Chapter 33: Waiting for Launch
Minister Tua stood beside the silently fuming Governor Tarkin and the uneasy Agent Kallus in the hangar bay of Lothal's Imperial government building, her eyes fixed on the ground instead of on the shuttle before them as the landing ramp lowered with a long, low hiss. She knew exactly what it was that was on that ship, and it was, without fail, the most terrifying thing she could imagine, short of the Emperor himself. She'd rather deal with the cold, harsh demands of Lothal's Governor, Arihnda Pryce, a woman she had been terrified of since the day she became her minister. She'd rather deal with the rebel insurgents and their Jedi leader. She'd rather deal with the kriffing Shadow King. Hell she'd rather deal with a hundred Shadow Kings and that beast rancor too if it meant she didn't need to deal with that was in that ship.
After the Sovereign was brought down in the skies over Lothal, everything had changed. Tarkin had been recalled to Coruscant by the Emperor, and ordered Minister Tua to find the rebels, no matter the cost. Under Imperial decree, she had tightened the hold on the system, had ordered restrictions and curfews and checkpoints, all supported by an increase in troop movement in an attempt to flush the rebels out. The civilians complained and protested constantly over these changes, but the rebels themselves were nowhere to be found, and with the Grand Inquisitor dead or fled or worse, Tarkin was looking for someone to punish.
Someone had to be held accountable for the destruction of a Star Destroyer. Someone had to be held responsible for the failure of the soldiers that could not stop a small group from stealing a valuable prisoner and blowing up Tarkin's personal property. And when Tarkin had arrived that morning to find that no progress had been made, he had excused himself to make a call, the Governor visibly displeased, and Minister Tua knew what was to follow. Someone was going to pay, and it was going to be at the merciless black hands of Maketh's worst nightmare, a shadow of terror that swept through like death on even, pendulous breath...
"Lord Vader," Tarkin said tightly, the warmth of familiarity and relief showing through the cracks of his strained visage. "Thank you for coming."
Minister Tua was certain she was going to throw up.
"There was little choice, Governor," Vader said in his deep, modulated voice, the tinge of something mechanical on the edge of his sinister tones doing nothing to hide the fact that there was something unmistakably alive behind that mask. Maketh had her doubts before, as stories and rumors surrounded the Emperor's right hand, none of which could agree on what Vader actually was under the helmet and armor, but being in his presence erased all doubt from her mind. There was something living inside there. No droid could exude such hatred and malice. No mere machine could inspire the shivers of terror that ran up her spine. This was a creature of vengeance, and it had come to not only solve a problem, but to destroy the ones responsible for allowing the problem to continue.
"One cannot stand idly by when the Shadow King has taken yet another ship from you," Vader continued, Tarkin visibly bristling under the not so thinly veiled criticism. "At least he only destroyed it this time. It would have been far worse were he to have the armaments of an Imperial Star Destroyer at his heel."
"This slight cannot go unpunished," Tarkin snapped. "This time, he will be made to answer for his actions. He has been allowed to make fools of the Empire for long enough."
"I agree..." Vader said deeply. "Too long has he been infecting the galaxy with his presence, but it seems he has finally made an error. He has made allies within your insurgent rebels, and through them, we may draw him in and destroy him." Vader growled deeply, a sinister thing that made the terrified Minister's hair stand on end. She was definitely going to throw up. "That Jedi was supposed to be mine. He will pay for robbing me of this."
"There are a great many things he must be held accountable for in regards to you..." Tarkin said softly, his cold gaze slowly drifting toward the Minister. "Many people must be held accountable for what has happened here." Slowly, feeling the weight of the gazes in the heavy silence, Minister Tua slowly lifted her eyes, dizziness and panic hitting her as she felt the blood drain out of her face when she saw that black, expressionless mask looking right at her.
"M-me?" she squeaked, her timidness seeming to further annoy the already irritated Tarkin.
"Yes, you, Minister," the Governor said with a roll of his eyes. "Are you not in charge of the forces on Lothal?"
"W-well, yes..." she stammered. "While Governor Pryce is...b-but I'm just a public servant, I don't-"
"Nearly three weeks after the rebels attacked Lothal," Vader growled, taking a long, heavy step toward the shaking administrator. "Three weeks since the Shadow King hung his banner on your government building, and killed one of your Senators and the key Imperial holonet spokesman in the region, and you have found nothing to suggest there whereabouts."
"I-I have tried!" she squeaked. "I have exhausted every resource available to me to find these rebels, but there is nothing to be found! What more do you and Governor Tarkin expect!"
"I expect, Minister," Tarkin sneered, "for Lothal to be suitably punished. My own Star Destroyer was demolished by these rebels, and I find myself taking the matter very personally." Meekly, the Minister took a step back, her eyes cast back at the ground, fear and frustration knotting the muscles in her shoulders.
"Governor..." the Minister quietly explained, "I have doubled patrols, I have set up check-points, I have instated a curfew...I honestly don't know what else to do."
"And perhaps that is the problem," Vader said evenly, pointing a large, gloved hand at the shaking administrator. "You lack imagination, and that is why you are out of your depth. That is why you have failed to produce results."
"Lord Vader, with all due respect..." the woman said, shrinking back when the intimidating man loomed over her. "You are Governor Tarkin are asking for miracles!"
"From you, perhaps," Vader growled. "As has been shown by your level of competence. A more effective commander would have flushed out these rebels by now."
"I'm not a commander, I'm a public official, I don't have any experience in this sort of thing!" the Minister cried, growing frantic and backing away as Vader drew closer.
"Then listen well," Vader said, his deep voice reverberating in the air and making Maketh tremble. "If the rebels have fled, we will draw them back, and if the rebels are here, we will draw them out. We will squeeze Lothal until someone reveals something."
"My Lord..." Maketh whimpered. "The people are already-"
"They are insignificant," Vader snapped. "The fact that you allow them to protest is further evidence of your inadequacy in your position."
"These rebels have shown to have an interest in Lothal and it's people," Tarkin said coldly. "They are principled, and it is a weakness we will exploit. Arrest them, kill them, burn down their farms and their villages. Whatever it is that must be done to draw their attention, do it."
"I-I-I'm...I can't, I..." The minister stammered, tripping over her tongue every time she tried to speak, the whole thing made worse by Tarkin and Vader, standing there quietly and waiting for her to say something. Finally, she managed to squeak, "I'm not accustomed to such brutal tactics..."
"And you may explain that to me in private when you meet with me tomorrow to account for your failure, Minister," Tarkin said in his crisp, cruel tone, and the woman swayed on her feet, unable to draw breath and certain she was going to pass out.
"Governor, please!" she heard herself desperately cry. "Give me at least a chance to correct this!"
"Oh, very well..." Tarkin drawled with a roll of his eyes, beginning a slow walk through the hangar to return to his offices, Vader following in step beside him. "I am due back on Coruscant at the end of the week. I will give you until then, and failing that, you will accompany me back to Coruscant so that you may give your excuses to the Emperor himself."
"W-what?!" Tarkin quickly reeled on the pale, shaking woman. "Are you deaf as well as incompetent?" he snapped, and she quickly shook her head.
"Governor, the week's end is in two days!"
"Really..." the Moff drawled, sarcasm lacing his voice. "I do believe that is double the amount of time I would have given you originally. More than enough time to flush these rebels out, hmm?"
"I-I couldn't possibly leave Lothal!" she cried desperately after the retreating figures. "I-I'm needed here!" Neither Tarkin nor Vader even acknowledged that she was talking, leaving a silent Agent Kallus to lay his hand on the trembling woman's shoulder.
"Don't worry, Minister," the man said, his voice low and calm and cruel. "I'm certain Lord Vader and I can manage things in your absence." With that, the ISB Agent turned to leave, a smug look on his face, and when he was gone, Minister Tua's shaking legs finally gave out and she collapsed on the ground, the nausea finally overwhelming her and she gracelessly vomited on the ground. When she was done, she picked herself up off the ground and began the long, slow shuffle home.
What they asked was impossible. This wasn't even her job! She was a minister, set in place to look after things while Governor Pryce was managing Lothal's affairs on Coruscant. She wasn't some military commander, her job was doing paperwork, putting in the occasional public appearance and looking after dignitaries when they visited. How could they expect her to stop a rebellion, flush out a group of dangerous insurgents, and make her own people suffer to do so? Lothal wasn't much. A backwater world that only had significance because the Empire had come to drag them out of the mud, but these people, like it or not, were her people, and she cared about their well-being. The Empire was there to help, to better Lothal, and the stubborn natives had fought every step of the way. But now the Empire was going to make them suffer, going to execute her if she didn't do this job that wasn't hers, and she knew she could not succeed.
She was going to die. There was absolutely no doubt about that. Tarkin would kill her for her failure just to motivate the person who took her place, and Vader would make Lothal suffer to make the insurgents reveal themselves. These...rebels. Rebels who had escaped to safety and would supposedly return to help Lothal when the Empire began to crush it. It conflicted with the image of the dangerous, violent insurgents the Empire was painting them as. Maketh had always believed in the Empire, had seen the good it could do, but was now at the other end of it. They were going to kill her...
She had to get out. No matter what, she had to get out, though she knew there was nowhere to run. For a moment, she briefly considered attempting to contact the rebels for help. If they could save one of their own from the belly of Grand Moff Tarkin's Star Destroyer, they could certainly rescue her from Capital City. Though they never would, she knew that as well. She was an Imperial official, one that had stood against them in the past, had worked to see them captured and exposed. Were she to reach out to them, they would certainly see it as a trap and ignore it, and if the people had been keeping silent about the rebels before, she certainly wouldn't be able to convince them to lead her to them now. She had information, of course, and she was willing to trade it if it meant her safety, but she had no idea how to even contact them. It made her...a defector. A deserter. A traitor. But she didn't care. Maybe that made her a coward, but Maketh wanted to live. She didn't want to die for something that wasn't her fault or her responsibility, and if the rebels could save her, maybe they would be kinder than her superiors in the Empire.
But they wouldn't.
Her hand slipped into her pocket and she fingered the comlink there, as she had done several times a day for the past three weeks. She tried not to think about him, but now especially, she couldn't help it. Ben had been stationed on the Sovereign when the ship had been destroyed, and while it was possible that he had been dispatched in his TIE fighter at the time the ship went down, the com silence seemed to suggest otherwise, and she was too afraid to call him to find out for certain. Ben was dead. He had to be, and her life had been so upside down that she pushed the thought away and refused to deal with it. It was true she didn't know him well, or for long, but he had been a warm, comforting presence when she had needed it the most, which was more than she had anywhere else.
And now he was dead.
She quickly withdrew her hand from her pocket with a whimper in her throat, sniffling as she tried to fight back tears, saving them for the safety of her home instead of allowing herself to weep in public. There was no getting out of this. She could try and run, but she knew they would find her. Besides, she had nowhere to go, and all she knew, everything in her life had been for the Empire. What would she do if she ran, where would she go? Nowhere. There was nowhere to go but back to the Empire, and then she wouldn't just be a failure, she'd be a fugitive, and her execution would certainly be worse. As it was, it may have been painless, but it didn't need to be that way. She had heard that some prisoners wasted away in their cells under needless interrogations before they finally begged for death. She didn't want that to be her just because she was afraid and ran.
Again, she found her hand slipping into her pocket to finger her comlink. Ben had been worried about her. He had wanted her to check in after her meetings with Tarkin just to be sure she was alright. If you fear for your life, Maketh, you call me and I will come running. He had said that to her before she went to meet with Tarkin for the first time, and the words echoed in her mind now, that pleasing, lovely drawl in his clipped accent running over and over again through her mind. She needed Ben now. He would have understood. He would have saved her. Maybe he wouldn't have defected with her, but something about him made her trust him, make her somehow know that even if he remained loyal to the Empire, he would never give her up.
He had said he knew a Mandalorian, but the Mandalorians had left with Moff Kryze, and they were staunchly loyal to the Empire. There was truly no way out, and in her desperation, she clung to the fragile hope that her fighter pilot was alive somewhere, and when she stepped into her home, the comlink was in her hand, and all she could do was stare at it and wonder if it was worth knowing.
"Visiskija nenx!" Obi-Wan shouted in Ancient Sith as he stormed down the ramp of the Umbra, a female Mandalorian in red and gold armor close on his heels. "Absolutely not!" Underneath the Umbra beside HK-45 and K-2SO stood another Mandalorian, a male in blue and silver armor, his hands inside the ship's open engine panel as his fingers swiftly worked, and with a sigh, he shook his head. Even the rancor nearby remained sleeping, despite the fury of his Master. From the look of it, this was a common occurrence, though the commotion had drawn Kanan's attention, even though he couldn't understand the language they were speaking.
"And why not?!" Leia shouted back in Sith as she followed her father as he began pacing furiously to both vent his frustration and get away from her questioning. Neither were working. "We are almost sixteen years old! We should have been fighting a long time ago!"
"Nearly sixteen!" Obi-Wan snapped. "You are a child! No, you are too young for war."
"You were sixteen when you fought in your first war!" she countered, swiftly pointing to the side where Kanan and Ahsoka sat. "Fulcrum was fourteen when she began fighting in the Clone Wars! And your new friend Kanan was, what, thirteen?!"
"All child soldiers, all far too young!" the Sith snarled, reeling on the armored girl. "And furthermore, they aren't my children!"
"You know..." Leia drawled sweetly, the sudden change in tone making the Sith stop and eye her cautiously. "Yesterday I got a chance to talk with the Spectres. Met a boy named Ezra, who, by the way, father, is born on the same day as us!" Obi-Wan bristled, and thought the helmet hid her face, he could tell that Leia was furious. More than he had ever seen the passionate girl. Something about the Sith language just made everything seem so much more...extreme. "Our age, father, and he's running into battle beside you!" She stopped to look back at Luke, who was clearly not paying attention, and it made her even angrier. Boys were so...difficult. "Are you replacing us, father?!"
"What?!" Obi-Wan stared with wide, disbelieving eyes at the girl, her arms crossed tightly over her chest, her weight shifting from foot to foot. She was nervous. "My angel, nothing could ever replace you..."
"Then let us fight, let us come with you!"
"Ah, no. Absolutely not." Leia yelled in frustration, her hands tightly gripping the sides of her helmet. They were talking in circles. Manipulating the Lord of the Sith never worked. "Gods of the Sith! Are you trying to drive me into an early grave?! Look at this!" Kenobi snapped, running his and through his hair and showing Leia the three strands he had pulled. "Not only are you graying my hair, but you're making it fall out! People die to correct the way you age me! Is this how you plan on killing me? Is this your grand plan to become Master of the Sith?!"
"How could I do that?!" Leia scoffed. "As you're so quick to remind me, I'm not Sith!"
"Not yet, but you are well on your way with the way you suck the life out of me!"
"Brother!" From his place by the engines, Luke looked over to his sister. "You can step in to help at any time!"
"I advise patience," Luke said calmly, his spoken Sith a fair bit more gentle than Leia's. "Father's correct. We will join him when the time is right."
"See?!" Obi-Wan hissed, pointing at the boy. "Good, honest, reasonable son!"
"Oh, you are a traitor!" Leia shouted at her brother before quickly turning back to her father. "He only says that because he gets to fly his X-Wing every single day because he's a farm boy with nothing better to do!"
"Hey..." Luke gruffed, walking over to join his family, a wrench in his hand. "I'll have you know, it's the harvest right now! It's a lot of work!"
"And as soon as your work day is over, you're up there..." Leia said wistfully, her hand on Luke's shoulder. "Flying among the stars. You know what I have to do? Diplomacy training! The Junior Legislative program! Senate meetings! Refinement school! My educational studies! Social events! You know when I have time to fly?" She scoffed. "Never."
"Sweetie, you are being groomed to rule!" Obi-Wan said, the strain of desperation in his voice. "Luke has shown no such interest, but you are ambitious! Too many ignorant fools have let their ambitions lead them astray, and I will not be having my daughter fall prey to such when I set her up to rule in my Empire!"
"You don't have an Empire!" Leia said, her hands balled into fists by her side. "And you won't until we fight for it!" The girl pouted, her toe tapping against the ground. "I want to fight, father, not be involved in this pointless puppet Senate..."
"At least you're busy..." Luke said with a roll of his eyes. "Even with flying and training, here are days I think I may die of boredom." He paused for a moment to look at his sister, and returned his gaze to the Sith. "Father, take us with you. We're ready." The arguing renewed once again, Kenobi returning to his furious pacing, and from the spot by the wall, Ahsoka sighed heavily and shook her head.
"It never ends..." she muttered, and Kanan looked questioningly at her.
"Can you understand what they're saying?" the Jedi asked, and Ahsoka shook her head.
"No, but I know what it's about. It's always the same."
"Honestly, I'm sort of surprised that Kenobi's just letting them talk to him like that," Kanan mused, looking at the trio who had stopped stalking around and now stood huddled together, voices no longer raised, but hushed, commanding hisses could be heard over the distance. The two teenagers had arrived the day before, and since then, Obi-Wan had locked himself away with them. The Spectres had met them briefly when they landed, the two amicable teens acting as though they were meeting celebrities as they went down the line and gleefully shook their hands. They had asked a flurry of questions, inquisitive, adventure-hungry teens that they were, the two skillfully evading all questions directed at them with questions of their own, and it was only after Kenobi dragged them away that they realized that they didn't even know their names. They didn't know a single thing about them. They had been speaking to ghosts.
But Kanan knew them. These were the X-Wing pilots that had escorted him and Ezra off the asteroid so many months ago on Empire Day. He had watched them take down a Star Destroyer, he had watched them fly in perfect, beautiful harmony, as one with each other just as they were as one with their ships. If they were not the best pilots in the galaxy, they were very close to it, their flying and their teamwork so perfect that Kanan couldn't imagine them not being Force sensitive. And yet, when he looked at them, he felt nothing.
"The Gemini..." Kanan mused, leaning forward with his chin upon his fist. "Just who are they?"
"Mandalorians..." Ahsoka drawled as she rolled her eyes. "Kenobi's got a lot of those, as you saw."
"Well, yeah, but it wasn't the same," Kanan said quietly, leaning in toward Ahsoka. "The younglings were polite and respectful. They listened to everything he said without question, they fought with each other to learn from him. These two..." Kanan shook his head. "It couldn't be more different."
"There's no hiding anything from you, is there?" Ahsoka mumbled. "The Gemini are...well, they're Obi-Wan's apprentices."
"...like actual apprentices?" The Togruta nodded, and Kanan looked back to the two Mandalorians. "So they are Force sensitive. I thought they might be, but I couldn't feel it..."
"Well, Kenobi did train them..."
"Is that right?" He didn't look at her, but Kanan could feel Ahsoka's eyes boring into him, could feel her caution and apprehension in the Force. She wasn't lying to him, but the Togruta was certainly keeping secrets, and he suspected he knew exactly what that secret was. No apprentice would speak to their Master this way, and no Master would allow it, especially not a Sith Master. Not even the willful, outspoken Ezra would openly and persistently challenge either of his teachers like this. No, this was downright familial. There was a strong culture of adoption among the Mandalorians, as he learned not just from Sabine, but from his Jedi brothers and sisters, all of them warmly embraced by Mandalorian parents, and like the wayward children, the Sith Lord had been taken in by Mandalore when he had nowhere else to go. It was almost natural that he should do the same.
Of course, what made the Gemini special was lost on Kanan. Why these two of all the hundreds rescued from the Temple? He hadn't seen their faces, so he couldn't be certain of their age, but he could make a safe guess and assume that they were around Ezra's age. Perhaps they simply showed the greatest potential, but Kanan felt it was more than that, and the more he looked at them, the more he believed that these children didn't come from the Temple, but from Kenobi himself, in some way. They certainly were not younger, and to be older would have been impossible, given that these two had to have been fathered on a woman that wasn't Obi-Wan's beloved Satine, and while that was technically possible for the lusty Sith Lord, Kanan knew that Kenobi's heart beat for his dead lover. He wouldn't have been unfaithful to her, not while she was alive, and certainly not while his own child lay within her.
It was very likely, though, that in grief for the loss of his lover and his unborn son, Obi-Wan fathered a child or two on other women, though if the code name Gemini were at all an accurate description of the two young pilots, then they were likely twins fathered on the same mother, and Kanan couldn't help but wonder who she was, or where she was now, since she was very obviously not a part of Obi-Wan's life in any significant way. But to raise these children, she had to have been something special to him, if only for a little bit, or he wouldn't have known she had been pregnant. Kenobi didn't seem the type to keep in touch with his many lovers just to see if a child had come from their union. No, he must have known and cared about this woman, so...
The Gemini were his children, there was no doubt about that, though, he supposed it was possible that Kenobi hadn't actually fathered them. It didn't matter, of course. Just watching them made it clear that the Sith Lord lived for the feisty teenagers. This was why Obi-Wan had felt like a parent to Kanan, he was one. And for the emotional Sith to have kept quiet about such a thing, for Ahsoka to call them apprentices when they were family could only mean that this was a secret that was beyond even the fact that Mandalore kept an army of Force sensitives.
Or he was wrong about the whole thing.
"It's a little weird to have an apprentice but not keep them with you, isn't it?" Kanan asked the Togruta quietly. "He's protecting them, obviously, but from what? And why?" For just a moment, Ahsoka's eyes narrowed as she assessed the Jedi, felt him through the Force, and saw his conviction, far greater than he was letting n. A small, secretive smile touched her lips.
"You know why," she whispered. "And as for what he's protecting them from...has he not lost too much already?"
"...yes." Ahsoka lain her hand on the Jedi's shoulders.
"Some things are best left unsaid, Kanan. Some questions need to remain unanswered. Understand?"
"Yeah, I understand..." he said, watching as the Sith Lord lay an affectionate hand on his children's shoulders, and with a deep breath, he stood, and despite the Togruta's objections, he made his way over to the Sith and his family, the frustrated Fulcrum following close behind. The three spoke quietly in a language Kanan didn't understand, the anger and frustration of before faded into uneasy resignation, as Kanan suspected happened often, from they way they were behaving with each other. Clearly, none of them were happy with whatever arrangement they had come to, which meant that the children obviously didn't get their way, and the loving father was hurting for upsetting his kids.
"Kanan..." Obi-Wan said, drawing up and letting go of the teenagers, his voice adopting the lazy, carefree tone it always did when he was trying to be casual. "You've met the Gemini agents, yes?"
"Briefly yesterday," the Jedi confirmed, nodding to the two of them in acknowledgment. "You have a mission for them?"
"Yes, but not one that aligns with our mission," Obi-Wan said quickly, glaring at the two when it looked like they would say something. "I believe you two owe Fulcrum an apology..." Kenobi growled dangerously, the boy lowering his head and the girl standing taller. "For lying to her about saying I told her you could be here..."
"I'm sorry, Fulcrum..." Luke said softly. "I understand that being careless like that is how the rebellion gets put at risk. It won't happen again..."
"It wasn't totally a lie..." Leia said slyly, earning herself a glare from the Sith Lord that she did not shy away from. "You said you'd see us when your mission was concluded," she swiftly said in her defense. "You did want to see us, didn't you, my Lord?"
"Perhaps it was a mistake to give you training in politics..." Obi-Wan sneered, glaring at the haughty girl in her regal red and gold armor, his eyes drifting past her when he saw movement at the back of the private hangar as the rest of the Spectres came in, Ezra and Sabine talking and laughing at the head of the group and rushing forward when they saw the elusive agents that had been occupying Kenobi's time.
"Are you ready to leave?" Ezra asked as he jogged up, a broad grin on his face when he looked at the Mandalorian warriors. "Hey, are the Gemini coming with us?"
"They were just leaving," Obi-Wan snapped, cutting the twins off before they had a chance to say anything, and Sabine, Ezra, Luke and Leia collectively groaned. "I have said my piece and that is final!" Obi-Wan snapped, pointing a finger the twins. "I will not have you fighting this war until I say it is time!"
"And when will that be?!" Leia shot back. "What if it is never time!"
"Then you will never fight," Obi-Wan growled dangerously, clutching the girl with the Force, and with a gasp, Leia dropped to her knees, held down in submission by the Dark Side. "I am your Master, girl, and you will obey me." Slowly, carefully, Luke dropped beside his sister, a hand on her shoulder as he kneed his head. They had overstepped, as they occasionally did, and in front of others, the Sith Lord drew the line between Father and Master much closer.
"Forgive us..." Luke whispered. "We didn't mean to offend you, we just-"
"You just nothing!" Obi-Wan snarled, grabbing the boy with the Force as well, not crushing or painful, but tightly and protectively, the nervous grasp of a worried parent that knew some day soon, his children would be ready to fly, but wasn't yet willing to let go. The world was dark and dangerous, and he had lost too much as it was. "You will fight when I say, if I say! You are not yet sixteen years old, you are too young for war! I was too young for war at sixteen!"
"He's right, you know..." Hera said softly as she stopped before the group, a sad smile on her lips as she looked at the Sith Lord, the man's shoulders relaxing as he shot the woman a grateful look. "Even if you think you're ready, you're never ready. This fight belongs to all of us. Don't rush it. It will come to you soon enough." With a sigh, Obi-Wan closed his eyes and released the twins, and slowly, cowed for the moment, they rose, their heads bowed respectfully, and the Sith laid his hands on their helmets.
"Nuyak vina berniuk, tu aras nuyak visuom," he muttered softly. My dearest children, you are my world.
"Mes zenoti, tevas," Leia said. We know, father.
"...but you aren't going to war, are you?" Luke asked hopefully, and Obi-Wan groaned, his fingers rubbing his temple.
"Not you too, boy..."
"You said you needed a consult!" Luke pleaded. "That isn't battle, that's talking! And we haven't seen you in so long, please, don't send us away yet!"
"Please..." Leia whispered beside him, and Obi-Wan turned away, a deep growl in his chest as he began to pace.
"...fine," the Sith growled, the children repressing cries of excitement as they clung together. "But you are going home as soon as we are done!" Rolling his eyes and ignoring them as they carried on, Obi-Wan fished through his pocket for his comlink. "I'm calling your parents to let them know I have you, since I assumed you lied to them as well..." The children muttered sheepishly for a moment before they returned to their excited chatter with each other, and Obi-Wan looked at the comlink and frowned, flipping through his missed messages and stopping on one in particular, his chest tightening as he looked at it. Sensing his sudden apprehension, the Force sensitives stopped what they were doing and looked at him, waiting for the man to make a move, but he never did.
"Obi-Wan," Ahsoka said gently, her hand on his shoulder, and the Sith tensed, drawn back into the moment and smiling gently at the Togruta. "What is it?"
Kenobi held his comlink out to her. "A missed message. From Minister Maketh Tua."
"Minister Tua?!" Ezra gasped, staring at the comlink in the Sith's hand. "Don't answer it, it's a trap!"
"I agree..." Zeb growled, baring his sharp teeth. "That woman's no good. I bet she's scrambling to find us since we humiliated Tarkin by blowing up his boat!"
"I fear you are correct..." Obi-Wan said absently, staring at the comlink in his hand before he looked up, a faint smile on his lips. "It wouldn't hurt to at least look at the message." Before anyone had a chance to object, he laid the small disc of his holoprojector on the ground, the little beam of blue light flickering on as it picked up the transmission from the comlink, and the small image of Lothal's Minister appeared before them. For a moment, the woman's eyes widened and she stood still, and with a small, pitiful whimper, she buried her face in her hands and began sobbing, the Spectres looking at each other uncomfortably.
"I suppose it was too much to hope for..." the Minister whispered, wiping her arm across her eyes, finding her last bit of courage as she stood up straight, but it quickly failed her when her shoulders shook with renewed sobs. "Oh, Ben...I-I suppose you're dead, but in case this is just some t-terrible nightmare, I-" She stopped, her breath hitching as she began to hyperventilate. "Tarkin's here, Ben, and he's furious! He's blaming me for what happened, and...a-and..." She took a deep breath and leaned in closer, her tear-filled eyes wide and terrified. "He brought Vader with him, Ben!"
Immediately, Obi-Wan and the twins tensed, and for just the briefest moment, Kanan could feel them in the Force, the Gemini tied so closely together they were almost as one, their presence small and afraid, the smallest thread in the wind, as if the Force itself suddenly reached out to hold them, safe and hidden in its grasp. The Sith Lord, on the other hand, became fierce, the beast awakened and surrounding the twins protectively, a snarling, hissing creature that warned all near it to back away, a dragon safeguarding its treasure. Strangest of all, though, wasn't the Sith Lord, but Ahsoka, her usually calm presence suddenly furious and dark, a burning anger that rushed through her blood and made her look every bit the Sith Lord that Kenobi did.
"Vader?" Ezra asked. "Kanan, isn't that-"
"Shh!" Obi-Wan and Ahsoka hissed, their fists in the air to call for silence, and Ezra quickly shut his mouth.
"I-I don't know what else to do!" the Minister continued. "I-I've tried to find the rebels, I really have, but..." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "He's going to kill me, Ben. Tarkin's going to kill me! He's blaming me for all this and I...I-I..." She began crying again, not the sobs from before, but silent, hopeless tears, a faint smile on her lips as she looked up. "Please, Ben. If by some miracle you're still alive, I...I need help. You once told me that if I felt my life was in danger, you'd come save me. I don't know where else to turn, Ben, please...help me." The image froze as the transmission ended, then flicked off, and the group was silent as they stared at the place where the projected minister stood a moment ago.
"Still think it's a trap?" Kanan asked, looking out of the corner of his eye at Zeb, and the Lasat scratched the back of his neck.
"I don't know, Kanan...there isn't a low the Imps won't stoop to. They could be using her to bring us back, or maybe she's in on it too, maybe this is how she plans on catching us."
"She's genuine..." Obi-Wan said softly, his fingers running over the comlink. "And her life is certainly in danger. The question now is what she will do when she is faced with her rebels..."
"Wait, what?!" Ezra cried when the Sith Lord started entering a number into his comlink. "You aren't going to contact her, are you?! Kenobi, you'll lead her right to us!"
"Right to the rebel base," Hera said firmly. "You can't, not here!"
"Then where, Syndulla?" Obi-Wan hissed. "It may already be too late for her. She was...helpful to me, unwitting as it was, and I do not forget those that aid me. My help is owed to her." The com pinged, the light upon it flashing as it worked to establish a connection, and Hera quickly grabbed the Sith by the shoulder.
"You can't!" Hera said, more forcefully before and hitting him on his armored chest. "Just look at you, Shadow King! She's going to know exactly what you are!"
"Relax..." Obi-Wan said, gently pushing the woman out of the way. "It's a one way encrypted transmission, she won't be able to see us." A burst of static announced the established connection, and there was a brief stuttering on the other end, the woman unable to find her tongue or her words.
"Maketh?" Obi-Wan asked, sighing when he heard the woman gasp. "Oh, Maketh, thank goodness, I'm not too late." There was choked sobbing on the other end, helpless and relieved and completely unrestrained, and Obi-Wan softly hushed her. "It's alright, my dear, you're going to be alright..."
"I was so scared!" Maketh said between sobs. "I thought you died with the Sovereign!"
"I didn't, it's alright...tell me everything that happened."
"I-I...h-he, Tarkin, I..." she rambled incoherently for a moment, the fear in her eyes real as she shook and paced and wrung her hands. "Tarkin left to Coruscant, he left me here, a-and..." She shook her head violently. "Where were you, Ben?! I-"
"I went with Tarkin back to Coruscant to Royal Imperial for reassignment," Obi-Wan calmly explained, the woman taking deep, shuddering breaths as she nodded frantically. "Alright? See? I'm alright."
"I-I can't see you..." the Minister whimpered. "Is your comlink broken, are you-"
"Just in transit, sweetie," the Sith said, looking at the Spectres pointedly. "When it's safe, I'll encrypt the connection."
"He's going to kill me!" Maketh said, frantic again. "Ben, please, help me! You said you would, you said-"
"I will," Obi-Wan promised. "You need to tell me what you did, Maketh, your message said you were looking for the rebels. Have you found them?"
"No..." she whispered, her eyes cast down at the ground. "They aren't here, and nobody's telling me anything. I tried, Ben, I really did. I tried to find them, and then Tarkin..." Her shoulders shook as she tried to calm herself. "Don't be mad..." she whispered.
"I won't," Obi-Wan said gently. "I promise."
"I-I tried to find them so they could save me, I thought..." she swallowed hard. "I thought if I provided them with classified Imperial information, they might be willing to help..." The Spectres looked at each other, shocked and suspicious. It felt like a trap, but the emotion was too real, the fear too genuine. This was a desperate woman at the end of her line that saw the Empire she served willing to take her life simply because someone needed to be held accountable for so many failures. She was a nobody, but it was good enough.
"You want to defect?" Obi-Wan asked, a smirk on his lips as he looked at Ahsoka, the Togruta returning his smile and nodding.
"I want to live!" the Minister said frantically. "And there's no way I can do that in the Empire! Tarkin will kill me now, or I will be a fugitive and he will kill me later." She rubbed her hands across her face before she stared into the transmitter. "I want to live, Ben. Please. Help me."
"Stand by, Minister Tua," Obi-Wan said, activating the holotransmitter and smiling as he watched the emotions play across, the woman's face as she saw him, first relief, then joy, and then muted confusion as her eyes narrowed, examining him, and then widening in shock and resignation as her face paled, watching as Kenobi took his helmet from Leia when she offered it to him and tucked it under his arm.
"Ben..." she whispered breathlessly. "You're...t-the armor, and the...that's...you're-"
"The one and only, Minister," the Sith said, a cocky tone in his voice that Maketh hadn't heard before out of her sweet, modest pilot, and her hands flew to cover her mouth.
"Oh stars, I went to bed with the Shadow King..."
"Stay where you are, Maketh," Obi-Wan said. "I'm coming for you." He cut the com and quickly pocketed the holoprojector. "Change of plans, Spectres, we've got a minister to save before we head out for that consult."
"This is way too dangerous, Kenobi," Hera said as she quickly stepped forward. "We barely made it away from Lothal, and now you want to go back?" She scoffed and shook her head. "We have a plan!"
"And sometimes plans change..." Obi-Wan muttered, punching in numbers into his comlink. "Gemini, I'm contacting your parents and telling them you're on the way home." The twins began groaning, and their protests were quickly ended when Obi-Wan raised his hand. "They will contact me the moment you are home, so don't get any ideas about detours, you little shits."
"What about the consult!" Leia cried desperately. "You said-"
"Plans change," Obi-Wan said through grit teeth, and he sighed when the girl looked away from him. "When we've saved the Minister, I'll call you and you will meet us on Dagobah, alright?"
"Can't we just go right there?" Leia asked, and Obi-Wan groaned and pocketed his comlink.
"Fine. But you are to contact me the moment you arrive!" His attention was diverted away from Leia's celebratory excitement when Luke laid a hand on his shoulder.
"I agree with Captain Syndulla," the boy said, his tone tense with worry. "The risk is too great, and you heard her. Vader is there..."
"Vader..." Ahsoka growled, her hand clenching tightly to the lightsaber on her belt, the heavy green blade that once belonged to her Master. "If you're concerned, Spectres, don't go, but Obi-Wan and I are going. We have some long overdue business with a Sith Lord."
"You aren't going, Ahsoka..." Obi-Wan said, his hand stroking his beard as he thought, and he hardly noticed when the Togruta reeled on him, her blue eyes filled with fury.
"You will not deny me this, Obi-Wan!" Ahsoka snapped. "Years I have waited for this, and I finally have a chance to set my Master's soul to rest!"
Obi-Wan sighed. "Ahsoka..."
"He killed Quinlan!" the woman shouted, the Kiffar's lightsaber held tightly in her hand out toward the Sith Lord. "You weren't there, Obi-Wan, but I watched him slaughter your best friend, and you won't let me be there when you face him?!"
"I'm not going there to face Vader, Ahsoka, I am going to save the life of a rebel ally!" Obi-Wan snapped, finally reeling on the woman as his temper flared. "She has valuable information that we can use, and I promised to protect her! I cannot do both, I cannot save her and fight Vader! What's more, I don't know what he can do now, it's been a long time since I've faced him."
"We can face him together!" Ahsoka snarled, and Kenobi laughed harshly.
"You want me to fight him while my attention is divided so I can protect you? Are you out of your mind?!"
"I didn't ask for your protection, Lumis, I asked for a chance to avenge my Master!"
"And that is not a chance I am willing to take," Obi-Wan said evenly. "No. I will hear no more of this." With a cry of frustrated fury, Ahsoka began pacing, the lightsaber turning over in her hand as her fingers lovingly ran over each groove. "...Ahsoka." The Togruta stopped, her eyes narrow and angry upon the Sith Lord. "You will have your chance. I haven't forgotten what you meant to Quin. I wouldn't dream of denying you a piece of revenge."
"Which is why we should..." she began, trailing off when Obi-Wan's gaze fell to the floor. "Your vision, Vader was in your vision." The Sith Lord nodded. "Do you believe this is it?"
"I don't know..." he muttered. "But if it is, I will be no help to you, and I don't believe you can defeat him on your own. If he knows you're alive and with us, Ahsoka, he won't stop hunting you until you've been caught. You're one of his last mistakes, and he will stop at nothing to correct it. I will not allow Vader to rob the galaxy of Quinlan Vos and the student he loved."
"Alright, are we talking about Ezra's vision?" Kanan asked. "Because if we are, maybe we need to rethink helping the Minister."
"We have to do this!" Ezra said. "I know she's and enemy, and she's an Imperial so she can't be trusted, and that this is probably a trap, but she needs our help, she was asking for it! We can't turn down a person in need." He shrugged. "And that information she has sounds like it can really help us."
"To say nothing of the fact that she is mine, and nobody touches my things," Obi-Wan growled. "Nobody. Especially not Tarkin. I'm going to make him account for his failures with the Emperor. Empire Day is coming up, I need to start planning."
"We can't take the Umbra, she's still being repaired," Hera said, sighing in resignation. "And it's going to be harder to get into Lothal than ever before. I'm reluctant to take the Ghost."
"We can find another way on, that won't be a problem," Obi-Wan said.
"And the Gemini are supposed to be ace pilots, right?" Ezra asked. "If they supported us-"
"No!" The answer was quick, final, and in perfect unison, all the prior boldness and brashness gone, and suddenly, the two Mandalorians looked very small and very, very afraid. "The Shadow King told us to go home until he calls for us," Leia said meekly. "We have to obey." The two of them laid their hands on Obi-Wan's arm,, squeezing softly as they stood closer to each other.
"Be careful, Tevas," Luke said softly.
"We'll see you on Dagobah," Leia said in a voice that was not nearly as confident as she had hoped, and together, the twins walked out of the hangar, looking over their shoulder at their father as they left.
"We need to leave as well..." Obi-Wan said blankly, whistling for HK-45, and the droid quickly trotted over. "Time is short. We can plan the rescue on the trip there." He shrugged. "Really, it should just be in and out. Quick and easy."
"Sort of like how you bedded the Minister?" Kanan drawled, and Obi-Wan hit him on the shoulder.
"Just like that," Obi-Wan quickly agreed. "Come on. We've wasted enough time already."
"Obi-Wan," Ahsoka said softly as the Spectres and the Sith Lord started to leave. "I'll meet you on Dagobah, alright? I'll keep the Gemini safe. Don't keep us waiting."
"I won't..." Obi-Wan muttered, a small, grateful smile on his lips as he passed her.
"May the Force be with you, Obi-Wan."
"It always is..." the Sith Lord said quietly, and he couldn't help but feel the chill in the Force, the all too familiar cold that came only from a Lord of the Sith, and he wondered how the other Force Nexus had been faring after all these years. He didn't plan on meeting Vader there on Lothal, but somehow, Obi-Wan didn't think it could be avoided. They stood opposite in the Force, as they always had, the vergences drawn inexorably toward each other, fated to cross blades again and again, and this time was no different. Vader was waiting, and it was finally time to size up Skywalker and see what he had become.