To Heppan: Thank you for reading, I hope you continue to like it! To the rest of my readers: Thank you for following this story so far and thank you for all your comments. It's getting down to the last few chapters - about three more to go!
15
Tension racked Obi-Wan as he watched the battle before him. So far the Republic forces were holding their own, but he could feel something brewing in the Force. The Separatists were planning something. He just wished he could figure out what it was.
The support ship rested before them, a floating and useless hunk. Obi-Wan could feel the dismay of those still on the ship. A few managed to make it to escape pods and were drifting down towards the planet. However, as the ship's crew realized that the Jedi did not intend to destroy them completely, the escape pods jettisoning from it slowly died down to a trickle.
At the same time, details of the dogfights between the enemy and Republic starfighters ran though his mind. In brief flashes he could see Jedi pilots teaming up with the new trainees to blast away a clone fighter.
Every once in a while, one of the Jedi would be blown up in hot flash.
Obi-Wan tried to ignore these blasts from the Force. He was afraid that if he focused too hard on them he would realize that someone he knew just died. Figuring out their losses would come at a later time.
Most amazing though, was how Anakin Skywalker held all the Jedi together in a network. Obi-Wan could feel the strain of keeping the connection alive grinding on Anakin. Once more he pushed encouragement and strength to his old Padawan. This time, the briefest sense of gratitude came back to Obi-Wan from Anakin. Obi-Wan smiled to himself.
Suddenly, a surge of surprise came to him. One of the Jedi closest to the other support ship was suddenly swarmed with clone fighters. The poor pilot tried to dart away from them, but there were too many – they fired on his ship – he tried to dodge – the Jedi starfighter blew up –
"More enemy fighters coming in!" Obi-Wan exclaimed. Tarkin and Mace turned him. "Quick – they're coming from that second ship!"
Tarkin looked down at his display. Sure enough, another cloud of red dots started to come from the larger ship. At the same time, Mace sank into the Force and made his way through the network.
"They're coming for us," Mace replied calmly.
Tarkin looked at both the Jedi, waiting for an order. He had an idea of what to do, but he had to wait for the Jedi.
No order came though.
Obi-Wan sent Mace an idea through the Force. Together, both Masters reached out to the Force, calling on all the nearest Jedi pilots. Sure enough, those pilots began turn from the main battle back to the assault cruisers. Within seconds, they engaged the clone fighters.
"Right then," Tarkin muttered to himself.
Irritated he turned back to his crew. He didn't know how the Jedi managed to call their fighters back to the ship for its defense. What he did know was that they made him feel nervous, like they knew something he didn't. Tarkin was the kind of man that liked to be in control of his crew and his surroundings.
The Jedi took that control away from him.
"Captain Tarkin, we should move out and start to fire on that other support ship," Mace called out.
Finally the Jedi decided to let him in on the plans again.
"Agreed, Master Jedi."
Tarkin relayed the order to his crew, and the assault cruiser started to slowly turn towards the support ship. As it did so, more enemy fighters came towards them. He hoped the Jedi could finish this mess.
Letting out a whoop of excitement, Anakin took his starfighter into a tight loop. The rush of battle, of flying again, flowed through his veins. Through the Force he could feel all the rest of the Jedi. Some of them were excited, as he was, and so the feeling was contagious through the network.
R4 let out a reprimanding whine and Anakin calmed himself down, muttering. "Fine, fine. It's always something…"
Within minutes after creating the connection to the other Jedi, Anakin lost track of his actions. Everything felt synchronized through the Force. He no longer had to think about what evasive maneuvers to take. He knew from when and where the enemy pilots were coming.
Letting himself sink deeper into the Force, he felt something new. Just beyond the reach of the Jedi, he could feel some of the minds of the Republic trainees. Taking a deep breath, an idea came to him.
If everyone on the battlefield was coordinated…they might be able to win despite the fact that they were grossly outnumbered.
Anakin knew he would need more power to do what he had in mind. He could only draw so much from the other Jedi; he was already taking as much as he could from them to keep the link alive. Knowing what he had to do, and that it was risky, he let his mind wander away from the focus of the battle.
Padmé.
Thoughts and images of her flooded his mind and his heart. Warmth spread through him and instantly he felt himself calmed by her memory. The stress of maintaining the Force link melted away as he recalled the last night he spent with her. The words she spoke to him, promising her affections, opened up more of the Force to him.
The Force surged through him in a way like never before. In a flash, he saw not with his eyes, but with the Force.
Every living thing in the galaxy shone as its own pinpoint of light – and those sensitive to the Force called to him like beacons. There was absolutely nothing else to the galaxy.
There was only the Force.
In that single instant, Anakin Skywalker vanished – becoming a being only of the Force. A million paths snaked before him, each leading in a million different directions, and he understood everything.
There was no right or wrong, dark or light. Saying that there was a dark side of the Force led one to believe that the Force itself was evil; the same being true for the opposite.
Balance of the Force was not about light or dark. It was not about Jedi or Sith – it was about the choices one made in using the Force. Only an individual could bring balance to the Force for himself, allowing outcome of actions to justify its use.
Anakin knew at that point what he had to do.
Harnessing what he could of the raw Force, he made himself gain control of it. Keeping Padmé in his mind's eye, he siphoned the strength of the Force out to the link with the rest of the Jedi. He used it to find the nearest Carida trainees. In a burst of power, he pushed the link on them. Now he could see what they saw, feel what they felt, and…
Influence their actions.
In his mind, Anakin ranked his efforts. On the first, most basic level, he continued to think of Padmé. Love was his source of power, keeping him attuned to Force. From there, he bolstered the Force and strengthened the Jedi connection. Drawing on the rest of the Jedi, he then made contact with the Caridian pilots.
Just then, more enemy fighters spewed from the hangar bays of the strange ship off in the distance. One Jedi in the area was annihilated in seconds.
A stinging jolt went through Anakin. Before his eyes, he saw bright fire. Intense heat consumed every part of his body.
Then nothing.
A strangled wail of pain and anguish escaped his mouth. He did not want to die; he could not die now –
Suddenly he realized that it was the other pilot he felt.
As suddenly as the surge hit him, Anakin found himself back in his own body, his senses his own. Panting heavily, trying to regain his breath, he struggled to regain control over himself. He had to maintain the connection. Keeping the Jedi and the other fighters together was the only way they could win this battle.
He reached out and found some Caridian trainees close to where the Jedi had been killed. He found their minds, and the weakness in them. There he urged them to go after the clones, the ones who just killed the unknown Jedi. Without a moment's hesitation the trainees tailed the clones. In seconds the clones were no more.
Justified, Anakin relaxed in his seat and regained his focus. However his second of peace was interrupted by R4.
"Now what?" he snapped.
R4 warbled in response, sounding apologetic. Halfway through the droid's beeping Anakin knew what it was.
Another enemy pilot was on his tail.
Anakin sent out a call to see if there was a Jedi that could help take care of the clone, but no one responded. Master Stelsus was occupied with his own pair of clones, and almost every other Jedi was attempting to defend the Republic assault cruiser or fend off clones from their own trails.
Gritting his teeth, Anakin pulled his starfighter up in a tight loop. In a second he was behind the enemy fighter. Without thinking, just feeling, he put his finger on the trigger and fired.
The clone erupted in a ball of flame. Just as soon as that one was gone, though, another one found his trail.
Anakin let the Force surge through him. While he established the Jedi link he flew through the battle merely to avoid being destroyed. Master Stelsus, knowing what Anakin was trying to do, kept enemies from blowing his fighter apart. Now though, with the link established, Anakin had to fight again.
Focusing on Padmé, the Jedi, the trainees, and the battle was almost too much for him. He could feel his mind nearing exhaustion in a way like never before. But he forced himself to keep going, the Republic depended on this right now. A small feeling of encouragement and support from Obi-Wan made Anakin smile.
With every part of him centered on the Force, Anakin did not even hear R4 when the droid screamed at him that the clone was shooting proton torpedoes at him.
"Not again…" Anakin muttered. His eyes glazed over, and he sank within himself, so that he saw the battle not as it appeared from his cockpit, but as a whole.
Keeping all three layers of the Force going, he took a small part of power from Padmé and located the two torpedoes bent on blowing him to bits. Through the Force he grabbed hold of them and stopped them in their tracks. With this new layer of concentration, he felt himself strain more, so with as strong a burst he could muster he shot the torpedoes back at the clones.
His eyes shot open and he gasped for breath as he felt the wrongness in the Force dissipate.
Once more he was clear.
Turning towards the Republic assault cruiser, now heading for the other support ship, he locked onto another clone. A few shots from his lasers and the pilot was no more.
Master Stelsus followed Anakin, and together they began to target other clone fighters. Anakin chased after them while the other Jedi Master kept them from firing on Anakin. In the distance, Anakin spotted a cluster of clones. There was no way he and Master Stelsus could take them all together, and the clones were now coming for them – sensing the easy kill.
In a millisecond, navigating the Jedi link became easier for Anakin each moment while maintaining it was not, Anakin found nearby trainees. With a little more strength than he intended, he jerked them away from their current entanglements and urged them to attack the cluster of clones. Five of the trainees joined him and Master Stelsus.
However, the death of another Jedi nearly broke his concentration. By sustaining such a close link with the rest of the Jedi fighting, Anakin now felt their deaths as if it was his own. Sometimes some of them startled him more than others, depending on where his focus was at the moment.
Blind for a moment, Anakin struggled to regain control of himself. He forced his pounding heart to calm down and beat steadily. Dropping some of his personal connection to the other Jedi, he focused on the fresh Republic fighters.
They spread out in a V-formation, ready to take the enemy clones head on. At one time, they began to fire their lasers, making the clones aware of their presence.
Behind them, Anakin and Master Stelsus flew.
The clones turned, racing towards the Republic fighters. Suddenly, Anakin pulled up, intending to go over both the Republic pilots and the clones. Sure enough, he came in behind them and began firing. Within seconds, he took out a couple of the clones. Anakin reached out to find Master Stelsus, and he wasn't there behind him. Anakin panicked then realized that the Master stayed behind the Republic fighters.
What in the blazes didn't he follow me for? Those fighters are going to get eaten alive by these clones, we're outnumbered – blast not another –
Anakin stiffened in his seat as another Jedi dropped out of the link. Bursts of death in the Force were coming so frequently it seemed it was all Anakin could feel in the Force. He struggled to keep the connection, his thoughts on Padmé, and the control over the Republic trainees going.
Deep in his heart, a little well of anger started to build up. Anakin concentrated so hard on everything he was trying to maintain through the Force that he did not realize that this tiny flash of anger began to boost his strength. It helped keep him focused. His mind and body strained beyond anything he ever put them through before, he used any extra source of power he could get.
Ahead of him, the clone fighters began to make shredded nerfmeat with his commandeered Republic fighters.
Irritated with Master Stelsus for not following him, Anakin began to fire aimlessly into the mass of clones. Apparently they decided that the one Jedi was not as much of a threat as the other fighters before them, for they did not turn and fire on him. Trying to counter the clones, Anakin strengthened his hold on the Republic fighters and made them fire all their weapons. Laser fire filled the area and some of the friendly fire came straight for Anakin.
His jaw set, he pulled up to avoid getting hit by his fellow fighters. However, the move forced him to fly over both groups, pulling him away from Master Stelsus.
Maybe this time he'll follow me, Anakin thought bitterly to himself. He spun his craft around, suddenly getting a flash of fear from Stelsus.
Anakin continued to fly high over the group, and saw that now there was only one more Republic fighter and the Jedi Master against the still-large group of clones. He looped around to come in behind them again, hoping to catch a few of them off guard.
The sense of panic from Stelsus increased. Anakin fired all his lasers into the crowd of clones. Stelsus cried out through the Force for Anakin to come help him.
"I'm coming, I'm coming. I'm doing the best I can," Anakin said in frustration.
At that second, Anakin screamed; fear tearing through his mind as pain ripped him apart. His very cells were bursting apart, they were on fire.
Just when he thought he could stand no more –
The pain threatened to split his head apart. Another wail left his throat. Anakin looked out of his cockpit to see a fireball where Master Stelsus should have been. This could not be happening.
He could no longer sense the Force.
All around him, Jedi were being slaughtered. Jedi were better than this – they should be no match for clones. And yet they were losing.
He tried to reach out to Obi-Wan for some comfort, but all his strength was gone. Creating the Jedi link had been too much for him and now he was alone, drifting in a sea of mayhem. Completely void of any sense of the Force, unable to calm himself with it, the anger in Anakin's heart rose.
The Force surged back to him – a clear, cold promise of power. One of the many futures he saw during his called to him.
This was how the Force was to be used.
Without a word to R4 he turned his starfighter around, aiming for the clones that attacked Master Stelsus. They would pay for their actions. All of them would pay for their crimes against the Republic.
Up in the sky above Kashyyyk, Tenner Quantos and Pela Ho'San could make out flashes from space. Here and there starfighters exploded close enough to the planet that they could see the resulting fireballs. Under any other circumstances they might have found the fire bursts mesmerizing.
Tenner shook her head.
She had to focus.
Enemy fighters, flown by the wretched clones, strafed the surface. Every so often one of the pilots would get close enough and almost hit her and Pela. Usually a lightsaber deflected the bolt – sometimes hitting the fighter it came from. Sometimes, instead of the clones, they would be attacked by a Trandoshan, neighbors and enemies to the Wookiees.
They were still making their way through the treetops, looking for something that might serve them as transport off the planet. Connected to the network of Jedi that Anakin Skywalker created, they knew Masters Kenobi and Windu were aware they were still on the planet. All they needed were instructions on where to go once they reached a transport.
Laser blasts from a clone fighter made the two Jedi dive for cover. They darted inside one of the Wookiee huts, covering their heads with their arms as they hit the floor. Outside, they heard three fighters go screaming past. Pela thought about getting out her lightsaber but realized it would do no good from inside the hut. In a matter of seconds the clones were gone.
For the moment.
As she stood up, Tenner shook her head to clear away dust. Her lekku twitched in mild agitation. She reached out through the Force, trying to ignore the chaos going through her mind from the space battle, and seached for a Wookiee pilot. If she were to find one, then that would lead her to a ship. Tenner knew that the only chance she and Pela had was to get off planet: there was nothing they could do down here to save Kashyyyk. The fate of the planet rested in the result of the space battle.
Sensing what her best friend was doing, Pela joined the search. A few trees over, she found a Wookiee that might be able to help them. She was just about to send Tenner the idea of the location when something suddenly dropped out of her.
No.
Dropped out of the Force.
Pela and Tenner eyed each other instantly. Both of them felt it – the Jedi link was gone.
"Over there," Pela said, her voice ragged. She pointed in the direction she meant.
Tenner nodded, and without a word headed in the direction of Pela's finger.
Within a few minutes, they reached the hut where the Wookiee pilot resided, but not after having dodged a few more blasts from clone fighters. As they struggled understand the growls and grunts of the Wookiee they heard the top of a tree snap and fall down through the forest. Eventually they managed to hammer out an agreement to use the Wookiee's ship. Pela felt guilty for having to leave, it seemed to her as if she were abandoning the Wookiees. Yet she understood more the need for her and Tenner to get off the planet.
"Cut all unnecessary systems! Boost all available power to shields!" Captain Tarkin screamed in panic at his crew. The swarms of fighters coming towards his ship scared him.
There seemed to be no end to them.
Behind him, Obi-Wan felt like admonishing the commander to calm down, but knew the words would have no effect. Tarkin was one of those people on which Jedi wisdom just did not work.
"Fire at will! Fire at will! Do I have to make myself any more clear?" Tarkin continued to yell. Finally, his demands were met as the assault cruiser's smaller laser cannons came to life. "Keep firing the turbolasers at that support ship. We have to take it out, or we'll be spacejunk!"
"But sir–" one of his crew members began to protest.
"DO NOT DISOBEY MY ORDERS!" The tendons in Tarkin's neck stood out, and a vein popped out on his forehead.
The man said nothing more in response.
"Sir, we're starting to loose weapons control. They've taken out two of our laser cannons," another man reported.
Tarkin took a deep breath before replying.
"Do you Jedi have an idea how to get us out of this mess?" he snapped to Mace and Obi-Wan.
The two Jedi decided to overlook the small breach of etiquette, and Mace spoke calmly, "The battle is not over yet. Keep on firing on the support ship as you said. Our fighters will come to defend us at any second….there they are."
Just as Mace promised, a couple squads of the remaining Jedi and Republic fighters began to engage the clones in the new arena. The Jedi pilots flew far from the ship in attempt to draw the enemy away so that the Nova could continue to fire at the Separatists.
Obi-Wan sank back into the Force, feeling his way out on the Jedi network. For quite some time now they all were coordinated, reacting off the information they all sent through the Force. Obi-Wan had never heard of any such thing taking place in a battle before – it was as if the Jedi were all connected by a hive mind.
As he searched through the link of all the Jedi, Obi-Wan noticed that somehow, the idea of it was beyond him, Anakin had the Republic forces in the network. They were reacting slower than the rest of the Jedi, but were definitely receiving something through the Force.
Focusing on Anakin, he could feel the boy starting to bend under the intense amount of pressure it took to maintain the connection. He tried to send Anakin a message of calm and support, but for some reason could not reach him.
He must be too deep in concentration or something. Odd.
Obi-Wan pushed harder towards Anakin.
And, in a shock through the Force that almost knocked the breath out of Obi-Wan, the Force connection disappeared.
He coughed a couple times and tried to get his breath back. Mace looked at him, surprise on his face.
So he felt it too.
Instantly Obi-Wan tried to find Anakin through the Force. There was no trace of his former Padawan.
Oh sithspawn, no…he can't have…Obi-Wan thought in panic. No…
Just as Obi-Wan was about to ask one of Tarkin's crew if Anakin's starfighter was intact he got another jolt from the Force. This time it was pure, unadulterated anger. Hatred seethed through Obi-Wan, amplified by fear. It hit him so hard he felt as though he'd been run over by the assault cruiser he was on.
"ANAKIN!" Obi-Wan screamed on instinct, unaware of his surroundings. Mace looked at him sharply, his face growing concerned. Obi-Wan did not know how to explain what he felt. He only knew something just went hideously wrong with Anakin.
General Hill watched as his fighters descended on the Republic assault ships. He knew that if he could feel the Force, he would be sensing the fear and panic coming from the Republic right now. The thought made him smile. Today was going rather well; despite a few rough starts the end would be very nice indeed. Before him a hologram of the officer leading the attack on Kashyyyk flickered.
"Major, make sure the clones focus all their power on taking out the weapons of those assault ships. We don't want them to disable another one."
Hill paused.
"Also, fire your ion cannon at them."
"Yes sir." The major's hologram flickered out of existence.
Hill turned his attention to the other hologram in the center of the room, displaying the progress of the battle.
The main battle between the starfighters moved from above Kashyyyk to between the two large opposing ships. Glancing down at the display, he noticed that his many blue dots far outnumbered the red Republic dots. He smiled again. Hill glanced around the bridge, tapping his foot. It might be just about time for another surprise.
Hailing Nute Gunray, his voice crackled with anticipation, "Viceroy, please contact the Trandoshans. It is now time for them to enter the battle."
Obi-Wan paced the bridge of the Nova. Thousands of thoughts ran around his brain, threatening to make him go crazy. He pulled all he could from the Force but his mind would not be calmed.
Anakin.
Darkness.
Every single implication of what losing the battle might mean went through Obi-Wan's head. But backburner to that was what had happened to Anakin. He forced himself not to dwell on the question. Even still, he was greatly worried. He knew Anakin was not dead, but something serious had taken over the boy.
Obi-Wan sighed and forced his attention back to the battle before him.
Just then a flood of urgent activity hit him through the Force. He turned to Mace, who looked at him with his eyebrows raised.
"Did you feel that?" Obi-Wan asked, feeling stupid as soon as the words left his mouth. It was obvious Mace felt it too.
Mace nodded, not using words to reply. The other Master sank into the Force. He spoke in a minute.
"Trandoshans. They're coming straight for us. I don't know how many–"
"BRACE FOR ION BLAST!" one of the crew screamed from below on the bridge, cutting Mace off. "Ion blast coming in!"
"Blazes," Obi-Wan muttered. This just kept getting better and better by the second. He summoned the Force to keep him steady and next to him he could feel Mace doing the same.
In a burst of energy, the ion blast hit the ship dead on. Electrical hisses and pops emitted from every part of the ship. From one corner of the bridge, someone screamed. Under other circumstances Obi-Wan would have used the Force to calm the person, but there was no time for that now.
Just as soon as he had his bearings back another ion shot hit them.
"Sithspawn," Obi-Wan exclaimed under his breath.
Mace heard Obi-Wan curse again, but overlooked it. He himself was dangerously close to cursing – or worse.
"Captain, what is our situation?" Mace called out.
"We have no weapons, we have no navigation. All our electrical systems are incapacitated. We're sitting womp rats," Tarkin answered with a slight hint of terror in his voice. He was visibly trying to control his emotions.
"There are more fighters coming for us," Mace informed matter-of-factly.
Tarkin stared at him, his jaw dropping. "How can that be…there's no sign…"
"Sir! Look!" Another member of the crew stood and pointed out the transparisteel.
Sure enough, hundreds of tiny little ships were coming from the neighboring planet. Obi-Wan knew that the Trandoshans and the Wookiees had no great love for each other. More than one Jedi had gone on mission to the two systems to resolve disputes. It made sense for the Separatists to buy out the Trandoshans on the promise of defeating the Wookiees.
Mace and Obi-Wan stared at each other. They both knew what the other was thinking, but was unsure of how to put it into words. They both knew there was no way they could fight off this new threat.
Heavily, Mace sighed and turned to Tarkin. "Captain Tarkin, get us out of here as fast as you can. There is no way we can win this battle now."
His voice echoed hollowly throughout the bridge. There was no need for Tarkin to repeat the order. Everyone on the bridge heard it. They all stared at the dark Jedi Master.
He was their savior. He was a Jedi.
He should be able to do anything, win anything, no matter the odds.
Standing behind Mace, Obi-Wan turned away from the scene, his emotions threatening to overcome him. Already on the ground of Kashyyyk, he could feel the fright of the Wookiees that were beginning to face the Separatist forces. During the whole battle, the surface of the planet had been under siege, taking hits from enemy fighters. Reaching out to the Force, Obi-Wan tried to find some solace to the battle.
There was none to be had.
The Jedi had failed. It was that simple. The people of the Republic would no longer trust them – and that trust was already waning.
Amidst all the confusion of the battle, Obi-Wan could find only one explanation: there was someone inside the Republic, close to those high in power, that knew what they intended to do in terms of this defense. Obi-Wan watched as Tarkin's men prepared to retreat, and he vowed to bring down the person betraying the Republic: no matter the cost.
"Captain, relay a message as soon as possible to all Republic fighters to come straight back to their docking bays. Those that have temporary hyperdrive abilities must jump to a rendezvous point. We must get out of here as fast as we can. Get our communications and navigation systems online as soon as possible."
Tarkin nodded in agreement. Part of him wanted to argue with the Jedi, just to prove them wrong, that they could stay and fight this battle. Kashyyyk was not entirely lost.
But the other half of him, the rational half, knew that the Jedi were right. They had no chance of staving off these fresh troops, and simple starfighters might not be all the Trandoshans were prepared to launch.
He looked out over his bridge, his crew already moving to fulfill the Jedi's orders. Taking a heavy sigh, Tarkin knew this day would change the Republic forever. However, he knew that while the Jedi might not be able to save it, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine would.