AN: Hey, remember a time when these chapters were, I don't know, 4000 to 5000 words long instead of long, long action chapters? Yeah, me too. I miss those. So today, our favorite friends are taking a much needed break...for 12000 words. An awful lot going on here, see if you can find all the different moving pieces! Good luck, my lovely hunters!
The Road Not Taken should be updated tomorrow, I know exactly how the chapter is going to go, so the writing should be quite quick. Should be good. At least, it's good in my mind.
Again, lovelies, don't forget to let me know what you think. Don't be a lurker, come out and say hello! I friggin' love it! I like hearing what you guys think, and I REALLY like being able to engage in discussions with you. Some of my best stuff comes from things you guys inspired. Keep being awesome, lovelies, and enjoy!
Chapter 46: Treading the Decline
The pilot was Chiss.
Unmistakably so, there could be no question about it. They flew with grace and speed that seemed cautious and reckless all at once, maintaining a defensive position while baiting the fighters closest to them to attack, which the pilots in their TIE Fighters did every single time with perfect reliability. This was not the best pilot that he had ever seen, but whoever they were, they were still very good, only made to appear even better by their clear study of Imperial flight maneuvers and their own unusual flight tactics, which left he Imperials scrambling for a suitable defense to a thing they had never seen before. And while the ship itself was not of Chiss design, the technology was, from the engine reactors which burned and used fuel in such a way that the rear thrusters burned blue, to the experimental stealth system which had been used by the Chiss military for a thousand years.
It was enough for Thrawn to call off the TIE Fighters, enough for him to command his fleet to retreat to a more defendable position in the Arkanis Sector where he could contemplate the day's new developments in peace. Allowing the rebels to escape had been a tactical decision which greatly angered the captains aboard the other Star Destroyers, and he dismissed their outrage as simply the bitter howling of a wounded pride, nothing worthy of merit or consideration. If his time in the Imperial Navy had taught him anything, it was that many that sat near the top of the Imperial Navy's chain of command, it was that they were mostly made of those who demonstrated raw, naked ambition, not necessarily tactical skill and leadership, which part of the reason why he had angered so many of them.
Thrawn had no mind for the politics of the Naval Command and believed that such politics and social manipulations had no place within the Imperial hierarchy. He believed in merit, promotion through skill and ability, not simply for knowing and pleasing the right people, and so he spoke frankly, presenting the situation as he saw it, focused on results, not the many, many toes he stepped on or the egos he wounded. As Commander Eli Vanto was always quick to remind him, High Command was out to see him fail, not just because he was not human, but because his ways were offensive to them. He rose through the ranks anyway because his results were very difficult to argue with, but that didn't mean every influential eye wasn't on him, waiting for a slip up, a mistake, any reason at all they could use to bring the non-human Admiral low.
Losing a valuable prisoner, allowing the rebels to escape, and retreating from three small rebel ships when victory through sheer might alone was in their hands looked to be their opportunity to do just that.
"Admiral?" Commander Vanto asked as he stepped into Thrawn's stateroom, the lights dim and the Chiss sitting in his command chair, staring intently at the data and security recordings projected on the wall before him. The human officer slowly strode toward him and stood at attention by the chair, silent as he waited for any sign that the Admiral even recognized he was there. It took a few minutes, but eventually, the Chiss' glowing red eyes slightly shifted to look at Eli. "Admiral, High Command has summoned you," Vanto said, his voice strained with irritation. "Again. You've been summoned back to Coruscant. A call from them has been forwarded to the Conference Room. They are waiting for you to personally give them the account of what happened in the Del Zennis System this morning."
"They have my report, Commander," Thrawn said in his usual monotone, and Eli couldn't help but wonder if Thrawn was actually just as irritated as he was. "I was very thorough. Did they find it lacking?"
"Beats me..." Eli muttered. "Most like, they're just wanting a chance to humiliate you."
"For what would I be humiliated, Commander?" Thrawn asked almost gently, and Eli crossed his arms over his chest and huffed in annoyance.
"I don't know, how about for retreating from an easy victory against three rebel ships?" He scoffed slightly. "Hell, not even three proper ships. Two star fighters and a freighter against an Interdictor cruiser, five Star Destroyers, and their entire compliment of TIE Fighters shouldn't have even been a contest."
"A tactical decision, Commander," Thrawn said quietly, his focus returning once again to the display before him. "The rebel ships were incidental. Our battle was already lost inside the Interdictor, but the information we received in exchange was well worth their escape."
"Sir?" Eli asked, drawing closer to the Admiral, the red eyes shifting their attention to the officer, the boy more curious than nervous, his posture more relaxed, informal, though still respectful, approaching not as the Chiss' aide, but as his friend, as they had become over their many years together. "I'm...not entirely sure I understand how this wasn't a categorical failure. We were expecting Kenobi, but he didn't even show. We set our trap for a krayt dragon, and Jawas stole the bait and slipped out through the bars of the cage!" Thrawn's head tilted slightly to the side, examining Eli for a moment as he interpreted the expression's meaning.
"Your meaning is that our bait attracted smaller prey that our trap was not meant to ensnare." Eli nodded, and the slightest smirk came to the Chiss' lips as he leaned back in his seat, his fingers steepled before him. "Yes...and no. Capturing the rebel and Jedi student Ezra Bridger was...unexpected, and while I may very well have managed to capture the Shadow King today were he to step inside my ship, this trap was never meant for him. If I may use your very apt analogy, Commander, prey caught in a trap may serve as a lure for a larger beast."
"...but we didn't catch anything, sir," Eli said, and an imperceptible smirk touched the edge of the Chiss' lips.
"Did we not?" A slightest gesture from the Chiss, and Commander Vanto stepped forward, kneeling beside the command chair as Thrawn's fingers deliberately moved over the controls on the armrest, the holographic data minimizing and replaced by the holographic representations of the rebel ship, the Ghost, Kenobi's Umbra, and the third, unidentified U-Wing that appeared with the rebels during their escape. "We can say with certainty that the Shadow King shares an at least occasional partnership with the rebel group known as the Spectres."
"Safe to say, yeah," Eli said, and tapping the small display on the chair, the projection zoomed in on the Ghost, small images of the freighter's crew surrounding the ship, along with the schematics of both the Ghost and her small, auxiliary fighter.
"Our capture of the Jedi Ezra Bridger gave us a very rare opportunity to lure both our rebel cell and the Shadow King to us. When there is one rebel, the others are rarely ever far behind ready to rush to the rescue, as was the case today. But while Bridger was in our custody..." He zoomed in on the image of the young Jedi student, a long scroll of information appearing beside a security loop of the young Jedi in action. "He provided us with invaluable data which we are now using to perfect our method for our capture of the Shadow King."
"Is it finally ready?" Eli asked, looking up excitedly at the Admiral, who barely registered that he had been spoken to.
"Very nearly, yes..." He zoomed back out on the image of the Ghost, the small representations of the Spectres surrounding it, along with a seventh figure wearing clone armor. "As you know, the rebel Kanan Jarrus came to the rescue along with two unidentified allies, and infiltrated the Interdictor using a set of emergency protocols developed during the Clone Wars." He tapped the image of the clone in the bottom corner, and the hologram zoomed in, presenting the security recording from the fight aboard the Interdictor with the Jedi battling beside two men in Stormtrooper armor. "We have isolated the codes and found them to originate with the Republic's 501st Legion, and while we have yet to identify his numerical designation, we can say with certainty that the Spectres have added a clone soldier to their ranks. Any further use of these emergency protocols will be fair indication that we are likely dealing with our rebels."
"That's...good," Eli said as understanding slowly came to him. "That's very good."
"As I said, the loss of the rebels was acceptable for what we received in return," Thrawn said slowly, zooming back out on the images of the ships and staring intently at the U-Wing. "Most importantly, however, was the third member of the infiltration team." The Chiss quickly tapped his fingers on the command chair controls, and the image of another clone appeared, this one in red and black Mandalorian armor. "Lord Maul confirmed his identity as Commander Cody of the Separatist Shadow Legion, the alleged right hand of Obi-Wan Kenobi during the Clone Wars." Beside him, Eli shifted slightly, his mouth pressed in a thin line, his brow drawn together in concern. "Speak your mind, Commander," the Chiss said quietly. "Maul is not present."
"He's...sort of crazy, isn't he?" Vanto said slowly, carefully measuring his words as if speaking bluntly would somehow summon the Sith. "You can't trust a mad dog, and he sure made a mess of things over there."
"Precisely because of the personal nature of his relationship with the clone," Thrawn said flatly, though an undercurrent of excited tension ran through his words. "For a short time, our bait was taken, and in exchange for Ezra Bridger, we captured Commander Cody, a man that, according to Maul, is closer to Obi-Wan Kenobi than anyone presently living." He took a deep breath and held it for a moment, his fingers bringing up the security footage of the Interdictor's primary interrogation room and the furious Zabrak's torture of the clone. The volume was muted now, but he had carefully listened to the audio many times.
"Yeah, but we lost him too," Eli said, shaking his head in disappointment. "We can't use him as bait if we don't have him."
"No, we cannot," Thrawn said quietly, his face as impassive as always, but when he turned his eyes on Eli, the young commander saw triumph burning behind them. "But he is not bait, he is a lure. His beating at the hands of our...mad dog, as you called him, and his subsequent escape has given us everything we need guarantee Kenobi's capture." His fingers drummed on the armrest as he thought, his intelligent eyes swiftly daring between the data presented before him.
"Sir?" Eli asked quietly after the Chiss became lost in thought, and the Admiral straightened in his chair, his attention back on his aide. "We had one of his own." He pointed to the holographic display. "We had Bridger. A Jedi. That should have been enough to draw him out with the other rebels to mount a rescue."
"That is correct..." Thrawn said evenly. "Which means someone else is dictating the missions the rebels undertake. They have a rebel leader, and Kenobi at least occasionally differs to their command." The Admiral took a deep, even breath as he looked at the faces of the Spectres, carefully examining each one, then moved the Twi'lek Hera Syndula and the Jedi Kanan Jarrus to the top of the display. After a moment of consideration, he shook his head and minimized the Jedi. "But no longer. Our lure guarantees as much. By allowing another to dictate the rescue operation, his clone was severely wounded, and the next time one of his own is under threat, he will come personally to deal with the problem."
"And we already know the people he considers to be under his protection." Eli sighed in satisfaction, looking over the images of the ships that Thrawn was fixated upon, and frowned. "Sir, if we already have him on the line, why not reel him in? We could capture any of his allies, and he will come to us."
"Yes..." Thrawn slowly drawled, though his eyes never left the image of the U-Wing. "Yes, any of them would do. But we are presented with a unique opportunity. I now dictate his movements, and when he engages me, he now no longer has a choice but for it to be on my terms. If we are patient, if we wait for the right time, not only can we capture the Shadow King, but his most dangerous ally as well."
"And what if he just decided to attack?" Eli asked. "I know a single Star Destroyer is hard to find, but if he knows where to look, if he happens upon us..."
"You know very well what is aboard this ship, Commander," Thrawn said quietly. "Our interactions have been far too..." He paused, searching for the right word, and smirked slightly when he found it. "Far too intimate for him to engage me in any other manner but face to face. The moment he sets foot on the Chimera, he is mine. Our job now it to calculate the right moment for it to have the most devastating effect for those who oppose the Empire."
"Sounds like getting a lure to catch Kenobi is more than a fair trade for our losses today," Eli said as he stood and smoother out the folds in his pants. "You broke off the attack to ensure his escape? Lure, not bait."
"Something like that, yes..." Thrawn said in his customary monotone, more distant than usual as he stared at the projection.
"Want to try and explain that to High Command?" Eli asked. "They're still waiting on that report."
"Let them wait," the Admiral said quickly, Eli's jaw going slack as he stared at the blue skinned non-human and sighed. It was hardly surprising. "I have other matters which take precedence over a pointless interrogation. They have my report. That will serve until we arrive in Coruscant."
"...you sure you wanna do that, Admiral?" Eli asked, Thrawn's face as expressionless as always.
"I'm certain, thank you," the Chiss said, his voice as even and assured as always. "That will be all, Commander." With a sigh, Eli turned to trudge out of the room, not envying himself the distasteful task of explaining to Naval High Command why the Admiral believed he had the authority to dismiss them, leaving Thrawn alone in the stateroom with his thoughts.
Tearing his gaze away from the U-Wing, Thrawn brought up the file of his gathered information from Kenobi's Empire Day attacks, now numbering in seventeen ostentatious displays designed specifically to taunt the Emperor. This year's event had been two-fold, beginning with the discovery of three dead and dismembered Inquisitors on the floor of the Senate, draped over the Emperor's chair no less, far less playful than it was outwardly threatening. It culminated in the largest heist in galactic history, and despite financial losses from the Emperor's personal accounts amounting to just shy of a billion credits in untraceable gold bars, minted coins and credit ingots, the gesture had been, ultimately, playful. Not friendly, of course, but it had the feel of familial teasing, an unruly child who had managed to sneak his father's credit chip and use it unrestrained on an elaborate spending spree.
Thrawn's eyes roved over the very official and very legal papers displayed before him, ones drawn up by the bank's chairman himself that authorized the withdrawal of half a billion credits in hard currency, but his attention was ultimately drawn to the note written on the back of the document in an elegant hand, a polite and friendly note thanking Palpatine for the generous severance package, which Kenobi himself had signed next to a picture he had drawn of himself sitting atop a mountain of coins. Thrawn considered himself fortunate to have been allowed to receive this information, as in the past, he had to work tirelessly to unearth the mocking notes from the Emperor's former student, though he had been in the Emperor's presence when the documents were delivered, and the circumstances surrounding the heist made it not only unavoidable, but prudent for the Chiss to have access to them.
The security from the bank had been compromised, and the backlog of the recorded footage had been completely destroyed, leaving no evidence at all as to what had transpired there. Slowly, the information had been pieced together when bank personnel and the security force had been interrogated, but nobody could seem to remember anything relevant, anything unusual or out of place, anything that would have pointed to the rogue Sith having been there, save for the documents and the note that he had signed himself. But his complete absence left his imprint on the circumstances none the less, the lack of his presence forming his imprint as clearly as his actual image would have, what was missing proving to be just as telling as the gathered information.
The chairman had been killed, along with ten other staff and administrators and twenty of the Death Troopers sent to guard the center of Imperial finances, and in their search for the missing bodies, they had discovered the Inquisitor on guard was nowhere to be found. A quick investigation found the bodies dumped on the frightened citizens of an Imperial outpost, but the Inquisitor was nowhere to be found. Most importantly, though, was the discrepancy in the numbers, the amount stolen that Kenobi had flaunted to the Emperor approximately half of what had actually been taken. Without the security footage, it was impossible to know what had happened, but to Thrawn, the picture was clear. The fastidious, meticulous Obi-Wan may have been impulsive and reckless when he was forced into a situation, but when he dictated the terms of engagement, when he created a situation, when he had a plan, it was nothing less than genius strategy and masterful manipulation to see everything go exactly according to his design.
The discrepancy was telling. Something had happened. This was a mistake, an error, something had gone very, very wrong, and what could have been an easy, clean legal transaction to serve as a demonstration to the Emperor that he could walk unhindered in his most secure places had become a lock down and a battle. There was a factor at play that Thrawn knew nothing about, and that needed to change immediately.
There were several new factors at play. Thrawn's gaze drifted back to the U-Wing, the new stealth ship that was almost certainly tied to the Umbra, the thing that made him pull his TIE Fighters off the rebel pursuit. He hadn't forgotten the bodies of the Chiss that the rogue Sith had sent to the Emperor, along with the recording of their dissection, and the brutal violation of their female commander, made to quietly submit to the Sith Lord and allow him to do as he wished with her body. Kenobi hadn't killed her, at least he hadn't recorded himself doing so, and a taunting message at the end of the recording seemed to suggest that Kenobi was saving this Chiss female as companionship for Thrawn himself when the Sith Lord finally captured him.
As the Chiss were rarely seen outside of the Chiss Ascendancy, and the ships sent out of the Unknown Regions to scout in Wild Space flushed their jump coordinates daily and upon being disabled, it made it very unlikely that Kenobi knew where to find the Chiss home world of Csilla.
But he might.
Not that it would matter much. Kenobi had an interest in Thrawn, not the Chiss, and so far as most knew, Thrawn had been exiled by the Chiss High Command, leaving him without a home and without a people, and even if Kenobi had somehow discovered the truth of Thrawn's presence inside the Galactic Empire, it seemed highly unlikely that the cunning Sith Lord would turn his sights on such a remote world so deep in the Unknown Regions when his fight was with Palpatine.
No, what was distressing about this was the fact that this Chiss pilot flew like a Chiss, which meant that not only was Kenobi not exerting direct control, but they had retained their mental prowess to fly with such skill, uncharacteristic of the mental deterioration that Thrawn had seen in others who had fallen under the Sith Lord's dominion, utterly broken shells of what they once were, dependent on the will of the Sith to guide them through anything other than the most basic tasks. No, this pilot was unmistakably Chiss, and flew using maneuvers that were considered advance, even among the Ascendancy.
Be it the lone female that remained in his custody or another the Sith had kept hidden, this Chiss was not under direct control, and likely hadn't been made to serve him, but had chosen to. That had yet to be seen, but with the brutal deaths of the other Chiss, it was unlikely Kenobi could hold anything over them to force this Chiss to remain in service to him and maintain such high level of skill and independent thought required to fly that way. Either this pilot willingly served the Shadow King, or Thrawn had gravely misjudged Kenobi's powers. He needed to reevaluate his prey, discover if this Chiss pilot was a servant or a slave, accepted his rule or was forced to submit. And the Chiss did not submit.
Ultimately, it didn't matter. The trap was set, and he had already ensnared the Sith Lord, the actions of reckless, foolish Maul guaranteeing that the next time one of Kenobi's inner circle was in danger, he would be impulsive and emotional when caution and patience were needed for fear of losing someone close to him as he had almost lost the clone. Thrawn had the right bait, all that was needed was the right time, and the threat of the Shadow King would be at an end. The Chiss in his captivity was...ultimately meaningless. When Kenobi was in his clutches, there would be plenty of time to free any prisoners he may keep and to learn the full measure of the man he had been chasing for so long.
All he needed was a little patience, and Thrawn had plenty of that.
Obi-Wan knelt in the center of the large room, the metal walls around him groaning, the steel crates filled with supplies rattling as they shook, the rancor beside him snarling and furious, his claws raking the ground and leaving deep gouges in the smooth surface, thick saliva dripping off fangs that gnashed together as he roared and snapped the air, his large, usually black eyes now a swirling storm of blood red and gold flames. In their cells where they had been restrained to the walls, the two captive Inquisitors writhed and screamed against their bonds begging and pleading for mercy falling on deaf ears as the Dark Side sunk its fangs within them and tore into them in gleeful, unrestrained wrath, the presence so heavy, so oppressive that they thought they could not breathe for the thickness of darkness in the air.
The draconic leviathan had awakened and shattered the thick ice of the Dark Side of the Force, disrupting the still, cold calm and leaving in its wake spears of sharp ice that sliced through any foolish enough to draw near, sharp dangerous waves that crested and crashed as lightning struck from black clouds over a stormy sea. He was open, raw and exposed, stepping out of his usual concealment to stand defiantly in the throes of the Force, and from across the distance, he could feel eyes on him. It didn't matter. They would come to feel his wrath soon enough.
The mission had returned successful, the crew of the captured ship and Ezra safely returned to Phoenix Squadron with very few casualties, and when Kanan and the clones returned, Obi-Wan was left to hold the beaten, broken body of Cody close to him, alive but severely wounded at the hands of Darth Maul. The Chimera had been there. Thrawn had been there, a still and silent menace hanging over the infiltrating team, and not once did they contact him to let him know that his Chiss Admiral was closer than he had ever been. Cody had weakly explained that it was he whom decided against informing him, the obvious nature of the trap making his clone companion uneasy about putting him in danger, had thought it best to stay away and attack when they could determine the rules of engagement, but Obi-Wan had swiftly silenced him, picked him up, and carried him into the Umbra where he could care for him, commanding that the Spectres give him a very wide berth if they valued their safety at all.
Obi-Wan had been ready, waiting to rush to their aid, as they had planned, the Sith Lord silently sinking into the Force to keep a close eye on Kanan as he snuck around the Interdictor, and Ezra, who he could distressingly not feel. The moment he touched the Force, however, all became dark, bathed in dancing red and black shadows as his sight was obscured by the visions of Sidious, his yellow eyes open and glowing in sinister delight, his cruel grin visible from under the shadows of his hood, his cold, malignant laughter echoing all around him. Obi-Wan should have been able to feel Maul, his feral, half mad pet as he stalked the Interdictor. He should have been able to feel Kanan and his cold resolve, his focus worthy of the Jedi of old. He should have felt Ezra, all bold fear and brash defiance, even in the face of impossible odds, a boy either too determined or too stupid to know when to quit. And above all else, he should have felt Cody, his beloved companion, as he was beaten, tortured, and nearly killed by the creature that murdered Satine and his unborn son.
But all he saw was Sidious. All he heard was his triumphant laughter. All he felt was his end drawing quickly closer.
Now, however, as he knelt within the spacious cargo hold of his ship in full light of the Force, a storm within the Dark Side, an open nexus and sporting the mask of Darth Nihilus upon his face, the vision of Sidious before him finally, finally stopped laughing.
That calm self-assurance of his absolute mastery had dropped away as Lumis defiantly stared at him, black robes hanging loose and still around them both despite the violent winds of the devastating storm around them, Sidious' on pale yellow eyes locking with the bleeding red and gold visible through Nihilus' mask, and Lumis saw hunger. Small cracks in the tight control of the Emperor, allowing lust for power, ravenous desire and a bone-crushing need for absolute dominion to bleed through, a thing that all Sith possessed in some capacity, but within Darth Sidious, it was overwhelming, consuming, and in his pervasive greed, Lumis saw weakness.
Sidious could be defeated. Sidious must be defeated, and Darth Lumis was the one to do it. It wouldn't take much, if only he reached out and grabbed hold of the power needed to do it. He could feel the Dark Side churning within him, the predator within comforting and familiar, but strange and unknown to him all at once, a grotesque mutation of the sleek, silent hunter that prowled unseen through the shadows of the Force. It would be such a small thing to give into the hunger that rested deep and ignored within him, that burning itch for more and more he resisted each time he consumed the Force from another being. The gnawing of addiction would be so easy to surrender to, to give himself up if only it meant he could finally destroy Sidious and exert his own dominion over this galaxy. Such a small thing to sacrifice for the power he would receive in return, and he had been little more than a shell anyway since he had lost everything. The remainder of all he was for infinite power was just within reach and more than worth the little price he was asked to pay...
With a shuddering gasp, Obi-Wan tore the mask from his face and dropped onto the floor before him, running shaking hands through his hair and struggling to get control of his rapid, ragged breathing and his humming heart. He closed his eyes and wrestled with the Dark Side that had been set free, the rancor beside him thrashing and howling and slowly, slowly calming as Obi-Wan slipped back into obscurity in the shadows of the Force, eventually falling to his side with a tired gruff and breathing deeply when the Sith Lord laid a calming hand between his eyes. The vision of Sidious before him slowly faded as he stepped out of the currents of the Force, and Obi-Wan felt ill, chilled and feverish all at once, his forehead beaded in cold sweat, the memory of Sidious' eyes upon him still weighing heavily on his body.
These thoughts were not his own, and never had been. For all he craved power, Obi-Wan fell to the Dark Side to bring peace and order to a galaxy rife with corruption and chaos bred by the greedy, ineffectual Republic and their complacent Jedi. Power for the sake of power had never been a thing he truly wanted, and he often stopped himself from reaching further than he could when he felt the cost became too high, when he was unwilling to pay the price for what he knew could be his if only he just reached beyond that line he was unwilling to cross.
No, these thoughts came from the mask itself and the corrupted beast that lay trapped within it, the sharp and shadowed claws of the Dark Side reaching out to sink deep into his mind the moment he put the dread mask on. There was knowledge to be had there, and he could feel it deep within him as his mind was torn into, willingly exposing himself to the trapped knowledge of the mask's dark powers, but also to the sweet seduction of the Dark Side, that smooth, alluring whisper that beaconed him closer, promised him power and pleasure unlike anything he ever knew if only he would just cut away at the shredded remains of himself. And it was tempting, even though he was keenly aware that to do so would see his motivation for his descent down this dark road ripped from him, his very reason for possessing such power gone in exchange for possessing what he needed, and that defeated the purpose of it all. If he could not be himself in the world he was fighting to create, what was the point?
So his time with the mask was limited, allowing his mind to be torn open and devoured for only so long as he remembered himself, only until he felt greed and hunger and that deep, pervasive itch for more. Someday, he would master the mask, tame the beast that lay within it until even that learned to heed his will, but that day was still a ways off. Today, there was blazing, burning rage as his thoughts swam with the blistering need for revenge against Maul for what happened to Cody. There was Sidious, looming above everything as he watched and waited for the moment where the Dark Side would deliver Darth Lumis to him, an inescapable truth that seemed to grow closer and closer with the passing of each day. There was Thrawn and the gnawing irritation of how close he had been to him, how so near he was to wrapping his possessive grasp around his Chiss hunter if only love and care and fear for his safety hadn't seen the information infuriatingly withheld from him.
Above it all, though, was the deep, fierce need to protect what was his, and he sure as hell wasn't going to allow the likes of the Spectres to keep him from doing everything he needed to ensure the safety and well-being of his things. Of all his things, which included them. Hera's plans and her missions could be damned, she had no authority to command him, to keep him from doing what he should have done in the first place. It was only because he had deferred to her that Cody was nearly lost to him, which he had ultimately done out of a misguided attempt to create greater team cohesion between all the people that fell under his protection. They were simply easier to defend if they trusted each other, and with clones and Jedi, Republic soldiers and Separatist warriors, clashing personalities and conflicting agendas all on one ship, it became even more vital that common ground was reached. But not at this cost.
He never should have sent Cody, he should have simply gone himself, rushed headlong into Thrawn's trap and destroyed it from the inside. Or failing that, he should have been there for Cody instead of waiting, instead of hanging back. He should have been there to fight Maul, to bring the simpering idiot back under his control, to break him once again to his will, to hold the pitiful creature's life in his hands and rake his claws through it. Poor, insane, gibbering Maul would suffer for what he had done. He should have been there. He should have-
Obi-Wan leapt to his feet when he felt him, just before he heard him enter the room, and the moment he did, the door sliding open to allow the clone to limp inside, Obi-Wan was at Cody's side.
"You should be resting," Obi-Wan said, gentle but insistent as he quickly turned the clone around, the rancor pawing happily at the floor to see the commander.
"I don't need rest, I'm fine," Cody said as he quickly waved him off, though the limp he walked with and his shallow, shaking breathing said otherwise, and though Kenobi let him go to walk toward the panting rancor as he pawed the floor happily, the Sith Lord was hovering. Cody would have been irritated if it was anyone else. "The Ghost will be docking with us shortly," Cody said as he scratched between Yoda's eyes, the beast's tongue lolling out the side of his mouth as he closed his eyes and growled softly. "Ahsoka's with them, sounds like she has new information and updated mission objectives."
"And what's wrong with the Ghost for a mission briefing?" Obi-Wan growled, his hand extended and calling the mask to him, his thumb absently tracing the hollow eye and shivering when he felt the Dark Side reach out for him. "I don't see why they need to dock with us."
"Because..." Cody said with a roll of his eyes. "They're coming over here, stupid. Kanan's misguided attempt to...I don't know, cater to my recovery." He scoffed as he grabbed the pale skin above the rancor's mouth and lifted up, exposing rows and rows of the smaller, jagged teeth as the beast panted in contentment. "Completely unnecessary, isn't it, Yoda?"
"No, they have the right of it, you need to rest," Obi-Wan said, grabbing hold of the clone's arm and pulling him away from the rancor, his arm wrapped around his waist to support him as he walked. "But this meeting is pointless because I am not going to be involved in any of their missions. There are things I must do."
"Brother, please don't go doing this..." Cody muttered when he felt the Sith's grip on him tighten, the mask in his other hand shaking with his barely restrained rage. "Being reckless and impulsive never got you anywhere."
"It is not reckless to hunt Maul and bring him to heel for what he has done to you!" Obi-Wan snapped. "I should have gone after him sooner, I should have known that the little pissant that slaughtered Satine and my son could be capable of taking you from me as well! This isn't impulsive, Cody, it's correcting a mistake."
"And how do you suppose to do that exactly, hmm?" Cody asked, grimacing as he stumbled even though Obi-Wan was there to support him. "He just lost two Jedi, there's no way Sidious is going to let that stand. You know he's been recalled to Coruscant to answer for his failure."
"He won't be in Coruscant forever..." Kenobi said darkly, gripping Cody tighter as he passed through the door and into the kitchen, the clone reaching out and using the counters for extra support, his breathing becoming faster from pain and effort, and Obi-Wan carefully scooped him up to carry him the rest of the way himself, the clone only protesting for a moment before he begrudgingly admitted that being off his feet was, in fact, more comfortable.
"I doubt the Emperor is going to let him out of his sights after that..." Cody mumbled, closing his eyes and resting his head against the Sith Lord's chest. "Not with you after him, and not with the way you're hunting down the Inquisitors. We haven't seen Vader since you destroyed him on Lothal, and we won't see Maul either."
"...perhaps," Obi-Wan growled, stepping into his spacious, luxurious living area and laying the clone down on the soft, plush couch, and Cody sunk down into the cushions with a sigh. "You should have told me about Thrawn," Obi-Wan said after a moment of silence. "We've never been so close to the Chimera, you should have aborted the mission, hung back and called for me. I could have eliminated his threat once and for all and kept eyes off of you while you saved Ezra."
"What, and let you just walk into the Chimera when Thrawn's expecting you? You really want to play this game on his terms, Kenobi?"
"We don't know he was expecting me!"
"Right..." Cody drawled with a roll of his eyes. "He had Ezra in his possession, he knew you were coming. And if getting the shit beat out of me is what it took to keep you from doing something stupid and impulsive, that's fine."
"Sith Hells, what is with you all thinking I'm impulsive..." Obi-Wan muttered, pulling aside the robe that Cody was wearing and smearing bacta on his chest. "I can make a scene, and I can improvise, but I haven't survived as long as I have without being careful and methodical."
"...honestly, trouble does seem to find you."
"Doesn't it, though..." Obi-Wan said with a sigh, his hand running lazily over Cody's chest as he spread more bacta on, the Sith swiftly batting the clone's hand away when he tried to make him stop. "If we're being really honest, the Spectres are far more impulsive than me. Hera ought to be worrying about her own crew than trying to keep me from getting involved when I am clearly needed."
"Man, you're really hung up on that, aren't you?" Cody muttered, huffing in annoyance when Obi-Wan pulled off the rest of the robe to tend to the rest of his injuries, though he did nothing to stop the doting Sith Lord. "She was right, you know. You being there would have been a disaster because of Thrawn. You'd have run right to him."
"Alright, yes, possibly, but she didn't know Thrawn was there!" Obi-Wan said defensively. "If we were just dealing with the Interdictor rescue mission, which is exactly what we thought when the plan was made, I would have been completely invaluable. The mission was harder because I wasn't there, and you almost died for it." He drummed his fingers in the slick bacta on the clone's chest, the touch of the Force in his fingers sending warmth through Cody's lungs. "Because I am being hunted, she says...because of the mess I made on Muunilinst. I have always been hunted, and she doesn't even know what happened on Muunilinst! It only went the way it did because my children are ambitious twits! If they only listened, everything would have gone exactly to plan! In and out, no mess!"
"...that's actually a fair point," Cody said after a moment of consideration. "But ultimately, it doesn't matter. You do attract trouble and quite a lot of unwanted attention, and she's not just responsible for her crew anymore, she's not just part of some small group of renegades. She leads the entire Phoenix Squadron. An entire rebel cell at her command. She needs to strike a balance between taking risks and playing it safe. You, sir, are a final gambit, because the wrong eyes look at you and they find her rebel fleet."
"You know, I lead the Separatist war machine for months, and I don't remember having dilemmas like this."
"Your army were droids, sir."
"...oh yeah, that's right..."
"And you only sent me and the Shadow Legion into situations you knew we could win," Cody said, groaning as he tried to sit up, but quickly gave up. "You went into high risk situations yourself."
"I ought to be doing that now," Obi-Wan snarled. "I didn't join my strength to the Spectres to steal supplies and fuel from the Empire. I don't do errands!"
"Not even if I need something, baby?" the deep, amused voice of Kanan said as he walked into the room with Rex by his side, and Cody tilted his head back over the couch's armrest to look at the pair. Obi-Wan simply glowered and applied more bacta to the clone, as if more would somehow miraculously work better or faster.
"I don't do domestic, Jarrus..." Obi-Wan grumbled. "You and I have a good thing going. Don't ruin it by wanting stupid things like fidelity, commitment, and kriffing late night market runs."
"Ever the romantic, Kenobi..." Kanan said with a roll of his eyes, the clone beside him chuckling softly as he looked at the mess of a man on the couch.
"Up and about, traitor?" Rex asked, the slightest touch of warmth and care in his voice that went undetected by nobody. "You're looking good. I think it may actually be an improvement."
"Jarrus, get your slave under control, I think he's going mad with lust..." Cody drawled, a wicked smirk on his face as he watched the other clone scoff. "Really, I don't know if my body is safe with him around."
"Oh, fantastic..." Obi-Wan growled, his eyes briefly flicking to the door when Hera and Ahsoka walked in. "I knew that you three going on a mission together would go a long ways to building trust between you, but this takes self-gratification to a whole new distressing level."
"Oh, please!" Kanan said with an exaggerated roll of his eyes. "Tell me that you wouldn't have sex with yourself given the opportunity. There is nobody more in love with themselves than you are."
"...that is beside the point, Kanan."
"Should we come back later?" Ahsoka drawled, a soft, amused, almost relived look on her face as she looked the men over. "We could always come back if now's a bad time."
"There is never a bad time for you, dearest," Obi-Wan said as he rose to his feet, his eyelids lowered seductively before he clasped his hands together, found them covered in bacta, and looked at them with disgust, stopping himself from wiping them on his pants as he looked about for something to clean up the medical gel. "...how's Ezra?"
"Still recovering," Hera said softly, crossing her arms in front of her chest and shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot, more the concerned parent than the impervious military commander she was supposed to be. "Whatever it was they put in his system was impossible for us to isolate. We don't know what it is, or what exactly it does, but it seems to be a similar cocktail to the one they pumped Kanan full of when he had been captured."
"We'll just have to take care that no more of our people are captured," Obi-Wan said firmly, wiping his hands off on Cody's pants when he failed to find anything else, the clone simply grumbling and rolling his eyes as he did so. Slowly, Obi-Wan drew closer to the Twi'lek, close enough to bear threateningly down upon her, enough for Kanan to place his hands on his lightsaber at the obvious danger as it slowly rose. "No more, Hera..." Obi-Wan softly hissed, barely restrained rage tightening his words, and the Twi'lek drew up tall in the face of the menacing man. "That is the last time I will allow you to stand between me and what is mine."
"We are a team, Kenobi," Hera said, her voice strong and unafraid even though she could see the telling blood red slowly seep into his eyes. "Nobody here belongs to you, and my crew means as much to me as it does to you. Sometimes, being a part of this family means standing down and trusting others to handle a situation they may be better suited for."
"But they weren't, were they?!" Obi-Wan snapped, his voice rising dangerously as he drew even closer to the stalwart Twi'lek. "I almost lost Cody, Hera, and I will not suffer another loss! Not now, not ever, I have already sacrificed enough!" Obi-Wan froze when he heard the snap hiss of a saber igniting and the warning thrum of the blade in his ear. He slowly glanced up the length of the blade to look at Kanan, not angry or fearful or nervous, simply communicating to the Sith Lord in the best way he knew how, and a slight smirk spread across Kenobi's face. His hands held up before him, he took a step away from Hera and drew up taller when the Jedi switched off the lightsaber.
"All of us have suffered losses at the hands of the Empire, Obi-Wan," Hera said, the hard edge of the rebel commander gone from her voice. "You aren't the only one who's made sacrifices."
"Then you will understand that I will personally defend that which is dear to me," Obi-Wan whispered, the hard edge in his voice. "Regardless of what you believe is best."
"I understand your need to protect the people you love, Obi-Wan," Ahsoka said soothingly, stepping between the Twi'lek and the Sith Lord. "Just as I understand that Hera must keep herself emotionally removed to make difficult decisions. Cody is fine, the rescue was successful. Perhaps one day, you and she may reconcile these differences and come to an understanding."
"We shall see..." Obi-Wan growled, eying Hera for a moment before he turned to walk back and kneel beside Cody once again, Ahsoka and Kanan both breathing sighs of relief when, despite his glares, Obi-Wan's temper had faded into a muted simmer, one that, thankfully, wasn't directed at the Twi'lek pilot.
"We have a great deal that we need to accomplish," Ahsoka said, fishing the datapad out of the wide pouch at the back of her belt and syncing it to the holotable in the middle of the room. The lights dimmed, and the blue lights of the holotable flickered on and displayed the frigates, carrier cruisers, corvettes and starfighters that made up the Phoenix Squadron, over ten significantly sizable ships and a hundred starfighters all ready to be deployed for the might of the rebellion when the time came.
"Increased Imperial pressure around Lothal and the surrounding sectors have caused an increase in rebel recruits," Hera said as they gathered around the table. "Phoenix Squadron is growing faster than our current capacity allows. We need more ships, but, but our squadron is quickly becoming a fleet, and it's getting harder to hide a group of ships that size from the Empire." She put her hands on the holotable and leaned forward. "We need a base."
"Even if it's temporary, we need something soon," Ahsoka added. "We are also in need of food, fuel, supplies, weapons, a hundred other things to keep a military running, most of our supply lost when Transport One was destroyed." Ahsoka crossed her arms, a frown on her face. The loss of the corvette still stung. "Obviously, you can see the flaw in having to maintain a supply ship. We need a base."
"A lot of work to do and not much time to do it," Hera said with a sigh. "Kanan, we'll be sending you and Sabine within the next few weeks to attempt to arrange passage through Mandalore's Concord Dawn System to help speed up out pathways through the Outer Rim. I'd send Obi-Wan, but we want to preserve the secrecy of his influence with the Mandalorians for as long as we can. Kenobi and Bo-Katan have worked way too hard keeping their alliance a secret to risk it being blown by the Concord Dawn Protectors that may actually be loyal to the Empire."
"Is there a chance of that?" Kanan asked, looking over at Obi-Wan, and the Sith Lord slowly nodded.
"Of course. Bo-Katan has done an admirable job of keeping her people loyal to her, and those that oppose her Imperial sanctioned rule and left to serve as bounty hunters will come to me when I call, but there will always be those that actually believe the Imperial cause." He took a deep breath, his finger tracing lazy circles in the bacta on Cody's stomach. "It's very likely that when Bo-Katan and I join forces, we will have something of a civil war on our hands that must be brought to heel. The Empire will not easily let Mandalore go, and Bo-Katan's break from them will be seen as a betrayal by many, and an opportunity for Imperial influence by the ambitious."
"So...these negotiations for passage may very quickly become a matter of lightsaber diplomacy," Kanan said flatly.
"A distinct possibility, yes," Obi-Wan confirmed. "The Protectors have always been difficult to predict."
"Oh, fantastic..." Kanan mumbled as he ran a hand over his hair. "I'll be sure to talk strategy with Sabine and Kenobi before we go, Hera."
"Thank you..." Hera sighed, checking something off on her datapad and looking over her information quickly. "When Ezra recovers, I'm sending him on a fuel run. There's a remote Imperial depot which hasn't been under heavy guard in the past, and if we play our cards right, we should be able to make off with the entire supply."
"That shouldn't be a problem for Ezra, he's always had something of a talent for thieving," Kanan said, his chest unmistakably swelling with pride.
"Which is why we're sending him and Zeb to lead the raid of an Imperial warehouse as well," Hera said, scribbling on her datapad. "The two work well together, despite their bickering. Which leaves..." A few more taps on the datapad and the image displayed over the holotable zoomed in on the corvettes. "We need more ships like these, and we need a base."
"You know..." Kanan drawled, his arms crossed over his chest and frowning at the Twi'lek. "For a rebellion built on helping people, we sure aren't doing a lot of helping. I don't like it."
"We are helping, love," Hera said with a sigh. This was a fight they have had more than once. "But we can't help others if we can't help ourselves, and for that, we need a base of operations. We can't attack the Empire if we don't attack from a place of strength, and floating around in space ready to jump at a moment's notice isn't a strong position. But more than that, nothing we do will matter so long as the Empire is still around. We are treating a symptom, not the root of the problem, and until the Empire is gone, nothing can truly get better."
"Yeah, tell that to the people that are suffering while we're running around looking for supplies for us instead of helping them," Kanan said bitterly. "Maybe it doesn't matter in the long run, but it matters to them. No help we can provide is meaningless, not to the people we're helping!"
"I understand your frustrations, Kanan," Ahsoka said softly, laying her hand on his arm. "Truly, I do. We haven't forgotten the people that are suffering, but there is also a bigger picture at work. We can do both, and when we have a base to support us, we can help more people than we ever could before. Trust me." Kanan looked between Hera and Ahsoka, both women stronger than he believed he ever could be, and he sighed, bit his lip, and slowly nodded.
"Kenobi..." Hera said softly, laying an understanding hand on Kanan's chest, which the Jedi quickly covered with his own. "As our resident expert on stealing ships, we're sending you to increase our fleet. How you choose to do so is up to you. Also, since you are the most well traveled out of us, we're tasking you with scouting worlds that we can use as our base of operations. If we-"
"No," Obi-Wan said firmly, and Hera immediately swallowed her words and looked at the man in stunned disbelief.
"No?" she repeated weakly, and the Sith Lord stood up.
"No," he said again, stronger than the time before. "Literally anyone can find a suitable base. I am needed elsewhere."
"Uh, no, you are needed here with us," Hera said, matching the Sith Lord for intensity. "We need a base, Kenobi!"
"None of this matters!" Obi-Wan hissed. "Your base, your ships, none of it will mean a thing if the real, actual threats aren't dealt with now. You have Jedi with you, Hera, and where there are Jedi, there are Inquisitors. I'm going to finish my destruction of the Inquisitorius, I am going to go after Thrawn, and I am going to continue to search for the knowledge and power I need to defeat Darth Sidious."
"Obi-Wan, the rebellion-"
"The rebellion doesn't matter if the Empire's most powerful assets go unchallenged!" Kenobi growled. "Phoenix Squadron is a small part of a big picture, Syndula, and I am not yours to command!"
"Oh, this is about the rescue, isn't it?" Hera said with a sigh. "Obi-Wan, I didn't know Thrawn would be there, none of us did!"
"It...isn't about Thrawn..." Obi-Wan growled, his arms crossed tight over his chest as his gaze drifted toward Cody, the clone groaning in pain as Rex helped him sit up. "...alright, maybe it's sort of about Thrawn. Maybe it's about the Empire's super secret project, maybe it's about the Inquisitors and the Sith hunting us, but it all boils down to the same thing! These are major threats that go beyond the need for a base, and given the opportunity, any one of those things could destroy us all in a second. One wrong move, and we are all gone."
"And sending you on that rescue mission would have been the end of you, Obi-Wan!" Hera said, the slightest strain of panic in her voice and her usual cool slipping away to reveal fear and concern. "It was an obvious trap, one we didn't know about going in, and one I didn't know about until the damage was done, and like it or not, you're one of us, Kenobi! Sending you out to face Thrawn was a risk I wasn't willing to take because I don't want to lose you!" There was silence for a moment, tense for the emotion that strained the air, the Twi'lek quickly looking down at the floor and breathing deeply to restore her calm.
"...I understand," Obi-Wan said slowly. "I...know you did what you believed to be best to protect your people. You're not wrong. I would have gone after Thrawn. I...understand the wisdom of not informing me until we were safely away, just as I acknowledge that my agreement to keep away until called may very well have been the Force at work." He took a deep breath, his eyes closed as he considered his next words. "But just the same as you would do for me, I must protect you and your crew. Finding a base is...treating a symptom, as you so aptly put. Seeking out and destroying the threats to Phoenix Squadron is the only cure to our problem, and our threats right now have a name."
"The Inquisitors, Maul, Vader, Thrawn..." Ahsoka said softly, and Obi-Wan slowly nodded. "I agree. They need to be managed, and if you are actively seeking them out and destroying them, attention on you may give Phoenix Squadron the opening we need to find a functional base. It's not like you aren't being hunted anyway."
"Ahsoka..." Hera said softly, clearly concerned and unhappy with the turn of events. "We need him, this is unnecessarily risky."
"Risks I am willing to take to defend the Spectres," Obi-Wan said quietly, motioning for Hera to come closer, and as she stepped forward, Obi-Wan met her halfway and tightly embraced her. "Allow me to do my work so that you may do yours..." the Sith whispered, kissing the top of her head when the Twi'lek laid her head against his chest, sighing as the tension between them evaporated.
"We still need a base," Hera muttered. "And ships."
"I'll keep an eye out," Obi-Wan quietly promised. "In the meantime, I keep an apartment on Garel. You may be able to keep a few ships in the secure hangar there."
"Garel is very close to Lothal, Obi-Wan..." Ahsoka said, the Sith letting go of the Twi'lek, a slight smile on his face as he looked at her before he turned back to Ahsoka and the holotable. "Are you sure it's safe?"
"No, but it's better than nothing. I've been able to come and go as I please, and the Umbra is perhaps the most wanted ship in the galaxy." He shrugged. "The private spaceport that belongs to the financial district where I keep my home is quite expansive and quite secure."
"We'll look into it..." Ahsoka said, taking the datapad from Hera and writing herself a note. "On the matter of your mission, Obi-Wan, I do have information for you," Ahsoka said with a clever smirk, a swipe of her finger across the datapad clearing the holographic display of the Phoenix Squadron and replacing it with a section of the galactic map which quickly zoomed in on a blue planet with a roiling, turbulent atmosphere. "This is Eadu, a planet in the Bheriz sector."
"Oooh..." Obi-Wan said, leaning in and looking closely at the planet and zooming out to get a bigger picture of the sector. "Remote. Good place for a rebel base?"
"Mm, not likely," Ahsoka drawled. "There's a heavy Imperial presence in the area, because Eadu is home to an Imperial Kyber Refinery." The Sith Lord's eyes widened, his breath held as his gaze burned over the hologram. "It's exactly what you're thinking, Obi-Wan, all of the kyber crystals the Empire has been mining are making their way here to the facility, which, by the way, is being run by Director Orson Krennic and his lead scientist, Galen Erso."
"Oh, Ahsoka, you beautiful woman..." Obi-Wan muttered absently, his attention fixed on the display before him. "Everything we need to know about the Empire's secret project is going to be there."
"I suspect that's the case," Ahsoka said quietly. "We're working on infiltrating, but we can't get close, and we're worried about driving them away to another location. We worked very hard to get this information, and I don't want to have to start over. We only have one chance at this."
"Very, very good work, Ahsoka..." Obi-Wan muttered, his hands together and his fingers pressed to his lips as he moved around the table, flipping through the floating data and frowning at the frankly terrible odds. "We'll keep working at this. Perhaps we can find a way to get enough information to infiltrate without being detected. You're right about the Imperial presence being formidable, and if this is what we think it is, these ships are a part of the Tarkin's fleet, and he knows how to detect the Umbra. He'll be looking for it."
"I arrived at the same conclusion," Ahsoka said. "We thought we might be able to get a guy past them, but the code we thought was good didn't check out and he was destroyed. Hardly anyone comes or goes, and the codes they are using rotate constantly."
"So we need to find a guy on the outside who can get into the facility," Obi-Wan growled in irritation, a hand running through his hair as he thought. "Or at the very least, someone that knows a great deal about this project that can help us fill in the gaps of our own research. Having a more complete picture of what is going on may help us get inside so we can get the details." A wide, pleased grin passed over Ahsoka's face.
"And fortunately for you, I may have just the guy." She leaned in closer, her smile becoming a devious smirk as the Sith Lord eyed her. "Nightswan."
"Kriffing Nightswan!" Obi-Wan cried, throwing his hands up in the air. "Have we finally found him? He's been a man I've needed to speak to for a very long time."
"His general whereabouts, yes," the Togruta said, clearing the hologram and replacing it with the galactic map, which quickly zoomed in on section of the Outer Rim. "He and his rebel insurgency are currently operating out of the Batonn Sector, though we have yet to locate his base of operations. It won't be long before we find him. It won't be long before the Imperials find him, the Batonn Sector is heavily militarized, and it's gotten worse these past few months. The Imperial Governors of Batonn, Sammun and Denash have all called for additional help in dealing with the matter."
"Then let's move quickly on that," Obi-Wan muttered. "Get your best people on that, I want to find him before the Imperials do. If we can get his insurgency to join ours, so much the better."
"Ships and a base, Kenobi..." Hera gently reminded him. "Ships and a base. We can't support another group of rebels within Phoenix Squadron if we have nowhere to put them."
"Oh, I'm certain that the Nightswan would have ships to commit to our cause," he quickly dismissed. "I know he's been reluctant to join his rebels to other cells in the past. Let's see to it that he has a change of heart."
"One last thing, Obi-Wan," Ahsoka said when the Sith Lord turned away from the group. "Information regarding your mission. Kanan, this concerns you as well, since you have a burning desire to do good independent of our military efforts."
"Y-yeah..." Kanan said, clearing his throat and standing up taller as he moved to stand beside Obi-Wan. "What is it? Delivery of relief supplies? Liberate a local populace?"
"A rescue, actually..." Ahsoka said, her face becoming hard and serious as she closed off the holotable and placed the datapad back in its pouch on her belt. "Your attacks against the Inquisitors, Kenobi, have forced them to change their priorities. Their numbers are growing drastically smaller, since you keep capturing and killing them, and after your last Empire Day...thing, their focus has shifted." She pointed her finger against the Sith Lord's chest. "You have made Kanan and Ezra very difficult targets, and they can't very well keep hunting Jedi if there are no Inquisitors left to hunt them."
Obi-Wan's eyes widened in understanding, his hands clenched tightly around the edge of the holotable. "Oh, shit."
"Shit is right," Ahsoka agreed. "They've begun very earnestly seeking out Force sensitive children and abducting them."
"Are you kidding me?!" Kanan cried, a look of disgust upon his face as he stared at the Togruta. "They're taking babies?!"
"Infants, young children, those with the gift of the Force first discovering their powers and too young to conceal it. Too young to fight," Ahsoka said grimly. "Their families murdered, the children taken away to be corrupted by the Dark Side and brought up to serve the Empire."
"This needs to be stopped!" Kanan growled, his eyes narrowing dangerously and his chest tightening with anger. "Now. Immediately, before another child is taken!"
"Agreed," Obi-Wan and Ahsoka said in unison, the Sith Lord bowing his head and closing his eyes as he motioned for her to continue. "This is, obviously, an atrocity that must be corrected, but it also had further reaching complications. While a child stolen for corruption wouldn't be a viable threat for quite a long while the fact that the Inquisitors are out actively looking for Force sensitives means that at some point, they will find our Mandalorian Jedi, and while they have been trained for survival, they are not invisible in the Force." Ahsoka took a deep breath and placed her hands on the table, leaning upon it as though she needed support. "They are not children anymore, and they are careful, but many of them are also teenagers just now coming away from under the watch of their adoptive families, and you know very well what that's like, Obi-Wan."
"A dangerous, idiotic stage of life," the Sith Lord quietly agreed, the flash of something within him making Kanan believe that he wasn't just talking from personal experience. "You're right. If the Inquisitors are keeping a much closer eye on this, it's only a matter of time before one of them is discovered."
"And they aren't stupid," Ahsoka said quietly. "They'll put two and two together quite quickly. Honestly, it's a miracle that they haven't been found out yet."
"We lost some early on, the ones that survived were scared and careful..." Obi-Wan muttered. "But you're right. Our luck is bound to run out eventually, and this is the time for it to happen. We need to kill the hunters before they figure out that a bunch of Jedi younglings survived Skywalker's massacre at the Jedi Temple and joined the ranks of Mandalore."
"Any idea where to start looking?" Kanan asked, and Ahsoka quickly nodded her head.
"Absolutely. Worst case scenario, we can use this hunt to bait the Inquisitors to come to us, but as it so happens..." She reached into a smaller pouch on her belt and tossed a datastick onto the holotable. "We intercepted a transmission this afternoon. Inquisitors investigating a possible Force sensitive on Takobo."
"If we know where they're headed, let's not waste any time in getting there," Kanan said quickly, turning away from the group and taking long strides toward the door before he turned around to face them, almost as an afterthought. "I'm going to the cockpit to have K2 put in the jump coordinates. Will we be ready to leave in a few minutes?"
"Yes, yes..." Obi-Wan droned, quickly waving him off. "Always on the move, aren't you?" He sighed heavily as Kanan ran out of the room and Kenobi dropped on to the couch next to Cody and pulled the injured clone down to rest his head on the Sith Lord's lap, which Cody only complained about for a moment before long fingers ran soothingly through his hair. "Seems we have our work cut out for us, and it is a kriffing load of work. And here I thought I'd have the chance to go investigate the Valley of the Dark Lords on Moraband..."
"Right..." Ahsoka drawled, looking skeptically at the Sith Lord. "Don't you think it's maybe not the best idea to go digging around in a place filled with Sith Temples when you have repeated visions of your defeat in a Sith Temple?"
"It's true he would know I was there the moment I arrived in orbit over the planet, and I'm certain he has cleared it of any artifacts that may have been hidden there," Kenobi admitted. "However, he cannot deprive the place of knowledge, and I suspect there is a great deal that I can learn there. Besides," he said with a shrug, "Sidious rarely leaves Coruscant these days."
"That you know of..." Hera said, and Obi-Wan shot her a long-suffering look.
"That anyone knows of. When the Emperor shits, the galaxy knows about it. The curse of power and influence, I suppose, slipping away to commune with the Dark Side as part of his rituals as a super secret Dark Lord of the Sith isn't so easy as it once was. It's a risk I'm willing to take."
And if he finds you there?" Ahsoka asked softly. "What then."
"...I suppose I will make him really, really work for it to kill me," Obi-Wan said quietly. "He won't capture me, I can tell you that, I will end my own life before he has a chance to use my body for his benefit. There are...not many places more appropriate for me to die than in the Valley of the Dark Lords."
"Good thing that there's a whole mess of things you need to do first to ensure our safety," Ahsoka said with a small, sad smirk as she looked the Sith Lord over. "First, the younglings."
"Yes..." Obi-Wan muttered, his gaze drifting toward the viewport as the ship shuddered and the stars blurred to the blue and white of hyperspace. "First the younglings."