Summary – This is a short bit two years after The Last Piece of Lasagna. It's just for fun.
Disclaimer – Its George's, not mine, as usual.
A red bolt of blaster fire seared a hole in the wall 10 centimeters from my cheek. Insulation and wiring smoldered and sparks and smoke flew into my face. I cried out, waving one hand before my face to clear the smoke and then dropped into a crouch, bracing my elbow against my knee I used my blaster to lay down a calculated wave of suppressing fire.
Above me, off to my right, Obi-wan and Anakin were a blur of action; sending back nearly every bolt that came at us. Our coordinated defense took out a couple of the attackers and the hail of fire eased off considerably. I regained my feet and leaned my back against the wall holding my blaster with both hands near my face. Both Jedi kept their places in the middle of the hall, smugly (at least from my point of view) unconcerned about the few blaster bolts that continued to rain around them, and looking none the worse for wear because of it.
The same could not be said for the corridor. This was the governor's palace in the capitol city. Beautifully inlaid ceilings stretched three meters above our heads, perfectly polished- tile-inlaid floors lay at our feet, and the walls were a delicate artwork of marble and wood. Now however, holes and streaks of soot marred the stone and woodwork, smoked filled the area around us, reducing visibility to only a few meters and the statuary and potted plants that filled the alcoves along the walls were overturned or had been blasted to bits. The temple accountants were used to the bills generated by Kenobi/Skywalker Inc., but I was betting that more than harsh words would be spoken over this catastrophe.
"This is wonderful, a running fire-fight! And on my birthday too! Don't let anybody tell you your master doesn't know how to show a lady a good time Anakin." Unlike my Jedi companions, I was bound by no rules against anger, either the feeling of it or expressing of it, and I had never believed in holding back.
Obi-wan gave me a humorless smile, "He's the brains this time sweetheart."
Anakin looked embarrassed and swallowed nervously, "But I didn't-"
"Think?" I said sarcastically. "Really? What a surprise. Did you plan to come up here to this dead end?"
"I-I didn't think there were so many rebels Lady J, honest!"
I sent Obi-wan a look of pure malice, "This is your training? 'Today my young apprentice, I'm going to show you a way to end a relationship that guarantees no emotional baggage.' What's next week's lesson? How to do away with the council and forever get out of end of mission reports?"
He had been on the other side of Anakin, but with a signal I could not detect they traded places smoothly, neither of them getting so much as singed. Still deflecting bolts with the saber in his right hand, he grasped my arm with his left hand, and pulled me to his side. "You are quite talented Jerika. You have actually raised sarcasm to an art form." His face was a hard mask of Jedi calm, and then he suddenly grinned at me and leaned close enough to rub his nose against mine. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the glow of his blade as he teased me while continuing to fight. I glared up at him in utter fury, wondering what I had done to deserve falling in love with such an irritating man.
Without taking his eyes from mine he called out, "Think Ani, what must we do in this situation?"
"Get Lady J out of danger."
"Good. What is the simplest way of doing that?" He kissed the end of my nose and then thrust me behind him as the hail of blaster fire became heavy once again.
"Kill all the rebels."
"True, but since that is not an option?"
"Escape."
"How do we accomplish that Padawan? We are cut off from all the lifts." Obi-wan grimaced and took a few steps forward, destroying a statue far down the hall and burying several of our antagonists under the resulting rubble.
"We need to get to them without killing the rebels," Anakin thought out loud, "We need to create some sort of barricade…"
I was impressed that the boy (well he was sixteen, not really a boy anymore), could continue his part of the defense while strategizing, but my wrist was getting tired and the power cell on my blaster was starting to redline. And I was so angry I thought my head was going to explode. I rolled my eyes at Obi-wan and slipped around the corner behind us. The one door I found led to an empty office with no other door out.
"Oh Sith suck me!"
"Nice move Jerika, we knew this was a dead end." Obi-wan observed dryly as he and Anakin dashed in behind me, the apprentice turning and sealing the lock on the door.
"That won't hold them for long." He said.
"Great," I folded my arms and gave the boy a hard stare, "So, have you come up with a bright idea to get us to those lifts yet?"
Anakin crossed the room and looked out the window, "We don't need the lift." And the boy lit his blade again.
"Right." Obi-wan nodded and left my side to join his apprentice. The two of them began cutting away the floor to ceiling glass.
Immediately I saw what they were planning, "Oh no, no way! This isn't direction from the Force, its suicide!" But as usual, they blithely ignored me. Big sections of the transparasteel fell away from the walls and they pulled out and hooked cables from their belts to the large conference table in the middle of the room.
Obi-wan motioned to me, "Come on Jeri, we don't have much time." He held out one arm, and reluctantly, I went to him. At that moment the door began to open with snaps of machinery and bursts of sparks. "Wait a minute. Ani, you take the captain, I'll hold off the rebels until you two are safely down." Anakin opened his mouth to protest, then nodded and held out his arm to me.
I looked at Obi-wan in consternation, "And who is going to cover you?"
He smiled that infuriating grin of his, adding a wiggle of his eyebrows just to really piss me off, "The two of you from below, of course."
"You mean you're going to repel down the side of a building while dodging blaster bolts from both directions?" I said this even as I allowed them to transfer me between them.
"Well, I assume I won't have to dodge the ones coming from below." He actually looked ready to laugh the bastard.
I bit my lip, unable to decide between terrified concern and towering anger. Needing both to protect him and blast him out of existence myself I settled for a viscous glare, "You assume too much."
Anakin stifled a life-threatening chuckle and tightened his grip on me. I felt his muscles bunch and that odd tingling sensation of the surrounding Force increased. "Hold tight Lady J." He warned me and leapt out into space. We dropped several meters into space, accompanied by the howl that fear ripped from my lungs without my consent and then the side of the building was rushing towards us. His boots hit the wall and the impact reverberated up my spine. He played out more line, repelling us down two floors to another (thankfully) empty room. I blew out the window with three short bursts and we tumbled inside. Anakin ripped out his comlink and called out to Obi-wan frantically. Igniting his saber again, he leaned out the window and looked up. I joined him and while he deflected bolts away from me, I shot at the rebels who were raining fire on the rapidly descending Obi-wan. We both rolled out of the way as the young master dived through the opening, rolling gracefully to his feet and shaking his head to get the bits of broken glass out of his hair.
There was a moment of profound silence without the overwhelming noise of light sabers and blaster fire, and then Anakin could stand it no longer.
"Wizard! That was intense!
I couldn't help grinning, "And fun?"
"Yeah!" He said with out thinking, and then gulped and glanced at Obi-wan chagrined, who stood apart from us, arms folded, looking stern and disapproving.
"A Jedi does not seek excitement, Anakin." The silence had become icy with his reprove. Suddenly he dropped his arms, grinned, and came over to slip an arm around both of us. "But that doesn't mean we don't enjoy it when it finds us." He winked at Anakin and then turned his gaze on me, "Happy Birthday Jeri."