I took whatever technical terms that I could find in Star Wars to make this more authentic, the rest is pure Xtine. I love Obi-Wan. He kicks ass. He should have sung occasionally, not because it fits his personna, but because Ewan McGregor has such a gorgeous voice...melts into seat
Chiaroscuro
Chapter 1: One Jedi, Two Bodies.
"…the three beats of war, peace, and revolution continue on forever."
Mariemaea Khushrenada, Gundam Wing
There is no physical sign of battle above the cool and sleeping planet of Veenat III; there is no need for it as yet. The Separatist battleship that hovers in silent, omnipotent menace says more than enough. Actions, in this case, speak far louder than words.
Actions which rose like a shout to slam against the distant, Republic-oriented city planet of Coruscant - a shouted plea for help that echoed through the traffic-filled streets, slanting across windowed skyscrapers, and grounding itself in the Council Chambers of the Jedi Temple. Whispered in debate, sliding through conversations and decisions.
Only to be sent back out, across the galaxies….
"Remind me again why we're out here, Master? I thought we had already pacified all the planets on the Outer Rim…"
Obi-Wan sighed, glancing out the transparent hood of his starfighter to see the figure of his Padawan - former Padawan, he corrected himself hurriedly - Anakin Skywalker. As usual, the boy - man, he was hardly a child anymore at 22, after all - was trying to hide his frustration under the thin veneer of what the young Jedi jokingly called his "Kenobi face"; that is to say, pretending to be everything his master constantly lectured him about becoming.
Only this time, the master was as frustrated as his apprentice.
Not that he'd ever admit that.
"The Council wouldn't have sent us here if it weren't for some legitimate reason, Anakin," he replied with the vague exasperation of one who has said the same thing many times over, and knows better than to hope it will be heeded. "Besides, you're being ridiculous. We certainly haven't been to all the planets on the Outer Rim; I don't think the combined members of the entire Order have visited all these planets."
"Sure feels that way to me," was the rebellious muttered reply.
"I seem to remember your telling me that you wanted to be the first to visit every star system in the galaxy?"
"I meant all the interesting ones, Master. This place does not qualify."
Obi-Wan sighed, and sighed deeply. Ordinarily he would have reprimanded Anakin sharply on their duties as Jedi to the galaxy's star systems – even those on the Outer Rim. He would have reminded him that a planet's relative interest was of no consequence to the Jedi Council if their help had been requested, and that it certainly wasn't something that the ones sent to give aid to those in need should consider. Ordinarily, he would have felt justified in giving that lecture to his headstrong junior partner. Today, he just couldn't seem to summon the energy for it. For once he agreed fully with his apprentice. It had been far too long since either one of them had been home….
Closing his mind to that selfish thought, Obi-Wan exhaled slowly, draining his mind of any emotion or conscious contemplation, focusing all of his being instead on the Force; reaching out to it, letting it wash over him, through him, following the threads….
"Master?" Anakin sounded concerned.
That in itself was unusual enough to break Obi-Wan's concentration. His eyes snapped open of their own accord, the deeper connection to the Force rupturing like an overloaded power coupling. The slightest hint of a frown marred his otherwise serene features. Yes, there had been a flicker in the Force, a cry of distress, a plea…
Of course; that was what they were there for. A whisper in the Force had reached the ears of the Council on Coruscant, a fuzzy, interrupted hologram message. An entreaty for help, for release from the Separatist forces who were attacking the being's planet. Obi-Wan had almost felt the echo, the presence of the captive he was supposed to rescue.
But whether it had come from the planet or the ship was impossible to say. Too much darkness was blurring the clarity of his perceptions, like mud stirred up in the Temple pool, where he used to meditate….
"Master. Obi-Wan!"
That was a surprise, Anakin never called him by his first name, though he had more than earned the right many times over. However….
"Oh dear."
They had been spotted. What had been a peaceful horizon line, an unobstructed view of the planet, was now a shifting, seething sea of incoming tri-fighters.
"And you're always nagging me about not being conscious of my surroundings."
"Focus on the present moment young one," Obi-Wan warned, but couldn't help adding "And I do not nag."
"Whatever you say, Master."
There was a slightly placating tone to that otherwise respectful reply that made Obi-Wan smother a smile (as well as a growled retort), before slamming the thrusters of his starfighter to twist into a steep dive. Beside him, Anakin did the same, without exchanging a word, without consultation, without a second of hesitation. Thirteen years together had trained them to feel each other's movements, to become one Jedi in two bodies.
The perfect Master-Padawan team.
'Perfect team,' Obi-Wan stressed in his mind ruefully, sliding the fighter nimbly through the sudden pulsing web of antifighter flak that exploded around him. Somehow, it was hard for him to accept that the young boy he and Qui-Gon had found on Tatooine was no longer nine….
Whistles and beeps from the astrodroid mounted on his wing alerted Obi-Wan to the three fighters that had moved into pursuit of his starfighter. Anakin was having no trouble outpacing their pursuers; his Delta-7 air speeder was eons more advanced than Obi-Wan's older Delta-6.
The thought made the Jedi Master scowl. An older craft for an older Jedi…but he was not quite so outdated as his starfighter. He was, after all, still more than a match for the brainless circuitry of battle droids.
At least, he hoped so.
Twisting sharply right, Obi-Wan wrenched the craft in a tight circle, cutting behind the fist droid ship on his tail to blast across the nose of the second, all cannons firing as he did so.
The droid fighter erupted into a ball of flame, consuming the other fighter directly behind it, and sending Obi-Wan's ship careening out of control. He fought angrily with the stabilizers, yanking the ship out of the trajectory of the particle beams of the first fighter behind him.
"Arfour!" he yelled angrily over the comlink to the blasted astromech. "Need I remind you that stability is your job?"
There was only a whistled response that, to the Jedi Master, sounded oddly insubordinate. It was only to be expected, R4-P17 had had no other droid company for the past six months other than Anakin's eccentrically anthropomorphic droid.
Damn. In the heat of the conflict, he had lost sight of Anakin. Who knew what trouble the younger Jedi would get up to without his Master's watchful eye to supervise him? Reaching out with the Force, he tried to locate the other Jedi Knight.
He met a veritable storm of wild exultation, brilliant and searing in his mind's eye.
Of course he would be enjoying himself, Anakin loved to fly.
Diving through another stream of enemy fire, he screamed by a blast from the thermo plasma cannons of the larger fighters that were entering the scene. The shockwave spun him aside, throwing him roughly forward against the restraining harness, then back with equal force against his seat.
He hated flying. Hated it.
"Don't be such an old geezer, Master," said Anakin cheerfully over the comlink.
"I'm sorry; did I say that out loud?"
"No, but you don't need to. You're always thinking one of three things, Master: 'Focus on the moment', 'Your weapon is your life, Anakin', and 'Sweet moons of Alderaan, but I despise flying!'"
Obi-Wan allowed himself a moment to laugh, relaxing even as the battle around them intensified. It was always like this with Anakin. One moment, the world was careening out of control, but then, suddenly, came a sense of perfect harmony, of balance with the Force, with the universe.
No wonder they called him the 'Chosen One.'
"Anakin, this is serious. We are supposed to be rescuing a member of the Veenatian government. I can't determine whether he or she is on the planet or on that battle cruiser. One of us needs to get down to the planet and investigate, while the other one tackles…that."
That was a massive star ship, moving slowly and sedately towards the battle, with all the patience of a predator who knows that it has no need to hurry; that it's only a matter of time before its prey is languishing in its jaws.
"Let me guess which one you want." Anakin teased.
Obi-Wan hid a grin. "I got the tough job last time, remember?"
"My recollections differ somewhat on that point, Master."
"Well, if you think it's too much for you to handle…?" He left the question hanging, knowing full well that Anakin could never resist a challenge.
Together, their fighters moved in perfectly in tandem, mirror images of each other as they cut across the paths of enemy droid fighters, letting the Force guide them through the deadly maze and letting the astromechs lock on and eliminate targets. Weaving in and out of each other's paths, their fighters came so close together that a drop of rain wouldn't have made it between the opposing sheets of durasteel; it was a dance, executed against the chiaroscuro backdrop of bottomless space and brilliant laser blasts, beautifully orchestrated without a single iota of forethought, of planning.
Planning was something the two Jedi rarely needed to do anymore, they had fought so long together side by side that they thought in tandem, never needing to speak. Not all the changes the Clone Wars had wrought in them were bad.
"As much fun as this is, Master, I should probably get my end of the job done…."
Anticipation of each other's movements, for example.
"Anakin! Don't even think about -"
Too late. The younger Jedi had already whirled his fighter into an impossible spiral, peeling out of their perfectly coordinated routine, and shooting directly towards the lumbering battle cruiser to speed alongside the massive, machinery-pitted surface. Every droid ship in the vicinity, along with the cruiser's colossal gunports, instantly tracked his flight course. Obi-Wan knew the programmed algorithms in the droids main circuit boards were already calculating the arc of Anakin's flight path - and the best place at which to terminate it.
Lines of explosions followed the path of Anakin's starfighter, allowing Obi-Wan to trace his friend's trajectory even while dodging the flares and detonations that dogged his own path.
He knew the younger man too well, knew what he was planning on doing, even as he fervently hoped that he was wrong.
"Anakin, don't be reckless…."
Too late.
His former Padawan rocketed up above the immense surface of the Separatist cruiser, arched in a deceptively slow, graceful manoeuvre, and dove straight for the durasteel surface.
Obi-Wan felt his heart jump into his throat watching that dive, moving at impossible speeds towards being nothing more than a charred patch on the silvery surface of a Separatist ship.
"Pull up, Anakin, pull up," he whispered.
The ship continued to dive.
R4 beeped and glanked excitedly, Obi-Wan slammed the reverse thrusters of his own fighter, firing on another set of attack ships. They exploded behind him; he was already pushing his ship as fast as it could go, towards the massive cruiser, feeling like a gnat facing down a wild bantha.
"Anakin…." There was something gathering in the Force, something…
There!
The small fighter pulled out of the suicide dive, twisting in a victory roll as it climbed, leaving the droid ships that had pursued him to crash and burn against the colossal hull.
…something dark….
Anakin twisted his small fighter to twine in and out of the massive protrusions from the hull, turning sideways to rocket through a small opening, and flow upwards, away….
A crack from one of the mighty laser cannons.
Obi-Wan threw his ship forward, because Anakin hadn't seen the blast, wouldn't see the blast, concentrating as he was on running the veritable obstacle course of tri-fighters above him.
"Faster, move faster." He flew swiftly downwards to intercept the missile.
The beam connected. His head slammed against the side of the cockpit. Blackness erupted in font of his eyes, the controls jerked roughly out of his hands.
"Arfour…" he gasped, knowing that there was nothing the droid would be able to do in time. An explosion rocked the tiny craft once again; smoke pouring from one engine, twisting the fighter away from the battle, to be snared by Veenat-III's gravity field. Another blast, from a pursuing fighter, and his head smacked the canopy again. Dizzy, he tried to reach out to his friend and apprentice.
He felt the sudden bust of pain in the Force, despair, disbelief, the unimaginable hurt mixed with guilt.
Anakin.
It quested towards him, sensing, hoping.
Do your duty, Anakin. Rescue…on the ship…the Council….
The ship plunged downwards, through the thick cloud layer, mist wrapping around the canopy like a funeral shroud.
Then there was no longer any conscious thought.
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Dramatic music What will happen next? Well, I promised a longer fic, so obviously the guy can't die... oh. Was that a plot spoiler! Next chapter will be up as soon as I finish writing it, although lots of reviews generally help to speed that process along.
I NEED HELP! (er... didn't mean it quite like that) You'll notice that the beginning of every chapter (well, the one I've written so far) has a quotation. PLease send me your favourite meaningful quotes - sarcastic quips and lines, while funny, aren't really what I"m gonig for. - so I can use them! I'll be forever greatful!
waves hand through air in Jedi mind technique you will leave a nice review for Xtine.
