Not me writing half of this in one day instead of doing work

Anyways enjoy the quick chapter lmfao

Disclaimer: I do not own these. If you think I do at this point you're dumb honestly

Chapter Five: The Factory

Anakin refused to meet anybody's eyes as he flew in on his speeder, scattering the grains of sand like the shattered pieces of his heart. They all rushed closer, alarmed at the bundle in his arms. The twin suns set over the horizon, painting this tragic picture in a wash of pinks and violets, colouring the pale shroud over he corpse of his mother. She was wrapped in a blanket he had selected from the village, he had snorted bitterly at the thought that there was no-one left to use it. He told himself they had deserved their fate, but the guilt was eating him up inside.

Grace rushed forth when she realized he was carrying a body bag, enveloping him in a hug he was too tired to stop. If he was being honest, he really needed it. Her touch gave him comfort and strength, and even as Shmi lay dead on the seat of his speeder he closed his eyes and held her close, vowing to always keep her safe, to make sure he never went through this again.

The Larses watched in complete silence as he procured a shovel and dug her grave, the work hard and slow, his sweat and tears a punishment for allowing her death. Senator McNally agonized over his pain, desperately wishing she knew how to help. He was clearly in a great deal of pain and she loved him too much to be willing to sit idly by as he suffered. She was too fidgety and anxious to do anything, so she busied herself gathering water for all four distraught loved ones. Threepio looked similarly unhappy, wandering about as he muttered to himself. She related to him so hard.

After the hours it took to dig a grave deemed acceptable, Anakin used the Force to gently- reverently, almost- lower his mother's body into the rough hole that had been created for her. The process had been slowed by sand being blown in by the harsh and unforgiving winds, his task similar to that of Sisyphus, a man from legend so ancient the origins were forgotten. It was dark now, and a lamp was brought out from inside the domed house to make sure the funeral was not in darkness. Cliegg said a few words, painting a picture of their happy marriage to each other, and Owen and Beru each had a small speech. The Jedi did not speak, instead kneeling on her grave, silently mourning his loss.

Anakin grabbed a fistful of sand, letting the breeze steal it away from his blood-stained fingers. He had not spent enough time with his mom for her to have been so brutally ripped from him, taken by the cruel God of death that ripped families apart and destroyed happiness, laughing all the while. Someday, he was going to get his revenge and conquer death itself. See if the Gods laugh then.

Anakin rubbed tiredly at his eyes. He had not slept well, tossing in turning as he grieved. He had cried, stifling his sobs in the pillow leant by his step-father. He was sure they had all heard him; the walls may be thick but they were not soundproof. Grace's pitying stares at breakfast that morning had been further evidence.

He'd needed a way to properly let out his emotions, his connection to the Force feeling frayed and worn after the violent murder of that village of Tuskens. The more he thought about it the guiltier he got, realization increasing every second that that degree of revenge had been wrong, and there was no washing the blood off his hands. That was why he had asked Cliegg if anything needed fixing, and now he was repairing the shifter.

He had been at it for about an hour, slowly unbending a power converter from Tosche Station without the proper tools, when Grace slowly walked in. She wore a brightly colored poncho, the light blue not absorbing the sun's heat as the specially-designed fabric developed by one of her late handmaidens helped her stay comfortable and keep from sweating too much. She far preferred darker attire, but she was not too much of what many would call an "edgelord" to put fashion above functionality.

The Senator poked her head tentatively into the room, feeling the bad vibes even without the Force. She waited a moment to see if he would ask her to leave, and his silence was invitation enough.

"I brought you something." She held out a tray of what remained of lunch, he had opted not to attend. "Are you hungry?"

He continued to straighten the power converter, not looking up as she set the tray on the table nearby. After a moment he said, "I'm good at fixing things, always have been. Life is so much simpler when you're fixing things. But this?" He looked up from his task and put down the converter, gesturing vaguely, "I don't know how to fix this."

Senator McNally could sympathize. There were often issues brought up in the Senate that she could see no way to solve, hopeless bills dashed even though they could save millions. She had seen famine, fatigue and terrorism allowed to continue as apathetic Senators squabbled over unimportant issues fueled by their own greed. She had seen Senators denounce the validity of planetwide pandemics and then demand a vaccine once it was clear it could affect them, protecting the wealthy as the poor got sick and died. Sometimes there was little one could do to solve problems, but trying was something.

Anakin frowned, continuing, "I should have saved her, have been more powerful."

Grace gave him a look of sympathy. "You did everything you could, Ani."

He seemed not to hear her. "It's all Obi-Wan's fault! He's holding me back!"

She did not know how to respond to that, all evidence having suggested otherwise. She was silent and he took that as an opportunity to build on his rant, "I will become so powerful, I will stop others from dying. There are things about the Force I am not being told, I know that there could've been a way to save her! I miss my mom."

His lip quivered and his face crumpled, tears slipping free. Grace wanted to go to him, to get lost in his embrace like he had when he had returned with Shmi's body, but she was afraid of him in his current state. He was not himself.

The Jedi seemed to struggle with something, his fists clenching with emotion. "I killed them. Not just the men, but the women, and the children too! I slaughtered them; they were like animals and I slaughtered them!"

She stared in shock, realizing what he meant. He had killed the entire village of Sand People, even the children. She took a step back, too horrified and surprised to stop herself. He noticed, freezing her in place with a stare of realization and sank to the floor, beginning to sob into his arms. The spell of fear broken, she unfroze and moved to his side, holding Anakin as he cried.

Obi-Wan jumped out of hyperspace, the unique shape of Jango's ship in the distance.

"This is it, R4," He told the astromech. "This is the place that this whole conspiracy starts at."

When Senator McNally had first been in danger, he had assumed a political rival had decided to play dirty, simply hiring a bounty hunter to get rid of their problem. Now, he was certain there was more at play. This bounty hunter had been so difficult to track down, and it seemed that this planet- Geonosis- was not merely his home. Fett was without a doubt guilty of attempted assasination, but bringing him in now instead of uncovering the plot would be silly. It would be best to be discreet and follow him planetside.

Fett's ship seemed to have sensed him, because he began to take evasive action after sending out what appeared to be a seismic charge. Obi-Wan banked hard as it drifted slowly towards him, knowing that once it made contact he would really need to be out of the danger zone. That proved to be correct, because the charge smashed into and asteroid and seemed to suck up all sound in the surrounding area. He turned his head to watch it with apprehension, even as he worked to escape what he knew was coming. The charge gave a thunderous boom, expelling the absorbed sound and sending out a wave of energy that turned asteroids to powder in its wake.

The Jedi felt his eyes widen a fraction at that, he did not want that to be his fate. Being ground to dust did not sound like a fun way to go, and he saw that he would have to avoid it again when a second charge was released in his path. He swerved again, barely evading destruction from the seismic wave it emitted. Finally a third was released, shredding a monstrous asteroid larger than both ships combined. It seemed that the mandalorian was tired of his pursuer escaping and bored of the same tactic, because this time he released something new: torpedoes.

Obi-Wan had an idea, but he would need to enact it quickly for maximum effectiveness. He ordered, "R4, release the spare parts on my signal!"

The red droid beeped in affirmation, and his owner veered towards a tunnel through the middle of an asteroid. The missile got closer and closer, finally at the mouth of the tunnel when the signal was given, "Now!"

R4 opened the hatch of spare parts, the metal junk floating out to work as a shield against the torpedo. It exploded, giving the illusion of being successful. Satisfied, Fett took his ship away from what he believed to be a dead Jedi and onto the planet. After waiting for ten minutes to pass Obi-Wan did the same.

Obi-Wan was sitting on the wing of his Delta-7 starfighter, having performed a preliminary scan and reconnaissance mission on the area and finding troubling results. It appeared to be some sort of base where high-ranking Republic members were meeting with none other than Count Dooku, a former Jedi, to speak on leaving the Republic. He knew there had been talk about this from thousands of systems, he needed to alert the Council immediately. Only trouble was his transmitter wasn't working.

He turned to R4, the trusty astromech still in his flight-pocket. It was the only place he could do this job from. He asked, "Can you see if you can boost the signal? The transmitter is malfunctioning."

The red droid beeped in affirmation and set to work, domed head swiveling around as he did. After a period of time the far from mechanically savvy Master deemed appropriate he tried again, sending a signal to Coruscant. Still no dice. He stroked his beard, trying to think of a new plan. There was no option of flying closer, he needed to stay on-planet until his mission was done. After some deliberation he remembered something.

"Anakin is on Naboo," he muttered to himself. He then said, louder, "R4, can you try sending the transmission to his Comm on Naboo?"

R4 beeped and set to work again, his programming stopping the frustration an organic being would surely feel. Something was odd, though. The ship's scanners couldn't find any trace of the padawan on the green planet. He relayed this to Obi-Wan, who was a little confused.

"Why isn't he on Naboo? Broaden the range, scan nearby planets."

The droid did as instructed, finding the signal on Tatooine, of all places. "What in the blazes is he doing there? Nevermind that, I need you to send him this transmission."

A little satellite that was the long-range transmitter rotated as he began to relay his information. Little did he know, the geonosians had spotted him and were sending droids to his location to capture him and bring him in for questioning. Droidekas rolled to his location even as he disclosed dangerous information, nearing the end as they finally reached him.

The Jedi turned from his ship to see a large group of destroyers headed his way, giving up on talking as they unfurled and opened fire. He ignited his lightsaber, bringing it up to deflect the blaster bolts as they were fired at him with deadly accuracy. He backed out of visual range of his transmitter as they closed in, sealing his fate.

Artoo was fiddling with the ship's transmission receiver, trying to make the hologram of Master Kenobi a bit clearer. His blue form was muddled and flickering, the signal weak. He was clearly far away and needed this message to be received, and fast. When it had first started coming in the droid had pinged Anakin on his personal comm, and now he was waiting for him to arrive with Grace. He had noticed how close the two were getting, but he was professional and would refrain from making comments about it. He wasn't a Senator's droid for nothing.

Anakin looked down at his wrist-comm, realizing that it was pinging. He had been distracted recently and he chided himself, realizing that Tatooine was the worst place for him to be off his game. Grace could seriously be in danger if he did not pay her proper attention, what with the Tuskens that had proven brutal enough to kill his innocent mother and slavers trying to make a disgusting, unworthy living. He got up, signaling to Grace to do the same, and headed out to her ship.

The two arrived just as a hologram fizzled and then became clear, the small, blue image of Obi-Wan looking out at them with worried eyes. Clearly, something was troubling him. As he began to speak the padawan ordered the droid, "R2, transmit this message to Coruscant."

The blue and silver astromech did as was ordered, the Jedi Council hopefully now receiving this transmission. The more Anakin listened the more concerned he got, the plot thickening as he heard about a clone army on Kamino and the identity of the Senator's assassin. This Jango Fett would pay for trying to harm her, he would personally ensure that he suffered for his crimes.

The message continued, and the Master spoke of a meeting between important Republic systems and Count Dooku himself, the slimy ex-Jedi. He had escaped to send this message, but the escape seemed to be short-lived. As he was finishing up he stopped, seemingly interrupted. He then pulled out his lightsaber and began deflecting blaster bolts, backing out of view to reveal droidekas. After that the transmission cut out, but its tense atmosphere remained.

There was silence. Anakin was warring with himself, torn. He wanted to go help his Master on Geonosis, he was the closest thing to his father and a good man. But there was the other side of him that begged to follow orders, just once. He was constantly berated for breaking rules and being rebellious, Master Windu making a point to call him reckless and headstrong. He felt unappreciated, because he really was making the best decisions. Orders weren't always right.

Grace seemed to be mirroring half of what he was thinking. "We need to go help him!"

Anakin looked down, ashamed at what he was about to say. "We can't. I have strict orders to stay where I am, to protect you! I already disobeyed orders by coming here, and this would be very dangerous for you."

She scoffed. "Do you even hear what you're saying? Geonosis is across the galaxy from Coruscant, it's a couple systems from us. Do you care about him at all?"

Senator McNally regretted it instantly, especially when he flinched. It was almost imperceptible, but she could pick it out from his otherwise rigid posture. He bit out, "Of course I care, I just care about your safety more! And like I said, strict orders."

She smiled, a devious look in her eye. "You were given orders to stay with me. And I am going to Geonosis."

He grinned, really loving Grace in that moment.

Obi-Wan tried to think of something to do to relieve his boredom. He had been floating in a containment field for a couple hours now, and his wrist and ankles felt raw as they rubbed against the binders holding him in his prison. At the moment he was reminiscing about Satine, a dangerous pastime but certainly one that ticked seconds off the clock.

The sound of a door opening brought him out of his thoughts, boots hitting a stone floor reaching his ears. In moments the man himself was standing in front of the Jedi Master, Count Dooku looking up at his new prisoner. He seemed to be taking it all in, savouring the feeling of having one of the Jedi that had forsaken him at his mercy. His smile was cold and eyes even chillier, staring into his prisoner's eyes.

"I should have known you were behind this all, Dooku." His voice was full of contempt, retaining his dignity even as he was restrained in the air.

The Count feigned an apologetic look. "My friend, they have certainly gone too far this time! I shall have them release you at once."

He sincerely doubted that. "Whatever it is you're planning, Dooku, you won't get away with it."

"There is no plot. There is no need to worry, Obi-Wan." He deftly changed the topic. "You know, it is nice to finally meet you. Qui-gon spoke so highly of you, it's a shame died. I trained him, and I'm sure he would appreciate you joining me."

Obi-Wan snorted. "He would appreciate no such thing. I would never join you."

The Count sighed. "That is unfortunate. I suppose there are less accommodations to be made then, I have little leverage here."

Doubtful. He had seen how all of the traitors had looked to him for guidance. He was respected and held a lot of sway on this planet. Obi-Wan was worried about how that would wind up affecting him.

Anakin directed the Nubian ship smoothly into the atmosphere, entering Geonosis. It was pretty unremarkable; everything was beige and boring. There was lots of sand-ugh-and rock as well. He cruised through the skies, keeping his eyes out for anomalies. He noticed a lot of domes sticking out of the ground, settlements? No, they were-

"That's an awful lot of Trade Federation ships," Grace pointed out. She hated the sight of them, to her they symbolized the oppression of her planet under the blockade that had killed many. She glared at them, the most she could do against the colossal behemoths. It may be a small revenge, but it was revenge nonetheless.

She looked around again, seeing massive steam vents on the planet's floor. She pointed to them and said, "Those steam vents will have entrances to the settlements below. Park the ship in one." She had done her research on the trip here, reading all the texts she could get her hands on on Geonosis. She had discovered much about the buglike species, but what was relevant right now were the ventilation access to their underground settlements.

Steam filled the viewports as Anakin expertly lowered them beneath the ground. He made a point to keep his eyes straight forwards, her form-fitting white outfit was not something he wanted to be caught staring at. It emphasized… certain features…

He snapped himself out of it, holding back from so much as thinking of how beautiful she looked in that outfit. Force he hated being celibate. But alas, he could not change the minds of the council on this, no matter how hard he (subtly) tried. He looked up from his position staring at the dashboard to see Senator McNally strapping a blaster to her hip and wrapping her heavy cape around her shoulders.

"What are you doing?"

She looked up from fastening her holster. "I'm getting ready."

He stood up and crossed his arms, looking down at her. She had determination in her eyes and he knew this wouldn't work, but he had to try. "You're staying on the ship. I don't want you to get hurt, Grace."

She put her hands on her hips and he gave up hope at stopping her. He sighed and got up, following his strong-willed companion as she led the way out of the ship. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and it swayed as she walked. Her stride held purpose and pride; the poise of a Senator even off the Senate floor. He walked down the ramp and heard C3-PO and Artoo arguing on the ship, but he paid them no mind.

The tunnel was moist, and it smelled earthy with a metallic tint to it. He stayed close to Grace, casually getting in front of her to protect her from whatever laid ahead. She allowed it, looking around at the intricate wall carvings between pillars. They looked like the bugs themselves, carved with careful and immense detail. It was unsettling, so she looked away. The floor was packed down dirt, but it almost felt like permacrete. It was so surreal to be in this foreign, underground tunnel walking face first into danger

Anakin examined the metal door before him until he felt a warning in the Force, a whisper of danger behind him. He turned to see bugs peeling themselves from the walls, the Geonosians starting to come at them like an angered hive of bees. Grace ran behind him for cover as he unsheathed his lightsaber and began to swing. He dismembered the bugs with practiced ease as the Senator shot them from behind him. The elegant swings he used to sever their heads from their bodies reminded him far too much of his destruction of that Tusken village, but he needed to do this to protect himself and Grace. She was far too important for him to lose his concentration for even a moment.

Speaking of her, she had found the control panel for the door and had opened it, both of them running for it but stopping short to find a small platform extending a half foot. They tried to turn back but the door shut behind them and the platform quickly retracted. As they fell Anakin was able to grab onto a control panel jutting out from the wall, but Grace found herself on what appeared to be an assembly line. In fact, this whole cavernous room seemed to be dedicated to the assembly B-1 battle droids. Their bodies littered the assembly lines in pieces, massive machines with lethal apparatuses directly in Grace's path. Worry shot through him, and he flung himself onto the assembly line to get to her.

He loved Grace, there was no denying it, and he would never forgive himself if he ever let her die. She appeared to be doing okay, expertly rolling under deadly presses that could crumple metal and evading metal rods sparking with electricity. But eventually she might slip up, and she couldn't defend herself from the Geonosians making a beeline for them, a few reaching Anakin. He kindly disconnected their heads from their shoulders.

He ran through the machines as best he could, using his Jedi training efficiently to avoid a painful death. He got distracted, however, when he saw Geonosians rush Grace ahead of him and knock her into a metal bucket, thick and heavy. In his anger at them he missed one coming his way and barely sliced it on time to avoid being killed by a metal press. Unfortunately, he was still distracted and fell back when a bug rushed him. His hand got caught in a metal shell, the sparked rods from before welding it down. He had to expertly roll to avoid being chopped in half as two massive blades lopped the end off. Luckily, his hand survived and was freed.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Artoo at a terminal nearby, doing something to the assembly line as the padawan stood up. He tried to ignite his lightsaber and was confused when he did not hear it unsheath. He looked over and moaned to see it was completely chopped in half. "Obi-Wan's gonna kill me!"

He chucked the heavy hilt at a geonosian headed his way, knocking it out. He looked at where Grace last was and blanched. The bucket she struggled to escape was on a path to a faucet dispersing bucketloads of lava, she would die if her bucket made it there. He used the Force to fuel a jump over to Artoo's terminal, running to a platform near her. He was making a plan right as the faucet shut off, her bucket falling from its fastenings. Grace tumbled out of it and he ran to her, taking her into his arms.

She was shaking, having barely evaded a fiery death. He held her out a bit, looking her over for injury. Her beautiful eyes met his and they tentatively smiled at each other, glad to be alive. They tightly embraced again, Artoo making a saucy remark about the lack of thanks for his help. Unfortunately, their embrace was cut short as the sound of droidekas and B-1s reached their ears.

Anakin sprung up, blocking Grace as much as he could with his body. The droids moved in quickly, circling the unarmed trespassers in moments. A man in shiny armour flew in on a jetpack, landing in front of the padawan and pointing his blaster at them.

"Don't move, Jedi!"

End of chapter!

Notes:

-oh wow i literally spent like 5 hours writing half of this in one day instead of doing hw

-Anakin: your honour I love her

-oh yeah its plot time

-Artoo: a "thanks" would be nice!

-Anakin be like: this is the most stubborn woman I have ever met. Let me marry her.

-ooh geonosis! Y'all know what happens next

Tune in whenever my rat brain next decides to hyperfocus on this again and I do it in one day and update