Caesura
Adrenaline pumped through Obi-Wan as he ran behind KeAnn, keeping a tight grip on Anakin's limp form as they ran up the tunnel. He squinted against the light as he emerged from the cave and into the crossfire of a raging battle. There was a snap-hiss, and he saw the green blade of KeAnn's lightsaber ignite ahead of him.
"I see our ships!" she shouted as she dropped back, deflecting a series of laser bolts away from Obi-Wan and Anakin. Obi-Wan looked and saw a small group of gunships circled up about fifty meters ahead, the last remnant of the Republic forces in the area. The rest of plateau was swarming with Separatists.
KeAnn ducked behind an overturned scout walker and Obi-Wan joined her, leaning against the walker to help him hold Anakin's weight. Everywhere he looked he saw the signs of the lost battle. The plateau was littered with downed gunships, blasted transports, and hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of bodies. The scent of death hung in the air.
"General Kenobi, come in!" Bail Organa's voice rang out once again from Obi-Wan's wrist link.
"We're here, director," Obi-Wan responded, shouting to be heard over the blaster fire. Then he heard a new sound: the distant roar of starship engines. He turned to look at its source and saw squadron after squadron of Republic bombers advancing on their position.
"For Force sake, tell him to hurry up!" KeAnn said as her eyes turned to the fast-approaching bomber squadrons.
"We've got a visual. Stay where you are, we'll come to you," Bail ordered. Obi-Wan watched as the gunships took off and stayed low, heading in their direction. The sound of the bomber engines was growing louder every second. Bail's gunship dropped to the ground in front of them just as the first bombs hit the northern section of the plateau.
"Come on, come on!" Bail shouted to them, waving them onto the gunship. Obi-Wan threw one arm around Anakin's waist and the other around his legs as he leapt up and sprinted as fast as he could toward the ship, with KeAnn providing cover behind him. As soon as Obi-Wan's boots touched the floor of the hold the engines revved and the gunship began to rise.
Arms reached out to pull them in as the gunship began a very swift ascent. Someone took Anakin from Obi-Wan's shoulder as the Jedi Knight collapsed on the floor of the gunship. The door of the gunship was still open, and there was a flash of blue light as the rest of the plateau was pounded with proton bombs. Through the Force, Obi-Wan felt an intense fear roil through the Separatist troops below them. Everyone braced themselves as the ship rocked in the shockwave, but the gunship held its course.
When the shockwave passed, Obi-Wan crept to the edge of the gunship and looked down at Ryloth. Where only moments before the rocky cliffs were overrun with enemy troops now there seemed to be only scorched earth. The fear of the troops below was gone, replaced with a terrible nothingness. The sky was thick with Republic ships. Obi-Wan realized Palpatine must have called in virtually every bomber in the fleet to decimate the plateau to such an extent.
"Stars' end," KeAnn murmured as she looked out at the destruction. "Most of the Separatist army must have been down there."
"Another triumph for General Palpatine," Bail said grimly as the gunship door finally slid shut, blocking their view of the devastation below. But the closing of the doors brought Obi-Wan no relief. The pain and suffering of both his enemies and his allies remained, flowing around him through the Force. He looked around the hold, crowded with people, many of whom were wounded. The price of the battle had been high.
Beside him two med droids set to work on Anakin, one making a bacta cast for his wounded leg while the other tended to the numerous cuts and burns on the rest of the young man's body. However, it wasn't his apprentice's physical well-being that weighed on his mind. Anakin's wounds would heal, but Obi-Wan's thoughts drifted back to the cavern and the powerful darkness he'd felt there, a darkness he knew Anakin was the source of. The Republic may have won the day, yet Obi-Wan felt anything but victorious.
Like many other residents of Coruscant, Padme awoke in the small hours of the morning to a steady stream of blaring speeder horns and jubilant shouting. Wondering what all the fuss was about, she dragged herself from bed, and looked down into the city from her bedroom window. There was some sort of celebration in the streets, but nothing to indicate it's cause. Bleary eyed, she powered up the service droid to make her a cup of tea before curling up in an armchair and activating her HoloNet projector.
"Breaking news out of Ryloth," the news anchor said as the projection cycled through a series of holos showing an intense battle. Ryloth? Padme wondered, sipping her tea. Tired though she was, she was reasonably certain no one had reported any offensive on Ryloth to the Defense Committee.
"Reports coming from the planet over the last hour indicate a major Republic victory," the anchor continued. He stopped, holding his hand to his earpiece as some new story came through the line. His eyes went wide for a moment, then he turned back to the holocam. "I...I've just received word that General Grievous is dead." Padme sat bolt upright, nearly spilling her drink. She was awake now.
"Admiral Trench has surrendered," the anchor continued, his voice shaking slightly. "The majority of the Separate forces are now either destroyed or in Republic custody." Padme jumped out of her chair and dashed back to her room. She drained her mug and began to hurriedly get dressed, cursing the elaborate nature of her Senatorial garb. As she flung her cloak around her shoulders, her comm beeped to let her know someone was at the front door. Still pulling on her ankle boots, she hurried to the foyer and opened the door to see Breha, who walked into the apartment before Padme could invite her in.
"You've heard the news?" Breha asked, her face ashen. Padme nodded. Breha turned to the holoprojector, which was still on and now showed images of the surface of Ryloth, parts of it's surface burnt beyond all recognition. The anchor was now reporting the heavy losses on both sides. "The destruction is unbelievable," Breha said softly as they both stared at the flashing images of death displayed before them.
"Is Bail there?" Padme asked gently. Breha sunk onto the sofa, still staring at the holos.
"I don't know," she answered, her voice strained. She looked back at Padme. "But there's a very good chance that he is." Padme only nodded. She was not going to offer her friend false comfort and tell her everything would be fine. They had both been through enough to know better.
"They certainly kept this one under wraps," Padme said, taking a seat next to Breha. "Even the Defense Committee wasn't brought in on it. I can't believe they managed it with an operation this size."
"The Senate won't like being left in the dark," Breha said knowingly, but Padme shook her head.
"Most of them won't care, if it means the end of the war," she said. Breha only shrugged.
"Reports indicate that the 501st Battalion was at the center of the action on Ryloth," the anchor's voice said, as aerial images of some sort of half-collapsed cave system appeared before them. At his mention of the 501st, Padme's attention was drawn back to the HoloNet. Whatever had happened in those caves, it did not seem to have ended well.
"The 501st is Kenobi's battalion isn't it?" Breha asked.
Padme nodded, watching the holos intently for any sign of Anakin, anything that might let her know that he had come through, but there was nothing. She leaned back into the sofa with a heavy sigh. "Everything was so much easier when we were part of the action."
"If all these reports are true, the action is all but over," Breha pointed out, but Padme wasn't so certain. They'd had the Separatists on the ropes before, and each time the Republic had failed to put an end to the war. She'd learned not to get her hopes up.
"I'll believe there's peace when I see it," she said. "You never know what enemy might still be out there, just waiting for us to let down our guard."
Maul lay on his back, staring at the ceiling, his eyes squinting against the glaring lights of the brig. He had overcome so much in order to return to the Separatists, only to find himself made their prisoner. The med station was all but deserted, he sensed only a few scattered life forms were left on board. The cell that held him was not well-made, but with the power cells that supported his leg braces drained of power, he couldn't leave even if he broke free of his prison.
As Maul ruminated angrily on his predicament, there were a series of clanging sounds in the hall outside, followed by shouts and the sound of blaster-fire. Maul sat up and pulled himself closer to the bars covering the front of the cell as the door at the end of the hall opened.
"You can't go in there, you don't have the proper authorization from General Grievous!" He heard a service droid say to some unseen person.
"Grievous is dead," a voice replied coldly. A blaster shot rang out, and the head of the service droid skittered across the floor past Maul's cell. The sounds of numerous hard-soled boots reverberated down the hall and a moment later Maul was looking up at a group of heavily armed soldiers.
"You're Maul, aren't you?" the female Falleen standing at the front of the group asked him. She had shining green skin and wore her long black hair in a topknot. Maul noted with interest that her unrefined accent identified her as someone from the roughest section of the Coruscant underworld.
"I am Darth Maul," he answered coldly, displeased with her casual tone. He could tell that she did not fear him.
"We heard a rumour you were here," she said, looking him over. "I'm not sure you live up to the hype." Maul's anger flared, but he kept it well-hidden. If he was ever going to escape this place, he would need allies.
"You've come from Ryloth," he said, noting the orange dust on their clothes and armor. "Grievous' failure is complete," he said quietly to himself.
"I'll say. The Separatist army is gone. We're all that's left." she said, gesturing to the forty or so soldiers behind her.
"And you came here hoping to find a powerful Sith Lord to ally yourself with, only to find a cripple in a cell." The disappointment in the eyes of the soldiers told the story plainly enough. Still, the gears of Maul's mind were beginning to turn. Perhaps all was not lost. "What is your name?" he asked the leader.
"Vigdis," she answered.
"You are right to judge me harshly, Vigdis," Maul said. "I am a broken man. But broken things can be remade." Summoning all his strength, he grabbed the bars of his cell door and pulled himself up, bringing his face level with hers. "Help me restore my body, and I will help you destroy the Republic," he offered. She looked at him with uncertainty. "You do want to destroy the Republic, don't you?"
"More than anything," she said, and the group behind her made sounds of agreement. "But what chance is there of that now?" she asked. One corner of Maul's mouth turned upward in the smallest of smiles.
"Chance? The end of the Republic is not a matter of chance," he told her. "It is a matter of destiny."
From his bed on the medical frigate, Anakin had an excellent view of the Republic's navy as it orbited Ryloth. Not far from their position he could see the Resolute, Admiral Yularen's attack cruiser, as it loomed over the tiny remnant of the Separatist fleet, but the guns of the ships on both sides were silent now. As Anakin watched, a single shuttle left the largest of the Separatist ships and began to make its way towards the Resolute.
"That must be Trench arriving to formally surrender," a voice next to him said. He turned to see Commander Lyosar standing beside his bed. She'd been making the rounds of the medical bay, checking on on the many wounded members of her Striker unit.
"Do you really think this is the end of it?" he asked her, turning back to the viewport. "The end of the war?"
"That's what they're saying," she said with a shrug. "Admiral Trench was supposedly the last holdout." The watched in silence as the Separatist shuttle docked. Anakin felt anxious as he looked on, wondering what the end of the war would mean for his future. He felt as though he was standing on the edge of a precipice.
"Your mind is in turmoil," KeAnn said, still staring out the window. "You must learn to quiet it."
"You sound like Obi-Wan," Anakin said sullenly. Of course his mind was in turmoil. The war was over, but that was the least of his worries. In the cave, he'd realized he couldn't give Padme up, but being with her would mean leaving the Jedi Order. Just the thought of Obi-Wan's disappointment crushed his spirit. But even more than that, he remembered his mother's words. Learn the ways of the Force. That is your only hope. Turning from the path she'd set him on seemed impossible.
"It sounds as though your master has taught you well. Or at least tried to," she said.
"I didn't think you held with Jedi teachings anymore?"
"Some of their teachings are more useful than others," she said. Anakin looked at her curiously. For the first time it occurred to him that KeAnn might be someone sympathetic to his difficulties. After all, she had been expelled from the Jedi Order. He knew she had a family now, a husband, a son. The man she'd married was an Alderaanian, someone connected with the Royal family, though he couldn't quite remember how. Was that relationship the reason for her rift with the Order? Suddenly he very much wanted to know.
"Commander," he began cautiously. "May I ask you a personal question?" She turned to look at him, her dark eyes intent.
"You may," she said slowly, her eyes boring into his. He took a breath, afraid to ask but more afraid not to know. He knew he was likely on a collision course with the Jedi Council. He needed to know what it was like from someone who truly knew.
"Why were you expelled from the Jedi Order?" he asked. She looked at him carefully for a moment, but then a small smile appeared on her lips and Anakin felt himself relax slightly. It was, after all, a very personal question.
"I'm surprised Kenobi didn't tell you as some great cautionary parable," she said with a small laugh. "I was held up as the bad example for many years by many masters, but I suppose it's been too long ago now." "When it happened, the war hadn't even officially started yet. Not that it mattered on Rudask."
"Rudask," Anakin repeated the name of the planet. "I know that name. Wasn't the rebellion there part of what started the war?"
"Indeed, more than a dozen years ago," KeAnn said. "But when I arrived on Rudask the peace was still holding, though just barely. I'd just passed the trials when I was sent there. By the time things boiled over, I'd seen enough to know the Rudask government was vicious and corrupt, but the Republic continued to back them. When the fighting broke out the Council attempted to recall me, but I refused to leave." Anakin was surprised. This story wasn't at all what he had expected.
"You joined the rebels?" he asked. KeAnn nodded.
"The Senate was furious. There was a good deal of pressure from the politicians to make an example out of me. The fools still thought they could avoid a full-blown war in those days." Anakin caught just a hint of bitterness in her tone.
"So the Council expelled you?"
"That's right," she said quickly.
"They left you with an impossible choice," he said sympathetically, thinking it was not unlike the dilemma he now faced.
"There is no such thing as an impossible choice," she said sharply. "I made my decision, and so did the Council. We must all live with our choices, and with their consequences." Anakin was surprised by her response. She was starting to sound like Obi-Wan again. But there was one more thing he wanted to know.
"Was it worth it?" he asked. She shifted her gaze back to the viewport, her eyes downcast.
"I did what I thought was right," she said finally. "I wouldn't change that, but I paid a high price for it." She looked back at Anakin. "I could never have imagined how hard it would be lose my place among the Jedi." Before Anakin could say anything else, one of the Strikers appeared from around the corner, saluting KeAnn.
"Commander Lyosar, you're needed on the bridge," he said, standing at attention.
"I'll be right there," she said. "Get some rest, Skywalker," she said as she turned to go. "And try to heed your master's teachings."
The medical frigate exited hyperspace above Coruscant with the rest of the Republic fleet, hailed by thousands of civilian ships in orbit setting off fireworks to celebrate their triumphant return. Obi-Wan watched for a moment from the bridge's viewport, but soon turned away. He had participated in his share of violence through the years, but the devastation the Republic had rained on Ryloth was beyond anything he'd seen before. He did not have the stomach to rejoice in such destruction.
He left the bridge and wandered the corridors, killing time until the ship landed. He considered seeking out Anakin, who had been discharged from the medical bay the day before, but the truth was that their relationship was more strained than ever after the battle on Ryloth. He ruminated sadly on that fact as he walked, lost in thought, until he bumped straight into Bail Organa.
"General Kenobi, just who I was looking for," Bail said, looking around to make sure the corridor was empty. "I need you in the morgue." Obi-Wan was taken aback.
"What the devil for?" he asked, arching an eyebrow.
"You'll see," Bail answered cryptically, steering Obi-Wan down the corridor by his elbow. They took a lift down a few decks. As they rode down, Obi-Wan started to ask Bail what was going on, but the intelligence director put a finger to his lips and shook his head. They exited the lift and Obi-Wan followed Bail into the frigate's morgue.
"We can talk here, I've rerouted the surveillance from this room," Bail said as cut on the lights and the door shut behind them. The room was lined with caskets, the bodies of those who had lost their lives on or above Ryloth. Several bore the mark of the Jedi Order.
"What are we doing?" Obi-Wan asked nervously as Bail walked into the maze of dead bodies. Obi-Wan followed.
"Making sure Rex doesn't fall into the wrong hands," Bail said over his shoulder.
"Rex isn't down here, he's in the medical bay," Obi-Wan said, confused.
"Try again," Bail said, stopping at one of the Jedi coffins. He flipped the latches on the side and the lid rose, revealing the body of Captain Rex. Obi-Wan looked at Bail, horrified. "He isn't dead," Bail said quickly, "only heavily sedated. The sedative I gave him will mask his life signs, that should allow you to smuggle him into the med facility at the Temple in a Jedi casket."
"Director, with all due respect, what the blazes is going on?" Obi-Wan asked, still feeling bewildered.
"You can't turn Rex over to Republic Intelligence," Bail insisted.
"Why not?" Obi-Wan asked. When Bail responded, he lowered his voice to just above a whisper. Obi-Wan could sense his fear.
"How do you think our informant in the cloning facility was discovered?" Bail asked. Obi-Wan shrugged. "There were no signs they were onto her before she disappeared," Bail explained. "A bomber attack of that size wasn't coordinated on the fly. Palpatine planned it."
"What's the connection?" Obi-Wan asked, trying to follow.
"I warned him that the Separatists almost certainly knew about our attack, but he ordered us in anyway. He was betting that Grievous would concentrate his forces to protect that cloning facility and give Palpatine an opportunity to wipe their forces out."
"And you think he gave up the informant to set us up as bait for Grievous?" Obi-Wan was beginning to see at least part of what Bail was getting at. "A trap within a trap?"
"I think it's a distinct possibility."
"But what does this have to do with Rex?"
"The point is that Palpatine can't be trusted," Bail said. "I know, I'm Alderaanian and none of us trust Palpatine, but this goes beyond his betrayal of Alderaan, and it's not just Ryloth." Bail dropped his voice still lower. "I knew people who worked on the investigation into the events at Geonosis," he said, referencing the battle where the Republic clones, including Rex, had turned on the Jedi. "Two analysts disappeared before the results were released, and another ended up in a psychiatric facility. The word around Republic Intelligence was that it was a cursed assignment, but I think those people were potential whistleblowers"
"You think the Republic is hiding something?" Obi-Wan asked urgently. He had fought at Geonosis, he was the only Jedi who had survived. "Something to do with the clones?"
"I can't be certain, but it's a question worth asking," Bail said. "And if I were you, I wouldn't leave it to the Republic to find the answer."