"-ywalker!" Luke called out from the other side of the compound. "I'm here to rescue you!"
Obi-Wan peered out of the Gutkurr holding pen just in time to see his apparent future padawan shout to get the droids' attention. And it worked. It worked all too well, in fact. Dozens of droids turned to look at the boy with an electronic whirr, their tinny voices echoing through the compound.
"Skywalker?"
"Jedi!"
"Get him!"
And that name… First Waxer and Boil calling him Commander Skywalker, and now Luke's own ludicrous idea of a distraction. Worry and tension coiled in Obi-Wan's gut. Was… Was the boy telling the truth about that, too? He didn't sense any deception, but Luke did seem to be adept at concealing things in the Force with no one the wiser.
But…
Jedi were forbidden from having children, having families. It wasn't possible…
Was it?
Many, many blasters were suddenly pointed at the boy, along with the pair of walker turrets and the barrel of the tank. The Force surged around Luke as he grabbed the tank and heaved, spinning the heavy vehicle on its side and ducking behind it as the droids fired. Blasters met durasteel with a cacophony of noise, some bouncing off, some charring the thick metal.
Pew-pew! Pew-pew!
Leaping up on top of the tank, Luke reached out once more and grabbed every droid he could see, raising them into the air. Most of them stopped firing in confusion, and those few who continued hit nothing but sky. Obi-Wan couldn't help the chill of awed familiarity that ran up his spine. The power, the hair, the eyes… They were all the same. Only the height told him he was staring at his future padawan rather than his former padawan.
"Ah! I'm flying! How am I flying?!"
"The Jedi has us!"
"Well, do something about it!"
"I can't! I can't move!"
CRONCH!
Three dozen battle droids crumpled and died, their indicator lights winking out. Obi-Wan thought he saw a wince of distaste crossing Luke's face as the boy dropped them to the ground.
At least his new padawan wasn't overly aggressive, even if he was just as reckless as Anakin.
. . .
Obi-Wan now understood what Waxer had meant when he said "Like father, like son."
Three more droids climbed out of the tank by Luke's feet, trying to bring their blasters to bear. The boy whirled through them, destroying their weapons with his piece of rebar. His form was sloppy, half-trained, more like a young initiate than a padawan in his early twenties. Luke should have been on the cusp of knighthood. The boy shoved the droids away from himself with the Force, then dropped a turret walker on them when they scrambled to regroup.
Then, without even looking, he reached out and grabbed the tactical droid that was trying to sneak into the pilot seat of the other turret walker. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
"I- You-!"
Luke disabled the walker and tactical droid both, snapping their legs with the Force.
Obi-Wan frowned at the display. Luke was powerful, yes, that much was clear, but his technique left so much to be desired. How, though? Surely Obi-Wan had taught him better than that?
It seemed the boy realised Obi-Wan and the clones were staring at him. His eyes went wide; the boy momentarily froze.
It took Obi-Wan a second to find his voice. "I thought you were just distracting them?!"
Luke smiled apologetically and jumped off the tank, landing in front of him. "Sorry. There weren't as many as I thought there would be. I decided I could take them all."
"You… I… Ugh… We will talk about this later, Luke." Obi-Wan shook his head. Like father, like son indeed. Well, at least it was a lesson he had experience teaching. "Your recklessness and overconfidence are not the ideal traits for a Jedi."
Where Anakin would have protested, Luke responded with a simple smile and nod. Sighing, Obi-Wan thanked the Force for small mercies as he commed the main assault force. "Master Windu, this is Master Kenobi. We have taken the gun emplacement. You're free to move out."
"That was faster than expected."
Obi-Wan eyed Luke, shaking his head. "We had some help from a local. Kenobi out."
The comm went dead. Luke stared at him in surprise. "You… didn't tell him about me?"
"Not yet, Luke. Not yet." Obi-Wan sighed. "You and your father are presenting quite the problem, though. I'll have to report you to the Council after this battle is done. Hopefully by then I'll have some idea what to do with you."
Luke bit his lip. Longing radiated through the Force, almost painful in its intensity. Obi-Wan struggled to keep his composure as it washed over him. "You could…"
Obi-Wan frowned. "What is it, Luke? I swear you're worse at concealing your feelings than Anakin."
Looking away, Luke shuffled in place. "You could… What to do with me, you could…"
"Spit it out, Luke."
"You could complete my training…" Luke's face flushed red. "You didn't have time to, before, and neither did Yoda when he took me on after you…" The longing grew even more intense; now it was painful, a stabbing ache in Obi-Wan's gut. What had happened to him? What had he put this boy through?
He thought he knew, thought he recognized that feeling from his own experiences in the aftermath of Qui-Gon's loss, but he had to ask anyway. He had to be sure. "After I what?"
"After you died…" Luke wouldn't meet his eyes, clearly not wanting to speak the words aloud. But at least he was honest. That would—hopefully, at least—make things easier in the long run.
"That will be for the Council to decide."
Disbelief. Confusion. Reluctant acceptance. Amusement.
While Obi-Wan understood the first three emotions, he was unsure where the last came from. He'd have to add that to his list of questions to ask his new padawan once they were back on the Resolute. For now, though, he still had a job to do. He needed to comm Anakin to let him know how the assault was proceeding.
Luke wandered off and flopped down on a piece of rubble; the little Twi'lek girl and his astromech joined him a moment later. Good. Perhaps they would keep him out of trouble for five minutes. Luke patted both their heads as the girl and the astromech droid leaned against him. Obi-Wan tapped his comm.
"Anakin, come in. This is Obi-Wan."
"I'm here." Anakin sounded tired and pensive. Unusual for him, but not totally unexpected when caught between mysterious time travellers and a messy blockade run.
"Thought you'd like to know that my troops have taken the town of Nabat. Mace is on his way to begin his part of the assault." Obi-Wan couldn't help a small smirk. "Oh, and I found your missing pilot."
"That's good, Mas- You found Luke?!"
"Yes. He crashed on the edge of Nabat; Waxer and Boil found him in an alleyway. He said he'd been waiting for me to arrive."
"Is he hurt?"
"Not that I know of."
Anakin breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh good. Vader won't kill me, then."
That was… Oh dear. Obi-Wan frowned. "Did he threaten to harm you?"
"No." Anakin shook his head, the holo flickering with the motion. "No, he didn't say anything. But he didn't have to, Master. The man is an insane Sith lord. The only thing keeping him from tearing my ship apart is that he thinks it will upset his son. I can feel it every time I talk to him; his Force presence is so cold it burns."
"Yes, well, Luke is fine and I have him here with me, so your ship is safe for another day. Sit tight. My men and I are going to fly a circuit around the area to make sure we didn't miss any droid forces, then we'll head back to join you." And hopefully get some answers out of Luke and his father.
"Yes, Master. I'll see you soon. Skywalker out."
Obi-Wan flinched as the holo call ended. Skywalker. Yes, that name was the crux of it all. A mystery that wasn't so mysterious anymore, he supposed. He just didn't want it to be true.
. . .
It wasn't too much to hope that Luke was a long-lost cousin, was it?
The gunships arrived, three where there had once been five. Obi-Wan sighed at the sight. The loss of his men still stung, a painful itching in the Force. He hated it, hated having to risk so many lives at every turn, but… What other choice did he have? What other option was there in this war? If the Jedi and clones didn't fight, didn't risk their lives, it would be innocents like the little Twi'lek girl who would suffer.
Out of the corner of his eye, Obi-Wan saw Luke jump to his feet. Numa squeaked in protest at the movement, whilst Ayfor whirred in alarm. The boy was yelling at thin air, a small frown on his face. He appeared, for all intents and purposes, to have gone a bit mad. "Well, thanks for warning me now, Ben. How far away is it?"
There was a brief pause, then Luke looked over at the gunships. His expression was calculating, as if he was looking inside the machines, figuring out how they worked.
It was the exact same expression Obi-Wan had seen on Anakin's face when they had been introduced to the Aethersprite-class light interceptors.
Luke turned to Numa. "Little one, I have to go now. You need to go find your family. Or if they… If they're not here, stay with Waxer and Boil. They'll look after you."
The little girl hugged Luke around the waist, tears in her eyes. He hugged her back, then carefully extricated himself and sat her back down.
"Ayfor, think you can help me fly a gunship?" Oh no. That was not what Obi-Wan wanted to hear. He reached for Luke's mind to see what the boy was planning, but a roil of emotions and half-raised shields pushed him back. As well as… laughter? Yes, laughter from a voice only Luke seemed to be able to hear.
"4FF1RM471V3!"
"Excellent. Come on!"
Luke bolted for the gunships, his little astromech zipping along behind. The clones fell back as he scrambled past, yelping in surprise. Even Obi-Wan didn't have time to react, wasn't sure how to react.
"Commander," Waxer yelled, "Settle down!"
"Where are you going?" Cody demanded.
"Comm General Skywalker," Luke panted, leaping into the cockpit of the lead gunship. He levitated his astromech up behind him, strapping her into position with quick movements. "There's gonna be a run of firebombers over the villages near the capital tonight!"
Obi-Wan opened his mouth to demand to know how Luke knew that. They hadn't received any intel indicating such a plan! But the Force rang with the truth of his statement, and Luke was too busy getting ready to take off to listen to a word anyone said.
Wait… Getting ready to take off?
Oh dear.
The engines flickered to life; the wings extended. Wind whipped around Obi-Wan's head as the gunship began to rise into the air.
"Cody, comm Anakin and tell him what's going on!"
"Yes Sir! But what about you?"
"I'm going to keep an eye on Luke and keep him from doing anything too stupid!" It had never worked with his previous padawan, but maybe Luke was more amenable to reason than Anakin. Obi-Wan could hope, at least.
He leapt for the gunship before it rose too high, grabbing onto the door and hauling himself inside before it closed. Luke glanced back at him as Obi-Wan steadied himself. He was getting too old to chase after Skywalkers…
. . .
He was only thirty-five. He shouldn't feel so old yet.
"Luke!" Obi-Wan panted as he bent over, hands on his knees, "What do you think you're doing?"
"Heading out to take down as many firebombers as I can before they get to the villages."
"With just one ship?"
"Your men will be right behind me. And if anyone listens and comms him, so will Anakin." Luke scanned the controls, his face a mirror of Anakin's. The astromech beeped advice and encouragement. Pursing his lips, the boy gradually eased the gunship up to full power.
"You might wanna hold onto something."
"I don't like that tone!" Obi-Wan shuffled his way into the copilot's chair just as Luke started accelerating. Knuckles white, he gripped the edge of the seat even as he was pushed back into it. Oh, how he hated flying… It was a necessary evil, yes, but it was still an evil. Especially with someone named Skywalker at the helm.
Luke just grinned in response. The pit of dread in Obi-Wan's stomach grew ever larger. What was the boy planning? What could he possibly think a single gunship could do against an unknown number of bombers? The gunships were armed, yes, but they weren't meant for heavy combat! They didn't have the speed or manoeuvrability to take on fighters and bombers!
His voice betrayed his steadily panicking thoughts. "You- You're going after bombers in a gunship?" he demanded, aghast.
Luke nodded. "Yep."
"Luke, these are troop transports! Their weapons are intended for defence only!"
"Well, I'm using them to defend the villagers." A brief, haunted look flashed across Luke's face. Obi-Wan reached out, but he wasn't fast enough to glimpse the memory that triggered it. Luke frowned determinedly, his face set in an oh-so-familiar expression.
Yes, it had been far too much to ask that Luke was a distant cousin. There was absolutely no mistaking his relation to Anakin. Obi-Wan groaned quietly, half in distress, half in resignation.
"Oh, kriff everything to the ninth Corellian Hell and back. You drive like your father."
Luke momentarily froze, shock radiating through their fledgling bond. The boy's astromech—and when had he even acquired such a loyal droid?—beeped and took control of the steering for a moment while Obi-Wan's new padawan gathered his thoughts. After a moment, the boy sighed and glanced over, fixing Obi-Wan with a smile as warm as the twin suns of Tatooine.
"Is that going to be a problem?"
"A problem?! A problem?! How in the nine Corellian Hells and the karking Sith netherworld did I get stuck training two Skywalkers?!" Had he offended the Force itself in some way, that it would put him through that again? Or perhaps some forgotten deity of an unknown culture?
"It's a long story. I promise, Father and I will tell you later."
Obi-Wan's blood ran cold. Right. Vader. The broken, scarred husk of a man who claimed to be Luke's father. Who was Luke's father; now that the boy's presence was free of those cuffs Anakin had slapped on him on the Resolute, it was frighteningly easy to sense the boy's honesty. Which could only mean one thing…
"Fa- Wait. Vader. That man, that thing, is Anakin?!"
"Um… Yes?"
No. Just no. Obi-Wan could not accept it. That ragged, half-dead creature was not, could not be his former padawan. Vader's cold, self-loathing darkness was the furthest thing he could imagine from Anakin's cocky, eager-to-please warmth.
And yet…
And yet, it had to be true. Luke was not lying; the Force was not lying.
Words poured unbidden from Obi-Wan's lips as he struggled with the revelation, burying his head in his hands. Mild core-world insults, muttered in Basic. The musical profanity of Twi'leki Ryl. Huttese curses picked up from Anakin. Half-remembered Stewjoni swear words from when he was a toddler. The flustered, conflicted language of Melida/Daan. A long, elaborate set of oaths in Mando'a that he had learned from Satine.
He wasn't sure what to make of the impressed look Luke shot him after that last one.
Finally, finally, Obi-Wan managed to reign in his emotions. Probably not for long; he just knew that as soon as he had the opportunity to question Luke and Vader, everything would come rushing back. But he was a Jedi Master, and no one compartmentalised better than a Jedi. His horror could wait.
Obi-Wan grit his teeth. His horror at Vader's identity may be able to wait, but his terror at Luke's flying could not. Gunships weren't meant to maintain maximum speed for so long. "Well then, padawan-mine, what is your plan?"
"Shoot down as many bombers as I can and hope Anakin gets there fast enough to help." Luke made a face. "It's so weird to call him that."
"It's weird to call Anakin… Anakin?"
Luke nodded. "He was Darth Vader almost all my life, and now he's Father." The boy bit his lip. "You didn't even tell me he was alive; I had to learn it from him. I was mad about that, at first, about you keeping secrets. But you were just trying to protect me."
Darth Vader. Not just Vader. The confirmation shook Obi-Wan to his very bones. His padawan had fallen to the Dark Side, had become a Sith lord…
Where had he gone wrong? Where had he failed as a teacher? Was it still early enough to fix his mistakes?
Obi-Wan shook his head, trying to keep his mind on Luke's words. But you were just trying to protect me. Yes… Yes, if Anakin fell to the Dark Side, keeping his son—who he was not supposed to have sired, but that was a separate problem—safe and ignorant was exactly the sort of thing Obi-Wan could see himself doing.
He still flinched at the reproachful prod Luke sent him through their bond.
Taking a few deep, shuddering breaths, Obi-Wan fought for the courage to meet his new padawan's eyes. "I'm sorry, Luke. But… I don't understand. If he fell, if he became a Sith lord…"
"You don't have to ask about it if you don't want. I know it hurt you to talk about; even if it hasn't happened yet, thinking about it can't be much better."
"We have to talk about it, though. That's the only way to prevent it from happening." Obi-Wan sighed. He could almost feel his hair turning grey. "Can we trust him? He won't try to destroy us all?"
Luke closed his eyes for a moment, making Obi-Wan's blood run cold with worry. When the boy opened them again, his face was set in a steady stare. A warrior's stare. Oh, dear Force, was Luke still fighting their wars?
"Of course we can trust Father." His conviction sang through the Force, unintentionally wrapping Obi-Wan in the mental equivalent of a weighted blanket. "He was Dark, so Dark… But he came back to me. He returned to the Light to save me from the Emperor. It nearly killed him… But he became Anakin again in the end."
Luke huffed. "But it's still weird," the boy continued. "We're here and you're here and Ankakin's here, so Father has to be Vader so we don't confuse and scare everyone."
"Not Darth Vader, though." Obi-Wan could barely hear his own voice, weak with emotion. Luke clenched his jaw.
"No. Not Darth Vader. Never again. I won't let him go back to that." The boy sounded so certain, as if just by willing it, he could make it so. Obi-Wan swallowed thickly.
"You said… You said he came back to the Light. But… How?"
"He loves me." Luke shrugged. "Father came back because he loves me more than he hates… Actually, I don't even know if he hates anything anymore. He used to, but now he's just sad."
"Attachments are forbidden." Obi-Wan parroted the old lesson automatically, the words hollow in his mouth. Luke scowled.
"Bantha Poodoo."
"Pardon?"
"Attachments don't lead to the Dark Side. Love and friendship aren't things to be pushed away." Indignation rolled off the boy in the Force. "Without Father, without you and Leia and Han and Chewie and Artoo and Threepio and Yoda, I'd never have made it this far. I'd be dead in the desert somewhere. So don't you dare tell me my attachments to you guys are bad."
"But-"
"No."
Obi-Wan let his argument die on his lips. He wasn't even sure what it would have been. The Council was going to have a fit when they met Luke.
Wait…
Luke had mentioned both him and Yoda. Neither of them had taught him the doctrine of non-attachment?
Either his training was even more incomplete than Obi-Wan had initially thought, or something in the future had seriously changed about the Order.
Something was moving in the corner of his eye. Obi-Wan turned his head and saw the astromech—Luke had called her Ayfor—extending a small blow torch in his direction, her indicator lights flickering a dangerous shade of red.
Luke apparently noticed too. "Calm down, Ayfor. Obi-Wan didn't mean to upset me. Everything's fine."
"N07 F1N3. 1RR35P0N51B13 63N3R41—D035N'7 7H1NK. 5H0U1D R345516N C0MM4ND3R 1UK3 70 N3W G3N3R41."
"That's a bit beyond your authority, little one." The words slipped out before Obi-Wan had time to consider what he was saying. Ayfor's dome spun towards him.
"7RY M3."
Turning back to face the windshield, Obi-Wan tried to pretend that there was not an overprotective astromech uncomfortably close behind him, likely planning on setting his hair on fire if he kept upsetting Luke. If he hadn't known the Force couldn't affect droids in such a way, he would almost have suspected Vader of possessing the thing.
They flew in silence for a few minutes. Or, well, near silence. There was no escaping the hum of the engines or the rattling of turbulence against durasteel as Luke stubbornly held the gunship to its highest speed.
Obi-Wan couldn't get Ayfor's words out of his head. Nor could he forget Luke's impassioned plea for him to complete the boy's training. Not the Jedi Order in general; him, Obi-Wan himself.
"When we take you and your father before the Council," Obi-Wan began slowly, "If they accept you into the Order—and it is very likely a big if—what will you do if they assign you to a different master?"
Luke didn't respond verbally, just shot him a look of disbelief and a wave of confusion that flooded their bond. It was followed by a sense of absolute certainty that that wouldn't happen as the boy shook his head. Obi-Wan frowned.
"I'm being serious, Luke. What would you do if you couldn't be my padawan?"
The boy sighed. "If that's your decision, I would accept it," he said slowly. "I don't want to force you to take me on if you don't want to. I'd find someone else to train me. But that's your choice, not some fussy council's."
Longing. Nostalgia. Affection. Obi-Wan could feel how much Luke wanted him as his teacher. And that was… Well, it felt like he'd been punched in the gut. As long as he could remember, he'd never been someone's first choice. Qui-Gon hadn't wanted him at first, had thought he was too dangerous after seeing the intensity of his rivalry with Bruck Chun. Anakin had wanted Qui-Gon as a master, but was forced to settle for Obi-Wan after his death. Satine had set aside their relationship in order to focus on the change she thought her people needed.
Obi-Wan wasn't sure what to do with such a clear feeling of being wanted.
Luke must have sensed his turmoil in the Force. The boy rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath. "Therapy. You all need therapy. The whole Jedi Order. I'll schedule it myself if I have to."
The sky was growing dark, the sun setting low on the western sky as they approached a village. Obi-Wan expected Luke to turn on the running lights; it was standard procedure for night flying.
Luke did not turn on the running lights. In fact, he turned off almost every light in the gunship, including dimming the glow of the dash as much as possible.
"What are you doing?" Obi-Wan demanded. "We won't be able to see anything below us! What if we hit something?"
"We won't. I've flown in worse." Luke smiled grimly. "And this way, the droids are less likely to see us coming." It was spoken with the ease of experience; Obi-Wan's new padawan had flown night-ops before. Probably many of them.
Lights flickered in the east, approaching fast. Obi-Wan couldn't identify the exact model of the ship from the lights alone the way Anakin could have, but he could tell it was some form of Separatist bomber. He strapped himself into the copilot's seat nervously, unsure what Luke was planning.
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." Despite his words, the boy did not fasten his seatbelt. What was it with Tatooine and producing pilots with no sense of self-preservation?
The bomber was everything the gunship was not—fast, heavily armoured, and heavily armed. Their only advantage would be surprise.
Luke killed the engines.
"What?!" Obi-Wan hissed. He wasn't sure why he was whispering.
"They're less likely to see us this way," Luke explained quietly.
The gunship slowed, gliding without power. And Luke's explanation certainly seemed to hold true; the droid bomber showed no sign that it had seen them as it approached, screaming in towards the village at an altitude slightly lower than their own.
Luke held his finger on the trigger, waiting, waiting… But for what?
PCHEW! PCHEW!
Firing twice, Luke suddenly wrenched the gunship back up to full power. Obi-Wan was pressed into his seat by the sudden acceleration. Below them, he saw the droid bomber take two direct hits to one wing, vaporizing the flight surface and destroying one engine. The disabled craft spiralled off to the side, crashing into a hill several kilometres away from the village.
For a moment, it was like the sun was rising in the north. Fire rose from the wrecked craft as its weapons exploded on impact.
A crackling voice came in over the comm system, thick with worry. Cody. "Sir? Sir?! General Kenobi, are you out there? Are you alright?"
Obi-Wan glanced at Luke; the boy nodded for him to take the call. "Yes, Commander, Luke and I are perfectly alright."
"Sir, we just saw an explosion to the west of us. What's your position?"
"That explosion was a droid bomber Luke shot down. We're a few kilometres south-east of its location, heading south."
"Good to hear." Cody hesitated. "Um… Orders, Sir?"
"Scan the area for more bombers as best you can; shoot them down if possible. As far away from the villages as is feasible."
"Yes Sir."
"Was anyone able to get in contact with General Skywalker?"
"Yes Sir. He's on his way with three squadrons—two to help us cover the villages and one to defend the capital. General Windu heard rumours that there will be an attack there too and requested air support."
"Very good, Cody. Luke and I will meet you back at the Resolute when everything is cleaned up."
"Not the Negotiator, Sir?"
"Not the Negotiator, no. There are some things my padawan and I need to talk to General Skywalker about."
"Like how Commander Luke is his time-travelling son from the future, Sir?"
"Yes, exactly like that."
"Good luck with that, Sir. Cody out."
They continued on that way through the night, weaving their way ever closer to the capital city of Lessu. Every time a bomber appeared on the horizon, Luke would quickly rise to a higher altitude, then kill the engines and repeat his gliding strike. Obi-Wan was almost terrified by how well it worked. Not that he expected the Separatist droids to be intelligent enough to adjust to the novel strategy, no; rather, he was terrified with how familiar Anakin's son was with unconventional warfare.
What was the future he'd come from like?
Dawn lit up the eastern horizon with shining bands of pink and gold. Obi-Wan glanced over at his padawan, finally able to get a good look at Luke after hours in darkness.
The boy didn't look nearly as tired as Obi-Wan expected. As Obi-Wan felt.
Far below, on the bridge before the main gate into Lessu, Obi-Wan could see Mace Windu and a couple of clones from the 187th legion fighting the droids guarding the entrance to the city. He gasped, unable to help himself, as the bridge started to go out from under them, Mace and the clones barely making it to solid ground. The transports they'd been using tumbled into the canyon below.
Then a moment later the bridge was back, Mace having gained control over the gatehouse. Hundreds of clones on walkers and speeders rushed down out of the nearby hills, accompanied by an even larger force of Twi'lek rebels riding Blurrgs. The sound of their war cries filled the air, so loud and full of hope that they even drowned out the roar of the gunship's engines.
Luke smiled at the sight of them, but didn't land to join the battle. No, he kept them circling the city, eyes never leaving the horizon.
Just like his father.
On their second pass around Lessu, Obi-Wan spotted two more gunships approaching from the north. His men. He smiled; they'd made it. Good.
His relief was interrupted when Luke suddenly wrenched the gunship over on its side, wheeling in a tight circle that strained the vehicle's wings. Durasteel groaned in protest; the air filled with the sound of large-calibre blaster fire and the smoking red of ionised tibanna gas.
PCHEW! PCHEW! PCHEW! PCHEW!
Three droid fighter-bombers, and this time, there was no darkness for Luke to hide them in. Obi-Wan gripped the edges of the copilot's seat tightly, his fingers numb and white. The fighter-bombers broke off their approach to the city when they saw the lone gunship in a defensive circuit, coming in from multiple directions to corner them.
Without the element of surprise, there was no way they were getting out of this.
"Luke, set us down! We can't fight them!"
His padawan frowned at him. "You're not much of a pilot, are you?"
"I am an excellent pilot, thank you very much. I just ceased to enjoy flying after spending too much time with your father."
"Then trust me to be his son." Luke's frown became a tight smile. "This is nothing compared to running the trenches of the Death Star with Darth Vader on my tail."
Obi-Wan didn't know what a Death Star was, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know. His mind focused on the other half of the sentence as Luke forced the gunship into a tail slide to avoid having its wings shot off.
They nearly tore off anyway from the air resistance. Gunships were not meant for aerobatics.
"You got into a dogfight with your father?"
"Not exactly." Luke wrenched the yoke to the side, sending them tumbling into a barrel roll. Two of the fighter-bombers shot each other as the gunship unexpectedly disappeared from in between them. "He was chasing me; I wasn't exactly fighting back. It was Han who disabled his engines."
Luke… Not only flew like Anakin, but had another friend who was an equally skilled and crazy flyer? "Please tell me Han isn't your twin brother or something like that."
"Nah, he's the Corellian smuggler who's dating my twin sister."
Okay, that explained it. The only pilots he'd met who were half as crazy as Anakin were all Corellian.
"I see. And he… shot down your father while Anakin was chasing you?"
"Yep. Nothing fatal, though, obviously. We were more concerned with the Death Star than a lone fighter." Luke twisted the gunship through a bunch of manoeuvres Obi-Wan couldn't name as he tried to lose the last fighter-bomber or get into a position where he could shoot it down. The groans of abused durasteel grew ever louder.
Obi-Wan shook his head. "Luke, you're missing the point. My disbelief is over the fact that your father was trying to kill you!"
"Yeah, so? It wasn't the first time, and not the last either. Him cutting off my hand was a lot worse."
Cutting off…? Obi-Wan looked at Luke's hands in alarm, but there was no way to tell which one was a prosthetic when the boy was wearing clone armour. Luke realised where he was looking, though, sending a wave of amusement through the Force.
"Right hand," he clarified, tilting the nose up, up, up… So far up that the gunship tilted into a stall, falling past the Separatist fighter-bomber as they lost airspeed.
Cold pooled in Obi-Wan's stomach. The same hand Anakin lost to Dooku.
The gunship levelled out with a groan. Obi-Wan may not have been the mechanic Anakin was, but he was more than competent enough to know that it couldn't take much more of Luke's flying. The wings were one tight roll away from tearing off.
PCHEW!
A blaster bolt hit the fighter-bomber dead centre as it came around, blowing the vehicle to pieces. The sky lit up briefly orange with the scattering of burning debris… And then Anakin's Aethersprite appeared through the smoke.
"You okay, Master?"
Despite what Obi-Wan had recently learned about his future, his former padawan's voice had never been more welcome. He tapped the comm. "Hello, Anakin. You're right on time."
"That's fancier flying than I'd ever thought I'd see from you, Master. I approve."
Obi-Wan rolled his eyes. "If you must know, I've been in the passenger's seat this whole time. And you know you don't need to call me master anymore."
"I do." Anakin's voice crackled with concern. "If you're not the one flying, who's your pilot?"
"My new padawan," Obi-Wan responded.
The Force erupted with Luke's happiness, a surge of light, joy, relief that brought tears unbidden to Obi-Wan's eyes. He blinked rapidly, raising his shields to keep Luke's glee from overwhelming him. That was going to take some getting used to.
"You mean Luke? He told you?" Well, that was odd. Now Anakin sounded almost panicked.
"Yes, I know Luke is… was… will be my padawan. Why is that so worrying?"
"I… Uh…"
"You don't still think he's a Sith, do you?"
Anakin brought his Aethersprite up beside the gunship, waggling his wings in a pilot's shrug. "He did break out of containment in the middle of a war zone while he was technically a prisoner."
Obi-Wan sighed. "Yes, and I will be having a talk with him about that. In fact, there are many things we all need to talk about. But they can wait a few minutes. We'll see you back on the Resolute, assuming Luke can get us there without tearing the wings off the gunship."
There was a pause in communication, although Obi-Wan could sense that it was only because Anakin needed a moment to stop himself from laughing hysterically. When his former padawan spoke again, his voice was still shaky with mirth, although for the sake of both their dignities, Obi-Wan pretended not to hear it.
"Well, Master, it's good to hear that if you have to take another padawan, he'll at least keep up the family tradition of scaring the kriff out of you with his perfectly reasonable flying."
Sighing again, Obi-Wan rolled his eyes for good measure, making sure Anakin felt the full force of his exasperation through their bond. The boy had no idea… "Just lead us back to the ship."
This time, Anakin couldn't contain himself. Obi-Wan's former padawan giggled helplessly, his Aethersprite wobbling from side to side as he turned and headed back towards the Resolute, three gunships falling in behind him.