Chapter 6: The lesser Evil
As the stun bolt made contact with his spine, Obi-Wan felt like he just made a grab for a power line. His muscles cramped as he writhed in pain on the floor. Someone was shouting in the background, but he couldn't make out the words as he fought to keep consciousness. The Force urged him to stand up and fight back. His body wouldn't comply. As Obi-Wan managed to get an arm underneath his torso to try to heave himself up, he became aware of movement on his right side. He twisted to see whatever it was but couldn't see straight. His vision was blurry and it hurt to open his eyes.
The Force screamed again for him to move. The motion was almost mechanical as Obi-Wan miraculously managed to rip his arm in front of his face to stop what was barreling towards him. He managed to catch the armored boot which presumably belonged to one of the Death Watch soldiers. The jedi yanked with all his might and made his attacker fall to the ground with a yelp, rendering him unconscious when his head made contact with the concrete. As the adrenaline finally kicked in, Obi-Wan stumbled to his feet and his vision cleared a little. 'You won't knock me out that easy.'
He barely had a second to register his surroundings as the six remaining Death Watch members started shooting at him. His hand moved to his belt to grab his lightsaber, only to find it missing. "Blast." He must have lost it during the explosion. Diving behind the next cover he could find, Obi-Wan contemplated his options. Outrunning them wasn't possible as his leg wouldn't hold up to the strain, even if he wouldn't have fallen about ten stories before and snapped his knee again in the process.
His eyes fell on the blaster which the downed guard must have dropped earlier on. The jedi master used the Force and pulled the gun into his hand with a flick of his wrist. It was still set to stun. Obi-Wan thought about switching the mode but refrained in the end. 'Satine would never let me live that down, if I kill these people.'
Taking a breath, he centered himself and took aim at the soldiers. Obi-Wan had always been a natural when it came to shooting, he actually won a few bets against his men. Nevertheless, he preferred using his lightsaber for a fight than a gun.
In the next few minutes Obi-Wan took out the six enemies, their bodies crumbling to the floor as the electricity of the stun bolts hit home. He was just about to look out for more Death Watch members, when he was stopped by a scream.
Whipping around at the sound, the jedi looked at a young girl, around Ahsokas' age, held at gunpoint by the maniac who had triggered the explosion. 'Of course, that asshole survived.' Obi-Wan narrowed his eyes and growled, pointing his blaster at the mans' head: "Let her go, your quarrel is with me, not her."
The false guard laughed and seized the girl by her neck, still holding the gun, apparently a slugthrower, more specifically a scatter gun, to her skull. 'Rare weapon', Obi-Wan mused.
"I must say, I'm impressed, jedi. You're harder to catch than we anticipated. It's not every day that I see someone stand up again after being hit by a stun bolt. Also, you've got some very impressive shooting skills there."
Tightening his grip on the blaster handle, Obi-Wan took an unsteady step towards the man, his broken knee threatening to give out beneath him, all the while scanning his surroundings with the Force for further threats. The Force was flooded with panic, radiating from the girl in front of him. He tried to calm her by sending soothing waves through the Force. "What do you want?"
The man cracked a laugh again. "I thought I already told you that. We want to bring Mandalore back to his old glory. And you, my friend", he waved the slugthrower at him for a second, "you're one of the key elements in this plan."
'He wants to use me against Satine.' Obi-Wan lifted his hands and took another cautious step forward. "Okay, you got me, now let the girl go."
Tilting his head, the guard huffed: "I think she makes a fine bargain right now, you jedi are so predictable. I think she's coming with us. Now, throw that blaster away and get on your knees."
The jedis' eyes darkened, he snarled: "I don't think so". Having made up his mind, Obi-Wan closed the distance between himself and the man in a blink of an eye. He grasped the girls' arm and used the force to shove the man backwards. His momentum caused his knee to finally cave in and the jedi crashed forward, catching himself on his hands. With a thundering voice he bellowed for the girl to run. She didn't need to be told twice, as she began darting for the next alley.
The guard recovered quicker than anticipated. Obi-Wan was prepared for the man taking a shot it him. But as the metal bullet was sent flying, the jedi realized that the projectile wasn't meant for him.
The girl. 'Blast'.
Obi-Wan ripped around and jumped. 'Better me than her', he thought before the bullet entered his body. It ripped through his skin and the bullet shattered on his collar bone, leaving a mangled mess of bone and metal behind. His hand moved up to press on the wound. The pain was blinding, blood was starting to pool on the tatters of his tunic. Too much. Obi-Wan knew from experience that he would bleed out in the next few hours if that bleeding wasn't stopped. As he hit the ground, he became aware of the guard looming above him, smoking scatter gun still in his hand. There was movement around him and more men of the Death Watch arrived.
"Take him and make sure he doesn't die yet. We still need him." The pain, that erupted from the wound as he was roughly hoisted up from the ground, was the last straw for Obi-Wan. He let out a pained cry before his body finally gave out.
A few minutes after Obi-Wan left the palace, an explosion erupted from the nearby park, shaking the buildings' walls. Without having second thoughts, Satine stormed from the throne room, not waiting for her guards. As she came to a halt, she took in the sight in front of her. Smoke and ash filled the air, the once so peaceful park was torn apart and burning. Bodies littered the ground; the authorities were starting to search for survivors.
Satine stared aghast at the destruction in front of her, panic started to set in. Something in the center of the park caught her eye, which made her stomach turn even more. 'No. It can't be.' The duchess made her way over, staring at the small hologram that made her feel sick. The Death Watch symbol. So the rumors had been true. They had reformed and returned. Satine remembered her last call with Obi-Wan. 'I think someone is working against you.' It felt like the pieces inside her head snapped into place. It had to be someone on the inside. Someone she trusted. 'I was such a fool.' Satine squeezed her eyes shut. Vizsla. The one that always claimed to support her by rooting out the Death Watch. It all made sense now, he used his supposed work against the Death Watch as a cover up to actually rebuild the group.
Following her train of thought, she was suddenly interrupted by her personal guards' approach. "Duchess, we think it's best for you to get back inside. Actually, we thought that jedi was with you."
Satines' eyes snapped open instantly. "Oh my…Obi-Wan!" She whirled around and faced her protectors. "Please tell me that you've seen him."
The guards seemed to be a little irritated at her sudden outburst but both shook their heads before one of them answered: "I don't think so, milady."
Needn't be told that twice, the duchess ignored her guards further protest about her not being safe outside and scanned the area again for her partner. She would never forgive herself if something happened to him. Not after their argument. Fear gripped her heart.
Satine approached one of the medics who was working on one the survivors. "Excuse me, sir, but have you or one of your colleagues seen a jedi at the bombing side? Auburn hair, beard, scar on the left side of his face?" She gestured with her hands, while trying to stay calm.
The medic thought about it for a moment but then made an apologetic face. "Sorry, duchess, but I haven't seen someone that fits that description." Satine nodded shortly and murmured a thank you before the man returned to his work.
'Where are you, Obi?' The blond-haired woman looked around again until a small, silver object on the ground near the balcony caught her attention. She almost ran over to her destination and quickly picked up the to her so well-known cylinder. Obi-Wans' lightsaber. Not the same he wielded when he was a padawan under the tutelage of Master Jinn. Tracing the outer shell, she remembered the one time Obi-Wan disassembled it to show her the blue kyber crystal. It had felt warm in her palm, giving her a feeling of familiarity. As she clutched the weapon now, she felt no such thing. Dread seemed to claim her. 'This weapon is your life.' So the jedi always said. Obi-Wan once offered the weapon to her, saying that he would leave the order if she would ask him to. She hadn't had the heart that day to make him leave, the jedi had always been his family and she wouldn't want to take that away from him. Satine knew that she somewhat hurt him with her rejection, but deep down he possibly understood her reasons. He never asked her again.
Clutching the hilt tighter in her small palm, she tucked it safely away in her sleeve.
Her gaze fell on the railing of the balcony. The glass was shattered. Satine made a careful step towards the edge and gazed down towards the other platforms. 'Did he fall down?' "Please be alive, Obi."
Her guards approached her again. She rightened herself and turned her gaze on them. "I need some men to search the lower platforms, someone might have fallen through the railing."
One of the men cleared his throat. "Duchess, with all due respect, I think there is someone you'd like to talk to." Having said that the two made place to let a young girl through.
The poor child looked disheveled and frightened. Satine slowly drew nearer to the girl and searched her gaze. "What's your name?", she asked gently.
The girl looked up shortly and fumbled with her hands. "Tara."
The duchess took the childs' hands. "You're alright, Tara. What is it you wanted to tell me?"
Tara gripped Satines' hand tighter and said with a trembling voice: "There was that man,
he… he grabbed me and held a gun to my head." The kid lifted her watering eyes from the floor. "I was so scared."
"It's okay. Just keep going." She urged the girl.
"He dragged me with him and threatened another man. He looked like a jedi."
Satines' eyes widened. 'Okay, keep calm.' She composed herself before talking again. "A jedi? How'd you know that?"
The girl shrugged. "I think I've seen him on the HoloNet before, but I can't remember his name…", she gestured to her shirt," and he wore these robes."
"Tara, what happened then?"
"The jedi urged him to let me go, but… the man, he refused. So the jedi used his powers to push him back and ripped me free. He told me to run. So I did." Tara took a breath.
"When I started running, I looked over my shoulder and saw him shooting at me. I- I don't know what happened, it was all so fast. The next thing I saw was the jedi crumbling to the ground…" The girl looked at Satine with wet eyes. "There was so much blood… and then the other men showed up, I think they took him."
Satine swallowed and her voice trembled a little. "Tara, did the man say who he was working for?"
"Death Watch... He said he worked for the Death Watch."