Title: Walk a Different Path
Chapter: One: The Defiant Child
Author: alexjanna91
Fandom: Star Wars
Pairing: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jaster Mereel, Jango Fett, Hondo Ohnaka, Yoda, Count Dooku, Darth Maul, Plo Koon, Mace Windu
Series: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ambassador of Mandalore
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Pre- Canon, Canon Divergence, Alternate Canon
Warning: Gray Obi-Wan, Not a Jedi Obi-Wan, Different First Meeting, Dark Side of the Force, Light Side of the Force, Darker Obi-Wan, Protective Obi-Wan, Mandalorian Obi-Wan, Sith Obi-Wan, BAMF Obi-Wan, Force-visions, Mandalorian Adoptions, Mandalorian Culture, Family Feels, Hinted Future Obi/Ani/Padme
Story Summary: Initiate Obi-Wan Kenobi did not take Master Jinn's last rejection lying down. With the Force whispering gleefully in his ear he decided to make his own way through the wide unknown galaxy. He wasn't afraid, though. No, in fact he was a little bit excited. After all, if he didn't want to be a farmer and couldn't be a Jedi, maybe being a pirate was his path in life. Either way he knew he was heading for an adventure.
Ch. Summary:Obi-Wan makes life changing decisions and meets a pirate.
Initiate Obi-Wan Kenobi was exhausted. He was sure he'd never been so exhausted in his admittedly short life. Not physically tired, though he was that as well, but Obi-Wan was emotionally drained from the last few weeks of seemingly nonstop crises.
In the last month alone he'd been rejected by every master in the temple and shipped off to the AgriCorps. He'd defied Hutts, survived a pirate attack, crash landed a space freighter, and fought a swarm of hungry draigons. He'd been kidnapped and sold into slavery on a deep sea mining rig. He'd even offered to blow himself up for the good of the planet.
And still he'd somehow been found wanting in the eyes of Qui-Gon Jinn.
Truthfully, Obi-Wan couldn't find it in himself to be angry at this last rejection. Master Jinn hadn't been wrong when he said that Obi-Wan was angry and aggressive and just a little bit arrogant. He was all of those things. He just wasn't only those things.
Now, he was standing around in the aftermath of Xanatos du Crion's chaos. He'd finally gotten the bomb collar off and the other slaves on the deep sea mining rig were being freed. Master Jinn was busy discussing things with officials and authorities and first responders. Obi-Wan was left to himself, dirty, tired, disheartened, and staring down the barrel of a bleak existence filled with soil analysis and crop rotations.
He absently watched a group of Weequays surreptitiously sneak crates of something presumably valuable onto a speeder while he tried to convince himself not to dread the rest of his life.
"Initiate Kenobi."
Turning at the call of his name, Obi-Wan looked up at Master Jinn. The man was watching him with a serene expression.
"Your help was invaluable in saving the planet from Xanatos's machinations," the Jedi Master said like it was some kind of consolation after his latest rejection.
"Xanatos, your former padawan," Obi-Wan replied, his voice sounding distant to his ears. "He told me when he kidnapped me. That he was doing all this to get back at you."
Qui-Gon grimaced with a flash of anger. "Xanatos is Fallen and has disgraced himself."
Obi-Wan hummed at that still staring at the master with an almost judging look in his tired eyes. "You believe that I will Fall. Will I be a disgrace as well?"
A mix of guilt and stubborn resolve took over Qui-Gon's face. "As long as you are mindful and diligent in your new duties, I believe you will not be in danger."
He means, you will not be ia/i danger, Obi-Wan thought. Glancing back toward the AgriCorps compound, he said, "I am not meant to be a farmer. I was meant to be a Jedi Knight."
"We must do as the Force wills us," was Qui-Gon's response to that.
Obi-Wan looked back at the master, his expression disturbingly blank. He knew deep in his bones that the life of a farmer was not for him. Just looking at the compound caused the Force to scream that this was wrong. That Obi-Wan was meant for other, bigger things.
"It was not the Force that determined I be sent to the AgriCorps," he said after a moment of uncomfortable silence.
The boy's passive, yet defiant demeanor was unsettling to Qui-Gon. It felt like Initiate Kenobi was standing on some kind of a precipice and that worried Qui-Gon more than he'd like to admit. The Force was silent on the subject of taking a padawan, so he was resolved to stick to the vow he'd made almost a decade ago when he repudiated Xanatos. But there was something in the Force about the dirty and exhausted boy standing before him. Something almost waiting. Like a precariously balanced tower of sabacc cards, the slightest breeze in the Force and the boy's destiny will tip and collapse one way or the other.
It made Qui-Gon more determined that ever that he was correct to reject the boy as a padawan. Rarely did that type of pendulum swing toward the Light.
Before he could respond to the boy's disconcerting statement one of the planet's authorities called his attention and he turned away for a moment. When he turned back Initiate Kenobi was gone and Qui-Gon felt an echoing crash in the Force.
Obi-Wan Kenobi stepped off the precipice of his destiny and only time would tell which way the pendulum swung for him.
Obi-Wan took the chance of Master Jinn's distraction to step away from the disheartening conversation. He didn't know which way he was going to head, but the pointless interchange had decided one thing for him, he was not going back to the AgriCorps.
He hadn't realized that his feet had taken him to the suspicious group of Weequays until he bumped into one of them.
"Apologies," he muttered as he caught his balance and reflexively put a hand to his lightsaber before the lizard-monkey that came out of nowhere could lift it from his belt.
Blinking down at the glaring creature in surprise, Obi-Wan turned his attention to the flamboyantly dressed Weequay he'd just collided with.
"Were you trying to steal my saber?" he asked incredulously before he could think better of it.
"No, no, no! Why would I do something like that? Of course not, how dare you insult me this way!" The Weequay gestured in broad distracting sweeps of his arms his red brocade long coat swinging with his every movement.
Obi-Wan almost let himself get distracted, but he slapped his hand down on his lightsaber again when he heard a light warning in the Force.
"Liar, you just tried it again!" he accused as the lizard-monkey chittered disgruntled at him and jumped away. It climbed its way up the Weeqauy to settle on his shoulder.
"Ah, well," the older man shrugged nonchalantly, the gold rings on his fingers glinted in the cloudy light of Bandomeer. "It was worth a try. Tell me, little boy, how did you know I was lying, eh?"
Obi-Wan raised an unimpressed eyebrow at the man. "Beside that fact that your pet just tried to pickpocket me twice in a row? I could feel you lying in the Force."
"The Force? Isn't that the Jedi magic? How does that work?"
"It's not mag-" Obi-Wan cut himself off and eyed his conversation partner before he sighed and nodded. "Yes, it's the Jedi magic. And I am- I was a Jedi Initiate. I learned to use the Force at the temple."
The Weequay eyed the disheveled scrawny boy before him and had a thought. "What else can you do with your Force magic?"
Obi-Wan opened his mouth to answer, but something in the gleam in the man's eyes caught his attention. He paused and thought over the scene before him. The red coated Weequay had held his attention long enough that the other Weequays could finish loading the crates onto the speeder and were now waiting patiently nearby. Their hands were on the blasters at the their sides and their eyes were warily watching the authorities wandering around distracted by the chaos.
"That depends," he finally answered, an idea coming to him, the Force feeling just a little gleeful and anticipatory. "I could give you a demonstration of some of my abilities if you'd let me hitch a ride off planet."
The Weequay made a show of scoffing dubiously. "Why would I have need of a show of fancy magic tricks?"
"Why would you have need of ten crates of mining grade explosives?" Obi-Wan returned dryly, a sharp gleam in his eyes.
Blinking at him for a moment, the man then threw his head back and laughed. "You caught me," he exclaimed dramatically, grinning. "I have not yet introduced myself! I am Pirate Captain Hondo Ohnaka!"
Obi-Wan's eyes widened, but he didn't feel any danger in the Force. "I am Obi-Wan Kenobi, pleased to meet you."
"Yes, it is," Hondo Ohnaka murmured as he continued to eye Obi-Wan with a calculating gleam in his eyes. "I'll tell you what. You can travel with my crew if you can think of a way you can put those magic tricks of yours to profitable use."
Blowing out a long breath, Obi-Wan took a second to weigh his options. Stay here on Bandomeer and become a farmer, or go with the pirates and become a criminal. Truthfully it wasn't much of a debate and he wasn't quite sure what that said about him.
Sticking out his hand, Obi-Wan gave the pirate captain a pleasant smile. "I'm sure I can think of something."
"Hah!" Hondo grabbed his offered hand and gave it a shoulder wrenching shake. "Come! We must make our get away before the officials notice the missing crates, eh?"
"Naturally," Obi-Wan replied blandly as he followed the pirate to the speeder and climbed aboard.
The trip to the pirates' ship was filled with introductions, rowdy jokes, two more pickpocketing attempts, and the Force jangling merrily in Obi-Wan's ears. As he climbed up the ramp into the saucer shaped ship, he knew he was headed for the unknown, his path in life was no longer clear, and his destiny was up in the air. But Obi-Wan wasn't afraid.
No, in fact he was a little bit excited. After all, if he didn't want to be a farmer and couldn't be a Jedi, maybe being a pirate was his path in life. Either way he knew he was heading for an adventure.
TBC...