps the Sith had changed. Perhaps Kenobi's way was different from his Master, just as Ahsoka's way was different from the Jedi as Kanan remembered them. Maybe, for all the evil Kenobi had done, there was still a place for him, perhaps not in the light but as a guardian of the Dark. Perhaps even now, he could find redemption, if that is what he sought, and even if he would never admit it, Kanan thought that may be the case. For a Sith Lord, Darth Lumis sure was cozy with the Jedi, and while he didn't seem to particularly value life, he wasn't indifferent to it, and certainly didn't kill and murder without cause. He wasn't the violent butcher of the stories, at least, he wasn't now. It was hard to forget the burning of Ord Mantell, but by all accounts...that was hardly the same man he was now.
Yet more things to discuss with the Lord of the Sith. It was becoming quite a list.
Kenobi wasn't at the enclave that day. He was there just the day before, so Kanan didn't think he would be, but still found himself disappointed when the Sith Lord didn't make an appearance. At the end of the day, when he had finished training with his fellow Force sensitives, Kanan put his speeder on one of the Mandalorian's ships after accepting their offer to take him back in their much faster craft. Once back at the base, he quickly made his way to the Ghost to check on Hera and found her in a strategy meeting with Captain Andor and Commander Sato, who headed up the rebel group that the Spectres now belonged to. He immediately turned around and left, a bitter taste in his mouth, and he quickly made his way to where the Umbra was being repaired. He could think of no other place Obi-Wan could be.
As usual, K-2SO and HK-45 were outside the ship, heading repairs as much as they were bickering. When Kanan approached, the HK unit dropped the spanner it was holding right on K2's foot, the security droid fussing as the assassin abandoned the panel it was working on to bound to the Jedi's side.
"Greeting: Jedi Jarrus, it is good to see you!" the droid chirped. "Quarry: have you returned from killing something for my Master?"
"Mm, not exactly," Kanan said, a faint smile on his lips. The droid was murderous and defective, but Kanan liked it. At least he was simple. He always knew what to expect from the HK unit. It usually started with murder, and ended in murder. The middle often had murder in it too. Or at least a great deal of talking about it and wishing for it, since Kenobi rarely let him loose. "But I am looking for him. He in?"
"No," K2 called from his repairs. "Master is off doing his...Master things."
"Contradiction: Master is in, Jedi Jarrus," HK said, looking over its shoulder to the fuming K2. "He is working in the hold, as usual."
"Oh, is that where he's been?" Kanan asked. "I've checked the ship a few times, but he was never in. I thought he just up and disappeared."
"Affirmation: he did disappear," the droid confirmed. "Using the Force, Master becomes shadows." The electronic whine emitted from the droid sounded almost like a sigh. "Master is truly the paragon of you pitiful meatbags. Think of how many executions he could carry out completely invisible!"
"And one of them is certain to be you," K2 huffed as it stomped up to them, a wrench in its hand that was shaken menacingly at the assassin droid. "Master was very clear that he was to be left in peace, and if anyone asks, we were to say he wasn't in!"
"Declaration: this meatbag is not anyone, droid, he is Jedi Jarrus!" HK laid his hand on the iron plating on Kanan's shoulder, its fingers drumming against it. "He is marginally superior to the others! I wore his armor!" A soft electronic hum emitted from the droid's vocal modulator. "Pride: we are like brothers now!" The droid's hands clasped Kanan's shoulders, and the Jedi's face contorted in pain. "My squishy, fleshy, easy to kill, inferior meatbag brother!"
"Really, this is very touching..." Kanan grimaced as he wriggled out of the droid's grasp. "But really, I've got to see Kenobi."
"When you see him, please tell him that his fool assassin sent you to him," K2 said, hitting its hand upon the HK's head with a metallic clang. With a quick salute, Kanan walked up the boarding ramp into the ship, the hallways dark and foreboding, and Kanan felt his mind slow, his thoughts running thick before he threw up his defenses and pushed the offending darkness out. The Force here was...hazy, clouded and difficult to read, hanging heavy and oppressive in the air. He couldn't feel Obi-Wan, but he knew he was here.
As the droid said, he found Kenobi in the hold, the large room dimly lit and the Sith Lord circling like a predator around a kneeling Grand Inquisitor, Cody with a datapad in hand nearby and leaning against an excitedly huffing Yoda, the beast flat on his belly as his large black eyes watched the Sith Lord pace. Draped alluringly over a sofa against the wall was the Chiss woman, the blue skin of the scantily clad female an eerie, ghostly hue and her red eyes glowing in the low light.
"So is this what you've been doing?" Kanan drawled, leaning in the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest, the Sith's eyes snapping to him, shining brightly in the shadows of his face, and for a moment, the Inquisitor glanced up at him, his eyes widening with fear when he saw him and swiftly looking back at the ground. Glowing eyes, glowing eyes everywhere. As if this place needed to be creepier. "Sitting around in your torture dungeon, tucked away out of sight of those that may object to your methods?"
"That was certainly the plan..." Obi-Wan said quietly. "But mostly, I've been working."
"That work being torture?"
"That work being the gathering of information..." the Sith hissed, his hand laying on the Inquisitor's head, and the man shivered. "My new friend has a great deal to share."
"Share?" Kanan asked, harsher than intended. "Or does he have a great deal you can steal from him?" Obi-Wan didn't answer, his eyes narrowing as he looked at the Jedi, felt at him through the Force, and found his walls completely impenetrable, the Inquisitor at his feet whimpering at the show of defiance.
"You're troubled," the Sith said softly, and Kanan's chest grew tight with sudden desperation.
"Of course I'm troubled, our ally is a Lord of the Sith! The Sith!" the Jedi shouted, striding into the room to stand furious and unafraid before an indifferent Kenobi. "Not just any Sith, but you! The Negotiator! The leader of the Separatists, traitor to the Jedi Order! You...you put my Master in a coma!" He didn't realize how hard he was breathing until he had to stop and catch his breath, but it didn't matter. Kanan was angry now, and it wasn't going away. "You torture and enslave people, you control their minds, Kenobi, which is the scariest, worst thing I've ever heard! You are evil! How could we even think that allying ourselves with you was a good idea?!"
"Because you were desperate and had no other choice," Obi-Wan said evenly. "I have never hidden what I am, and I will not apologize for the things I have done. I have always owned my actions, no matter what they have been, and I will not cheapen the things I have done by trying to explain myself to you, Jedi." He pointed his finger at Kanan's chest. "You finally have had a chance to breathe, and now you are thinking. Is that it?"
"Something I should have done a long time ago!" Kanan growled. "What are we to you, huh?!"
"Friends, Kanan..." Obi-Wan said quietly, and the Jedi sucked in a sharp breath, observing the Sith cautiously. "Or so I am led to believe, but if it is too much for you to handle, then our relationship ends here. Walk away and you will not see me again." Kenobi smirked when Kanan looked offended, almost hurt by the very notion. "If my...evil, as you say, is too much for you, I will not impose it upon you."
"So you will be free to do...what?" Kanan asked. "When you kill your Master, what's to become of the rebellion and the Empire? I don't understand, where do we all figure into this?!"
"...ah." A small smile crossed over Obi-Wan's lips. "I understand. This isn't about me, is it?"
"No, it is absolutely about you!" Kanan growled. "Don't try to put this off on anyone else! I have questions, and you had better damn well answer them!"
"I would be happy to," Obi-Wan said quietly, gesturing to the couch for Kanan to have a seat, but the Jedi didn't budge. With a heavy sigh, Obi-Wan waved his hand, and the Chiss moved to make room for him, the Sith Lord sitting with an ankle crossed over his knee, and the Chiss lay back down, her head in his lap and her hand stroking his leg. With a short, sharp whistle, the rancor reached out, it's claw wrapping loosely around the Inquisitor, and pulled him back, the Pau'an relaxing with a soft sigh when the rancor closed his eyes, his breath deep and even as it began to doze.
"Right, see, this is what I'm talking about!" Kanan said, pointing to the Inquisitor in the rancor's grasp and the Chiss on the Sith Lord's lap. "Is this the future of the galaxy?! Is this what we all have to look forward to under Emperor Kenobi?! More fear and slavery under the hands of another Sith?!"
"For some..." Obi-Wan said slowly, his fingers entwining in the Chiss' hair. "You do not suggest I allow criminals and dangerous elements to run freely, do you?"
"And who exactly would those be?" Kanan snarled. "People that oppose you? People like the Spectres that the Empire calls criminals because we fight for what is right?! Or people like me. The fact that I even exist is a crime in the eyes of the Empire!"
"Such a thing will not be a problem in my Empire," Kenobi growled, his voice low and almost dangerous.
"And you will ensure that how?" Kanan bit back. "By making people too afraid to stand against you?! By brainwashing people into absolute obedience?!"
"There will be those, of course, that are subject to my brand of justice, yes," Obi-Wan hissed, quickly standing up to face the Jedi and smacking the Chiss' hand away when she reached up to try and soothe his temper. "Do not expect me to apologize for what I am! I will not become something I'm not because Kanan Jarrus disapproves!" The gold eyes narrowed as fury overtook the Sith, and Kanan stepped back when he felt the Dark Side open up, sensing the cracks in the Sith's perfect concealment and seeing a fraction of the black, frightening void within. "I never asked you to follow my ways! I never tempted you to be drawn to the Dark Side, so don't you dare apply your righteous double standard to me, Jedi filth!"
"Brother," Cody said quietly, stepping away from the rancor, the beast softly growling as his Master's emotions stirred him awake, his claw clutching the Inquisitor tighter and drawing him in possessively closer. "He doesn't understand," Cody said, stepping to the Sith's side and laying a hand on his shoulder. "You cannot fault a Jedi for ignorance anymore than you can fault me for being a clone." Obi-Wan slid his hand into his hair and ruffled the golden strands, the frustration on his face slowly fading into resignation as he nodded and sat once again, planting a kiss on the Chiss' forehead when she tentatively stroked his chest.
"Ch'ah'm ch'ithe'umi'aco," the Sith whispered in the woman's ear, and though Kanan couldn't understand the language, it sounded like an apology. Kanan thought it would have been sweet if the blue-skinned woman had a will of her own. But then...the Sith had loved and lost before, more than once. It was possible he surrounded himself with disposable people to keep his shattered soul from breaking further. The familiar pull of sympathy within him softened his features and eased his anger, recognizing what it meant for this broken man to take a chance on the Spectres the way he had.
"I have learned from the failures of my former Master..." Obi-Wan whispered. "A rule by fear does not work, not in the long run. Such tactics give rise to rebel insurgents such as yourself. Dangerous, desperate people who feel they have nothing to lose and are willing to die to see their goals achieved."
"So...what do you plan on doing?" Kanan asked quietly. "The rebellion seeks to overthrow the Empire, and you clearly have no intention of doing that."
"That's correct."
"So...what? When you kill the Emperor and sit on the throne in his place, the rebellion you helped build will turn on you," Kanan said firmly. "Too much evil has been done in the name of the Empire, they won't allow it to continue. So what will you do when the rebellion you helped create becomes your enemy? What will you do when they move to destroy you as well?"
"They will not," Obi-Wan softly growled. "They will have no cause to."
"Kenobi, these rebels are dedicated to bringing back the Republic, they want to give freedom back to the people!" Kanan laughed nervously, though he wasn't sure why he felt so tense. "They won't stand to see an Empire continue! And to give that power to a Sith Lord...can you really say you're better than Palpatine?" For a long moment, they were in silence, the Jedi and the Sith staring at each other, neither wanting to be the first to look away. It was Obi-Wan that broke the stillness, a deep, menacing chuckle in his chest that made Kanan's hair stand on end.
"Is that what you want, Kanan?" the Sith asked softly. "You yearn for the return of the Republic? The weak, ineffective, corrupt government that paved the way for the Sith to return? That breeding ground of greed and stagnant waste and self-service?" Kenobi scoffed, his eyes narrowing as he looked at the Jedi with disgust. "Even without the influence of the Sith, the Republic was in its death throes. Sidious wouldn't have been able to take over like he did if it wasn't! And that is what you desire?!"
"I-I..." Kanan stopped, his chest tight, and put his hand to his head. He was starting to get a headache. "N-no, I...I don't know, I've never been one for politics."
"Your war is political, Jarrus," the Sith snarled. "You don't have a choice."
"It isn't my war!" Kanan shouted, the Sith drawing back slightly at the intensity of the outburst. "I don't want this war, I don't want any of this! I was happy, Kenobi, just flying around the galaxy and doing what little good I could manage! That was fine with me! I liked being an outlaw, I never wanted...this!" Kanan laughed bitterly and plunked down on the floor, his hands tightly gripping his knees. "A small piece in a military machine in another war I wanted no part in! Maybe they don't remember what it was like, but I do! I haven't forgotten what the Clone Wars took from us, from all of us!" The Jedi swallowed hard and took a deep, shuddering breath, his eyes cast at the ground. "I never thought the Empire could be defeated. I just...wanted to do a little good in this messed up galaxy..."
Obi-Wan looked at the Jedi for a moment before rising from the couch and slowly sitting beside Kanan on the ground, a respectful space between the two of them, but close enough to touch. "I fell to the Dark Side for...many reasons," Kenobi said softly. "For power, certainly, because of my constant betrayals at the hands of my brothers and sisters in the Order...but I joined the Sith because the Galactic Senate was broken, and the Jedi were contributing to the problem. The Sith had the answers, they had a plan for order and progress and peace..."
"...you joined the Sith for the betterment of the galaxy?" Kanan asked softly, and Kenobi slowly nodded. It...didn't make sense. This wasn't at all in line with what he knew about the Sith. "I thought the Sith were all about, you know..." Kanan raised his hands up, his fingers hooked like claws and his face distorted with malevolence. "Ultimate power!" Obi-Wan snorted to hold back laughter.
"You cut the very image of my former Master."
"Do I?" Kanan flicked his short ponytail over his shoulder. "Maybe I'll make a go at being a Sith Lord."
"I fear you don't have it in you," Obi-Wan said, a small, soft smile on his lips. "There is much in the Code of the Sith to be admired, Kanan. My dark brothers set a bad example, but there is nothing in our Code that says we must be cruel, vicious killers. We are seekers of power, not the shepherds of life. It is our duty to see that the conflicts of living are used to elevate us. Conflict forces change, growth, adaptation, evolution, and the failure to do such brings death." He pointed a finger at the thoughtful Jedi. "That is the way of the Sith. At least, that is how I have come to understand it. The Code is open for interpretation, as is the Jedi Code."
"So...what," Kanan asked. "If you become Emperor, what are you going to do? Cause problems for people to overcome? That isn't peace."
"Peace is a lie..." Obi-Wan muttered. "The first principle of our Code. I don't need to cause strife, Kanan, life is filled with it naturally. It is up to the people to overcome it when presented to them. I've no desire to command the lives of my subjects, it goes against the very essence of the Code I adhere to. I want warriors, a population of the strong that will direct those that have failed so that they too may find purpose. The peace I will create in my Empire will provide a place where the conflict of life itself can be met head on so that true progress may be achieved. A united populace, overcoming the challenges the galaxy provides us together. This is how we advance. This is how we maintain order. This is how peace is ultimately achieved."
"Peace through conflict..." Kanan muttered. "Sounds like a contradiction."
"Yes? It looks like a goal to me. We strive for perfection. It is unattainable, and so the struggle continues." Kenobi breathed deeply and closed his eyes. "The Force rewards those that reach for perfection."
"You know..." Kanan said, leaning back on his hands. "The way you talk doesn't make the Jedi and the Sith seem very different."
"Oh, we are," Obi-Wan said quietly. "The Jedi serve, the Sith rule. The Jedi reject passion, the Sith embrace it. The Jedi uphold the standard of what's good and right and just, while the Sith seek to break through these restrictions." He shrugged. "But you will find many of our philosophies the same. Our Codes divide us, but many threads of belief are similar between us. We were once brothers, after all. Long before there were Jedi and Sith."
"Perhaps..." Kanan shook his head. "Be that as it may, we're talking circles around the problem. The rebels won't let you keep the Empire."
"And I will not allow them to disband it."
"So what will you do?" Kanan asked, and drew back slightly when a sly grin passed over Obi-Wan's lips.
"Is there a reason we cannot have both?" The Jedi could only stare at him, and Kenobi rolled his eyes. "This galaxy is vast, Kanan. There are too many species, too many cultures, too many viewpoints for a single system of government to work. Let the rebellion have their Republic when we destroy Sidious and his Empire. I will take the remnants of the Imperial forces and reforge them into my Empire. If we give the people a choice, if we allow them to select their government instead of imposing one upon them, we eliminate the problems that led to the Clone Wars. Two centers of government can cover more territory more effectively, so the Outer Rim will not be neglected and ignored as it has been in the past." Obi-Wan shrugged. "And when the war is over, the defeated Imperials will have a place to belong instead of flying away to hide and quietly gather their strength to exact revenge on the rebels that destroyed them."
"That's...secretly brilliant." Kanan frowned. "Hold on, do the leaders of the rebellion know about this?"
"Not yet..." Kenobi grumbled. "It has been a very distant goal until recently. Gathering forces was more important than actually deciding what to do with them, though I suspect that will all be changing soon."
"I guess...if people have the right to choose, there would be no need for you to...you know..." He pointed at the Chiss. "Enslave them." Obi-Wan smiled softly.
"That is so. Though criminals..." he said, looking pointedly at the Inquisitor. "That is a different matter, and there are no shortage of those in the galaxy..."
"Is that why you burned Ord Mantell?" Kanan asked darkly, and Obi-Wan's expression became distant and emotionless. "Billions dead, so devastating that the Force was torn. There's a wound in the fabric of the Force, Kenobi, and you made it. Is that the fate of those who oppose you? Of those you deem criminals?"
"Ord Mantell..." Obi-Wan drawled, looking at the ceiling and silent for a long while. "I was...not myself..." He shook his head, his eyes distant, and Kanan felt the tug of loss from deep inside Kenobi, the pain rippling across the Force. "You don't know what it's like to have the Dark Side burn you alive, Kanan. I hope you never do. But I do. I've felt it ravage me, I felt it set everything in my being ablaze, and I let it because burning alive was preferable to the pain I felt. And when I burned, I took Ord Mantell with me, I would have taken everything with me..." He smiled sadly and looked at the Jedi, his hand resting over his chest. "There isn't anything inside me anymore. There's nothing left to burn. Do you understand?"
"Madness..." Kanan gasped, the gentle tug in the Force yearning for understanding, and a breath of relief sweeping warm through him when the Jedi did understand.
"Yes..."Obi-Wan whispered. "I died the day those thugs set fire to Sundari. It took...a very long time to come back from it." He shrugged. "Maybe I never did. But you have seen within my soul, Kanan. You know there's nothing left to burn. What happened to Ord Mantell...it won't happen again."
"I believe you..." the Jedi whispered, his thoughts returning to the captives in the Sith's clutches, and he wondered if they weren't better off dead. "I'm not sure I like the idea of what you do to these people..." Kanan said nervously, looking at the Inquisitor, and the Pau'an began squirming under the gaze of the Sith and the Jedi, the soft whimpers in his throat making the rancor clutch the man closer and run his long, slimy tongue over his head in a gesture Kanan recognized as both affectionate and disgusting.
"What I do is no different than how the Republic handled their prisoners," Obi-Wan said, and Kanan looked at him like he was crazy. Because he was. Or, at the very least, had been.
"You cannot actually believe it's the same..." Kanan gasped. "Obi-Wan, you torture these people! You make them slaves!"
"Are the incarcerated not slaves of a kind?" Kenobi asked, a wry smirk on his lips. "They are permitted to go nowhere and do nothing without permission from their captors, the other inmates may beat them and rape them, the interrogations they endure is nothing short of torture..." The Sith grinned wolfishly. "In a way, what I do is kinder. I do not end their lives, if it can be avoided. I put them to use. I make them want their chains. There is no suffering here..."
"Yeah, but prisoners don't have their will sapped from them..." Kanan said quietly. "At least prisoners are still themselves."
"Yes, the same criminals they were when they entered..." Obi-Wan drawled. "But very well, I see your point. They endure a temporary slaver to atone for what they have done. I suppose what I do is cruel, when viewed from that perspective." The Sith Lord grinned. "And then I remember what the Inquisitor did to Luminara Unduli..." Kanan hissed as he sucked in a sharp breath. He forgot that Luminara's death was delivered by the Inquisitor's cold hands, but Kenobi hadn't forgotten. "And she didn't die right away, Kanan. Oh, if you knew the things he did to my sweet, loving friend before he executed her..."
"Don't..." Kanan whispered, his hands suddenly trembling, and he gripped his knees tightly so Kenobi couldn't see. "Don't tell me...please..."
"Very well..." Obi-Wan said, looking away from the Inquisitor when the man shivered and sobbed softly in the rancor's grasp. "Just know he deserves far, far worse than what I am inflicting upon him..."
"What is it you were working on when I came in?" Kanan muttered, desperate to change the subject.
"My next move..." Obi-Wan said, his hand extended, and Cody quickly handed him the datapad. "With the capture of the Grand Inquisitor, I have no doubt captured Sidious' attention. This will be seen as a grave insult that cannot be allowed to go unpunished, and that's to say nothing of how furious Tarkin will be that I destroyed his ship, and that man will take that very personally. A lot of people will be coming for me."
"A lot of people are already after you," Kanan pointed out, and Obi-Wan shook his head.
"It will be worse now. But more importantly, you are linked to me, my Jedi friend," Obi-Wan said with a smirk on his face. "And that means Inquisitors."
"...more of them?" Kanan squeaked. "There are more of them?"
"Oh yes..." Obi-Wan drawled. "Nine more, to be exact. That's what my Pau'an friend and I were discussing before you arrived. Dangerous threats, made more dangerous by those ridiculous lightsabers of theirs..." Obi-Wan sneered with disgust, looking out of the corner of his eye at the Inquisitor. "A blade created to overwhelm their opponent. Brute strength weaponized to compensate for a lack of talent..."
"They're certainly no match for you, Kenobi..." Kanan said quietly, and the Sith Lord laughed.
"No, you're right, they aren't, but I don't think Sidious is sending them for me so much as he's sending them for you and Ezra." He shrugged. "Still, I know better than to become arrogant, and in a group, even a scavenger may become a predator. Talented, powerful people have been struck down by their inferiors due to overconfidence." Obi-Wan looked down at his hands, and for a moment, Kanan thought the Sith Lord looked concerned. "Besides, there are two other Sith Lords besides Sidious and I, and he will be sending them for me."
"...are you not stronger than them?" Kanan asked, and Kenobi laughed softly.
"Yes...Maul is no threat to me, and he is as like to turn on Sidious as stab me in the back. I don't know how much damage has been undone. But Vader..." Obi-Wan shook his head. "Vader is another matter entirely. Over fifteen years of apprenticeship under Darth Sidious is no joke. I don't know how much stronger he is now." The Sith Lord sighed heavily. "And then there's Ezra's vision..."
"You've seen it again?" Kanan asked, and Obi-Wan slowly nodded.
"Several times, and when I disabled Tarkin's ship, Sidious saw me, I felt his eyes upon me. He's watching, he's coming closer, and I don't..." Obi-Wan snarled and shook his head, his fingers pressed to his temple. "I don't know what it means, I don't know if it's a warning, or a vision of things yet to come, or...I don't know. But it's drawing closer. I can feel it..."
"What are you going to do?" Kanan asked, and with a sigh, Obi-Wan stood, offering his hand and helping the Jedi to his feet.
"I'm going to consult with someone who will know what to do," Obi-Wan said quietly. "And after that, it's back to holocron hunting while I look for the Inquisitors. I need to be as prepared as possible for when I face him, and the more I know, the more armed I am, and if we can take out his Inquisitor support, so much the better."
"That's...really dangerous, isn't it?" Kanan asked, suddenly worried for his Sith companion. Perhaps he wasn't the best person, or even a good person, but he understood the man a bit better. Obi-Wan Kenobi was fearsome, a dangerous predator and a hunter without compromise or remorse, but he wasn't a mindless killer. Unless he had been personally wronged, Obi-Wan simply didn't care what everyone else in the galaxy did. He wore an Imperial uniform and walked easily among them because to him, those were his future people.
"It is quite dangerous, yes," Obi-Wan said, the golden eyes seeming to brighten in their intensity with excitement. "While you and the Spectres do the work of the rebellion, I will be doing the work of the Force, as I have always done..."
"I want to go with you." Kanan said it before he even had a chance to think about it, the pull in his chest yearning for something, anything that wasn't the war he wasn't ready for, a feeling that perceptive Kenobi picked up immediately.
"I don't believe Hera would like that," he gently warned. "She cares a great deal for you."
"Yes, but the mission has always come first," Kanan quickly dismissed. "And that's fine, I never resented that, but..."
"But it wasn't what you expected," Obi-Wan offered, and Kanan nodded slowly.
"I miss what we had," he quietly confessed. "What we did before was small, but it made a difference. It was a noble cause and this..." Kanan sighed heavily. "This is just war. More chaos, more death, more commanders ordering people to their deaths for a greater cause...but, you know, it's what Hera wanted, and I won't leave her, so..." The Jedi sighed heavily and shook his head, but said nothing else. There was nothing else to say, and Kenobi understood it all too well.
"You walk with the Force, Kanan, it isn't conducive to following orders. I understand." He laid his hand on the Jedi's shoulder. "Don't worry about it a moment more. I'll think of something."
"Will you..." Kanan drawled, and the small nod Kenobi gave in return was so sincere, he couldn't help but remember how this fearsome Sith Lord was so caring and gentle with his Mandalorian Force sensitives. His rescued children. "Are you a father, Obi-Wan?" the Jedi asked, and immediately, he could feel the Sith Lord tense, his defenses snapping around him like a protective shell as he drew back, suspicion and anger on his face.
"Are you mocking me?" Kenobi growled. "You know very well I am not."
"W-well..." Kanan started, rubbing the back of his neck and looking away. "I don't know, you take a lot of women to bed, and I've seen you with the younglings and..." He sighed. "I don't know. Just the way you interact with them makes you look like a father. I thought maybe you'd have raised your own. It looks that way."
"Does it..." Obi-Wan drawled, his eyes darting to the side of the room when the door hissed open and Ahsoka walked in. "No matter their origins, they are children of Mandalore," Obi-Wan said proudly, the anger and offense he felt earlier faded. "As their King, they are all my children." He quickly turned to Ahsoka. "Can I help you?"
"Yeah, HK told me I could find Kanan here," the Togruta said, and Kenobi groaned and rolled his eyes.
"I'm going to take that droid apart, I swear it..."
"That's a shame, I find him rather informative," Ahsoka drawled, laughing softly when the Sith rolled his eyes, and she turned to the Jedi. "Kanan, we're having a meeting, and as leader of the Spectres, your presence is required."
"Oh, great..." the Jedi growled. "Suppose I don't want to go? I'm in the middle of something." For a moment, Ahsoka looked taken aback, confused by the sudden stubbornness of the Jedi, her eyes searching his face for an explanation that he wasn't giving.
"It's mandatory," Ahsoka calmly explained, her eyes narrowing when the Jedi bristled. "We're going to be discussing our plans moving forward and the Ghost's part in the rebellion. Now that Hera's well integrated into the Phoenix squadron, we need to coordinate our efforts."
"Well maybe the Ghost will be flying solo for a little while," Kanan snapped, and Ahsoka finally understood and looked sympathetically at the man and shot a pleading glance at Obi-Wan. With a sigh, the Sith Lord stretched, covering his mouth as he loudly yawned.
"Hell, I haven't been to one of these things in ages," Kenobi said in an almost lazy tone. "Mind if I come along? We need to coordinate a bit anyway, I believe we may have some overlap."
"By all means," Ahsoka said with a sigh of relief, her eyes on Kanan and smiling softly when the Jedi's stubbornness seemed to fade. "You know we always value your input."
"Yeah, yeah..." Obi-Wan punched Kanan on his unarmored shoulder. "Come on, Jedi. You can sit next to me. We can make Hera really jealous!"
"Now that sounds like a good time," Kanan said, a lazy smirk crossing his face as he walked beside the Sith Lord, stopping when Ahsoka laid her hand on his shoulder, and he found he couldn't meet her gaze. Neither could she.
"Caleb..." the Togruta said quietly. "I understand your misgivings about all this, and I'm sorry we haven't had time to talk much in the time you've been here, but-"
"How can you do it?" Kanan interrupted. "How can you go back to...this. Fighting alongside soldiers after what happened in the Clone Wars. You were there, you saw what it did, nit just to the Jedi, but-"
"To everybody, I know..." Ahsoka whispered, squeezing his shoulder. "I fight..." She sighed and shook her head and finally met Kanan's gaze. "I fight because war is coming, whether I'm involved or not, and when it finally does hit us, I want to make sure that hope isn't crushed by overwhelming evil. This is our only chance. I won't stand aside and watch when I can make a difference." Kanan didn't say anything. He simply lowered his head and followed Ahsoka and Obi-Wan out of the ship, silently thinking about where he belonged in a galaxy where Jedi had no place, and his thoughts couldn't help but turn to Hera. As out of place as he was, he'd always have a place beside his pilot, and no matter where her path may lead, Kanan would be certain she never went there alone.
"I need a consult on a vision I had," Obi-Wan said, his hands folded on the table in front of him as he addressed the assembled leaders of the rebellion. His presence had made the meeting much more confidential than had originally been intended, resulting in a much smaller meeting with only the highest ranking members. It certainly made it easier on Kanan, but the Jedi was none too happy about being there. "As soon as repairs on the Umbra are complete, I'll be off. Don't expect me back for a while."
"A while?" Jan Dodonna said with a touch of surprise in his voice. "Surely a consultation cannot take long." Kenobi rolled his eyes and shot a look to Ahsoka that begged for help, and the touch of a smirk that crossed her face made it clear that she would be doing no such thing. It wasn't that Kenobi disliked General Dodonna. Quite the contrary. The old man was more than a good military leader, and he currently commanded the largest rebel cell in the entire rebellion effort. The Massassi Unit currently made its home on many planets, keeping the sizable fleet divided until the time was right for them to all unite, though the General personally operated out of a small base on a moon orbiting the planet Yavin. It wasn't much, certainly not yet ready to be called a base, but there moon was promising, and within a few years, it seemed very likely that the entire rebellion would operate from the tiny fourth moon.
"The consultation," Obi-Wan began, his voice straining to keep his patience, "should take no more than a few days. But after that, I have quite a bit to do. I have a few planets I want to search for information to aid us in the fight against the Emperor, most notably Volik. I hear there might be a holocron there, and I need it."
"Another artifact hunt?" Jun Sato asked, and Obi-Wan sneered at him. His Phoenix Squadron was another of the rebellion's largest, and it was the group to which the Ghost now belonged. Again, he didn't dislike the unassuming commander, but his position now put him directly into conflict with Kenobi's wishes for his Spectres.
"A holocron is a rare source of very valuable information," Ahsoka explained, sparing the commander one of Kenobi's biting comments. "If he has a lead on one, he needs to take it. It would be very bad if the Emperor got his hands on one. We don't know what sort of things he could learn from it."
"Precisely," Obi-Wan said evenly, smiling softly at Ahsoka. "Moving on, I've conducted a full interrogation of the Grand Inquisitor and the information I got is...very useful. I now have the information I need to begin hunting the remaining members of the Inquisitorius." He shrugged. "Since we have a Jedi in Phoenix Squadron, you better believe they'll be dispatching Inquisitors to put an end to him. I'll be dealing with them before that happens."
"That's what you're going to be doing?!" Ahsoka gasped, her mouth hanging open as she looked at the Sith Lord. "That's a very aggressive action. If your plan is to draw the attention of the Sith Lords-"
"That is exactly my intention," Kenobi growled. "I don't know if you can feel it, Fulcrum, but I do. The time is fast approaching us. We need to set the stage for our attack. And speaking of which..." he said, leaning forward and grinning at the occupants of the room. "I'm beginning my hunt for Thrawn as well."
"How," Sato asked. "There are Chimeras everywhere."
"Yes, but only one of them is real," Obi-Wan said quickly. "And as it so happens, I know which one it is." The room fell dead silent, and Obi-Wan's grin grew wider. "I don't know where it is, but I will know soon enough if you get your people searching for it, Ahsoka."
"How is it identified?" the Togruta asked, her eyes cast down at a datapad she swiftly ran her fingers across.
"It has a Chimera engraved on its ventral side," Kenobi explained. "According to the Inquisitor, it's quite large and very hard to miss. Very impressive. Intimidating. And completely unique. He says soldiers serving under Thrawn's command wear a Chimera on their sleeve as well." The Sith Lord smirked. "Done so, it would seem, in loyalty to him. Which I find both impressive and exceedingly rare in the Imperial Navy."
"Careful, Kenobi..." Kanan drawled, his hands behind his head and his feet very inappropriately on the table, a thing that earned him no shortage of disapproving looks from Hera. "Keep talking like that and everyone is going to know about your little crush."
"It's his eyes, Kanan, I could get lost in them..." Obi-Wan sighed, his hand laying over his chest. "It's his fault. Running around the galaxy, showing off his massive...intellect. Ugh, I want it!"
"Focus, Obi-Wan..." Ahsoka said tightly as she tried to repress the smile on her face that threatened to turn into laughter. "Have any of the false Chimeras had this engraving?"
"They have not..." the Sith drawled. "Have you made contact with Nightswan?" The Togruta hissed between her teeth in aggravation.
"We were hoping that the Spectre's message would make him easier to approach, but it seems to have had the opposite effect. He won't let us near him."
"He sounds as stupid as Cham Syndulla..." A sharp gasp from the Twi'lek at the table, and Obi-Wan's gaze lazily shifted to Hera, the woman sitting bolt upright in her chair, her lekku squirming in agitation severe enough that Kanan stopped his act of objecting to the situation and dropped his feet off the table, his hands quickly moving to soothingly caress his lover's shoulder. "Mission on Ryloth," he quickly explained. "Your father went against my council and he lost everything. He's alive, no doubt, but he's stupid. You must take after your mother."
"In many ways..." Hera said softly, quickly pushing Kanan's hand off her shoulder so she could hold onto it, her fingers interlocking with his.
"I'll add Nightswan to my list," Obi-Wan said. "Maybe he won't talk to rebel agents, but he will talk to me. Where can I find him?"
"He has several holdouts..." Ahsoka said, reading off her datapad. "But the biggest one seems to be on Scrim Island on Batonn."
"I'll be sure to make my way over there at some point..." Obi-Wan said, logging the information on his own datapad. "Any movement on the Empire's secret project?"
"Nothing you'd be happy with..." Ahsoka mumbled. "But I have things in the works. I'll let you know when I'm not just grasping at smoke." The Sith Lord nodded, crossed his arms over his chest, and leaned back in his chair. Clearly, he was done. Ahsoka turned her eyes on Hera. "Spectre Two," the Togruta said with a smile. "Phoenix Squadron needs a base from which to run operations in their galactic quadrant. We want you to find that base."
"I can do that," Hera said with a nod.
"Are you joking?" All eyes turned to Obi-Wan, the Sith Lord looking perfectly disgusted with the proceedings. "Really?! Hera Syndulla is easily the best pilot you've got, and you want her to run a scouting trip?' Kenobi shook his head. "No, I don't think so."
"This isn't your call, Kenobi," Sato said, and he was supported by a glare from the Twi'lek.
"I think it is my call, Commander," Obi-Wan said in a calm, even voice. "I'm a Spectre as well, and so long as the Umbra is out of commission, I'll be traveling on the Ghost."
"Then I suppose you'll be coming with us to find a base," Hera said through clenched teeth. "This is important, surely you must realize that."
"You are overqualified for this job, Hera," Obi-Wan said swiftly as he stared Ahsoka down. "This is an insult."
"Maybe you're right," Ahsoka said tersely. "Maybe putting two Jedi and the best pilot we have on a recon mission is a waste, but it's what we need Obi-Wan. Raids on Imperial convoys for supplies, stealing fuel from depots, scavenging for useable parts for shield generators...that's the sort of thing we need." She sighed heavily as she looked at the Sith Lord, the golden eyes blazing, but not angry, not yet, a softness behind them that were always in his unnatural stare when he looked at her, his fondness for her late Master carrying over to his student. "You've been fighting all these years, Kenobi, but we have been struggling to give shape to this rebellion. Even now, we are just a collection of ships scattered across the galaxy. In order for us to fight, we need fuel, supplies, and a base. And we need our best on the job to make this rebellion a reality."
"...understood," Obi-Wan said after a moment of silence, sitting up straight in his chair and laying his clasped hands on the desk before him. "In that case, send the Phoenix Squadron with me. I'll oversee that your missions are completed, and with the squadron at my back, my own missions can be accomplished faster."
"You want the whole squadron?" Sato asked, shaking his head. "That's too many ships, it's too dangerous to send them all out."
"Then only send a few," the Sith said with a shrug. "Have the rest of the fleet on standby in case of an emergency and give Hera a small group to command."
"I can't do that, Obi-Wan..." Hera said between clenched teeth. "I don't have any authority to command."
"...what?!" Kenobi looked around the room. "Are you all idiots?" He crossed his arms over his chest and dropped his feet upon the table, a rebellious gesture that Kanan quickly followed. "Promote Hera to Captain."
"We can't just-"
"Stop wasting everyone's time and do it, Sato, you know she is going to be a Captain soon enough anyway." He waved a dismissive hand in the air and ignored the startled look the Twi'lek was giving him. "We need her able to officially command ships if she's going to be doing this. Give her a few ships to command, and come along if you like, but my Spectres and I have work to do." The Commander sighed heavily and slowly nodded in agreement.
"Very well. Captain Syndulla," he said firmly, the Twi'lek beaming brighter than any sun, the Jedi beside her flashing the Sith Lord a small, grateful smile. "You are to locate a base from where we can operate and undertake the mission to root out and disarm Admiral Thrawn of the Imperial Navy."
"We'll get it done, Commander," Hera said, her voice filled with strong conviction.
"I'll be going as well," Ahsoka said softly, her hands on the table as she rose to her feet. "This is the biggest undertaking the rebellion is involved in right now, and seeing as how you're going to be doing battle with Inquisitors, I think it might help to have another Force sensitive on board."
"This might just be shaping up to be the greatest mission ever," Kanan said, grinning like a fool in Ahsoka's direction, and the Togruta chuckled softly as she shook her head.
"Since we will need the Umbra, we have a few days to prepare." Ahsoka looked over at the insufferably smug Sith Lord. "I take it we won't be leaving until after the Gemini leave, right?" The smug smirk on Kenobi's face dropped away in an instant, his feet pulled off the table as he sat straight up, the reaction leaving Ahsoka startled. "They said you told them to come."
"No," Obi-Wan said tightly. "I didn't."
"Oh..." Ahsoka rubbed the top of her montrails awkwardly. "Well...the Gemini agents will be here shortly. It's been a while, hasn't it?"
"Too long, yes..." Obi-Wan said, his voice growing distant. "They will be the death of me..." The Sith's eyes narrowed, the golden fire behind them glowing brighter. "Or they better hope so, because I will kill them if they don't kill me first!"