Whoa! Long time no see! I'm truly sorry for the delay, but this chapter was unbelievably tedious to write. For that exact reason, I'm sorry for any OOC moments concerning Vaessa. Like I said, it's been a while since I last wrote this story and several bits were written at different points in time. Anyway, I hope it will be enjoyable none the less because this story is far from over. In total, Dawn of Darkness alone will probably end up with more than a hundred chapters and that's not even talking about the sequels! (Also, do you like the new cover? I thought it looked cool:)
Friends and Enemies
Obi-Wan Kenobi and Vaessa Orin in disguise!
Working undercover as assassins Rako Hardeen and Saraia Cedrix,
Obi-Wan and Vaessa lead a secret mission to uncover the Separatist plot against Chancellor Palpatine.
Using cunning and courage,
they gain the trust of bounty hunter Cad Bane and criminal mastermind Moralo Eval,
earning him entrance to the stronghold of Separatist leader Count Dooku.
Now it is here, on the beautiful planet of Sorenno,
that a barbaric contest will determine the fate of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Vaessa Orin and, possibly, the Republic itself.
"You're coming in too fast, Hardeen," Bane snarled as we hurtled towards the planet. "Are you trying to kill us?"
"That's debatable," I muttered, but not loud enough for him to hear me.
"They'll be waiting for us in every space port," Obi-Wan replied. "We have to ditch the ship."
"You mean you're going to intentionally crash us into the swamp?"
"Yeah, that is exactly what I'm gonna do," Obi-Wan said.
"He's right," Eval said. "We have no choice."
"I second that," I said.
"Get ready for a fast exit," Obi-Wan said. We crashed into the planet in a pile of smelly, broken ship.
We clambered out on top of the wreckage. "Nobody can trace us here," Obi-Wan said. "The swamp will swallow up the ship."
"So we leave no trace of our crash," Eval realized. "Moralo Eval likes a man who plans ahead."
We got off the ship. "You do have a plan?" Eval asked.
"Of course he does," I said. I turned to Obi-Wan. "Right?"
"Yeah, I know Nal Hutta," Obi-Wan said. "We can get a new ship at Bilbousa Bazaar. But this time, we'll buy one."
"I agree," I said. "I don't like stealing."
"Aren't you a criminal?" Bane asked.
"Of course I am," I said, avoiding his eyes. "It's makes you easy to track, that's all."
"She's right," Obi-Wan said, walking away. "We'd have the authorities back on our tail immediately."
"Not so fast," Bane snarled, running after him. "We need to ditch these prison fatigues. We'll have a bounty on our heads for escaping. And I don't like to stand out."
"Me neither," I said.
"You've made that clear," Bane said.
...
We approached a large town, passing local security beating up a group of criminals.
"That's local security," Eval whispered.
"I think we noticed," I said, my voice even higher than usual.
We kept our heads down. "Keeping moving," Eval muttered.
We came up to a shop titled 'Pablo's'. "We'll get some new gear and equipment," Eval said. "Pablo's pawn shop has everything a bounty hunter needs and more." He opened the door and we walked inside.
"Now all I need's a new hat," Bane said, picking up one.
"Are you sure?" I hissed. "I don't wanna get caught."
"Cold feet, Cedrix?" he asked. I bowed my head.
"She's right," Obi-Wan said. "For trying to blend in, your hat sure makes you stand out."
"I don't like to hide under a helmet," Bane said.
Is there anything else you desire, huh?" a small rodian - probably Pablo asked. "A new ship?"
"Your choice of weapons is lousy, Pablo," Bane snarled. I almost felt sorry for the rodian. If he wasn't a sneaky backwater black market merchant. "Where can I get some quality blasters?"
"I wouldn't be too picky, being on the run like you obviously are," Pablo said slyly.
Bane pinned him against the wall, deathstick at his chin. "I'd keep my mouth shut if I were you, Pablo." A twi-lek - probably Pablo's wife - rushed to his side.
Bane turned back to us. "We'll get our weapons elsewhere. Thanks for the hat."
He and Eval left. "We should pay them," I told Obi-Wan.
He nodded, flipping a coin at Pablo's wife. "For your trouble."
We left the shop. "That trader's heard worse threats than yours, Bane," Obi-Wan warned. "Probably calling the Hutts right now, seeing what kind of bounty there is on us."
Eval shook his head worriedly at a trio of guards, but Bane put a calming hand on his shoulder. "Relax. In this slime pool, everybody's an outlaw. Besides, they'll be looking for four of us, so we're splitting up." He turned to me and Obi-Wan. "You two find a ship. We'll get weapons."
He and Eval moved to leave, but Obi-Wan stopped him. "Not so fast. If it's all the same to you, we'll get the weapons."
"Yeah," I agreed. "We know quite a lot about this sort of stuff."
"Yeah, well it's not the same to me," Bane snarled. "Hardeen crashed the ship. You two get us a new one." He walked away.
Eval came over. "It does seem fair," he admitted, before running to catch up with Bane.
"You know they'll throw us in as soon us we give them their ship, right?" I asked.
"I wouldn't worry," Obi-Wan said. "I mean, they trust us."
"Bane doesn't," I grumbled.
"Maybe not," Obi-Wan said. "But Eval does. And he's the one that matters."
...
"No," the ship vendor was saying. "That's my final offer."
We ignored him. He went off muttering to himself in some foreign language as Obi-Wan planted a tracker on the ship's underside. "I thought that we shouldn't worry?"
"One can never be too cautious," Obi-Wan said.
The vendor came back over. "All right, then. It's a deal."
Bane and Eval came over. "Oh, good timing," Obi-Wan said. "As soon as you pay for the ship, we can get moving."
"With pleasure," Eval smirked.
I noticed something about Bane's luggage. "Where's our weapons?" I asked.
"Won't need them," Bane said. "You two aren't coming."
Me and Obi-Wan exchanged a worried look. "Says who?" Obi-Wan asked.
"He doesn't want to split his fee for breaking me out of prison," Eval said. "And also, he despises you."
"All I know is, we're not going anywhere without our reward," Obi-Wan snarled.
"I'm suree we can settle this without violence," I said quickly, eyeing Bane's rifle. Obi-Wan may have the force on his side, but he's not going to fare well with no weapons against a trained bounty hunter with a blaster.
"That's not the bounty hunter way," Bane growled.
I looked at Eval pointedly. "I'm sorry. This is between you three," he said, bowing off.
I cursed silently. I didn't know what I was expecting from a common bounty hunter, but it would be easier to disfuse a situation with more than one trying.
"What's it gonna be, Bane?" Obi-Wan hissed.
I looked spotted something and paled. "Oh no," I whispered.
The couple from the weapons shop were walking towards us with a group of hutt guards, the twi-lek woman's arm around her husband protectively. She spotted us and pointed.
My shock must have registered with the other two, because they looked over with similar expressions of fear.
"Here's your reward: I'm not killing you," Bane snarled, spraying us with some sort of gas. The last thing I remembered was him pushing us off the sidewalk and leaving us for dead.
The next thing I knew, I was in a grungy room that looked just off the streets of Nal Hutta. Upside down.
"Good to see you're up," Obi-Wan grumbled from my left.
"Why does this always happen to us?" I hissed.
"Part of the job," Obi-Wan answered grumpily.
A group of Hutt guards came into view, along with a shriveled-looking sentient with a force presence I could only describe as arrogant.
"Where are we?" Obi-Wan asked.
"You two are guests of the Hutts," he - she - the sentient answered.
"The hutts?" I repeated, my jedi instincts kicking in. "What do they want with us?"
Obi-Wan jabbed me through our force bond just as I fiured it out myself. Common criminals. Of course hutts would want us. And I call myself smart.
"You are here to answer questions about your two partners," he hissed. "If you do not comply..." he jabbed us both with his electronic staff, making us both grunt in pain.
"We will not be so hospitable," he said, laughing cruelly before jabbing us again.
"You call this "hospitable"?" Obi-Wan grumbled.
My mind was thinking fast. Stall. Stall. Stall. "Wait! I yelled.
"What?" he snarled.
"You don't have to torture us," I said. I didn't wanna risk our undercover mission, but hey, if it was with a mission and dead or without a mission and alive, I'd take without a mission and alive any day.
"Oh?" he sounded like he was mocking me now. "And why is that?"
"The others abandoned us, but we remembered to put a tracker on their ship," I explained.
"R-right!" Obi-Wan said quickly. "Let us down and we'll tell you the frequency."
After scanning us for a second, he pressed a button on his control panel and we dropped to the floor.
"Now tell us the tracking frequency," he snarled.
"02-78-911," Obi-Wan said, watching as he typed the numbers in. Sure enough, after a few minutes the machine was beeping.
"Their ship will crash soon on Nal Hutta," he said into the mic. "Be there to capture the fugitives."
"You found the ship like we said," Obi-Wan pointed out. "The deal was, you'll let us go now."
As soon as the thing turned around, I could tell something was off. "The deal has changed," he chuckled.
"We're not just gonna take this sitting down, are we?" I muttered.
"Not a chance," Obi-Wan said.
In a few seconds, all the guards plus the leader guy were unconsious. I nealt by Obi-Wan's com, eager to hear what the council had to say.
"This is Ben and Pheonix," Obi-Wan said. "I apologize for being out of communication, but the situation was rather tenuous. Although, it now appears things may be on track soon. Here is what I need. Have the bounty hunters removed. If we can win over Cad Bane, I can learn more about Eval's plot. But there can be no more complications. So no matter what reports you hear, do not contact us or send help. Oh, and one more thing. We shall need enough credits to buy a new ship."
...
We walked towards a salon, spotting a very recognizable hat. "There they are," Obi-Wan said tiredly, sauntering up to the entrance.
"Ah, back so soon?" Obi-Wan sneered. "Let me guess; you missed me."
Bane seized him by his collar and pulled him close. "Watch it!" he snarled. "Kill me and you won't get off Nal Hutta."
"Let's not kill each other," I said, anxious to where this could go. It's not that I didn't think Obi-Wan could take Bane in a fight, exactly, but more I was nervous about my master doing something he might regret. Killing a man without honor is something very hard to come back from.
"She's right," Eval said. "Moralo Eval is running out of time and patience. Let the man talk."
Bane looked from him to me before grudgingly releasing my master. "Look, we've got a ship," Obi-Wan wheezed. "You've got the Hutts on your tail, so you make us your partners in everything."
"It's a win-win," I added anxiously.
"Your deal is accepted," Eval said. I breathed out a sigh of relief, but then...
"No," Bane growled. "First, I want to know where you two got the credits to buy a ship."
"You thought you left us for dead," Obi-Wan said sleekly. "But the Hutts owed us a favor."
"So you had them shoot us down?" Bane demanded.
"You would've done the same thing, Bane," Obi-Wan pointed out.
"Besides, you turned us in," I reminded him. "We were just returning the favour. That makes us even. You care about that, right?"
"It's important," he snapped.
"Okay," I said. "We're allies now, right?"
Bane gave my master a hard stare. "For now," he growled.
"Now that we're all friends, get me off this festering stink-hole," Eval groaned.
"Wait, who's going to pay for this mess?" The sentient in charge asked. I threw him a credit, putting a finger to my lips in a shushing motion. He nodded in thanks.
We made our way to the ship. "So about your fee from Eval: A 50/50 split sounds fair to me," Obi-Wan said.
"Over my dead corpse," Bane snarled.
"Don't tempt me," Obi-Wan sneered. I gave him a look.
We ended up running out of fuel just in time to land at a downtown swamp, ran by a sentient who looked suspiciously like the one who sold us the ship.
"Here, take it," Eval snarled, handing him a few credits. "I just want to get out of here. We're being swindled. Who sells a ship with only enough fuel to get to this lousy rock?"
"The way I see it, you keep paying off everybody but me," Bane pointed out glumly.
"Yeah, why is that?" Obi-Wan teased.
"Please stop making fun of him," I hissed as Bane went out of earshot.
"That's what bounty hunters do," Obi-Wan pointed out.
"It's like tempting fate," I said. "If he finds out we're not -"
"What are you two whispering about?"
"Nothing!" We said in unison.
After only a few seconds in the ship, the ship suddenly shook. It felt like something big was hitting us. After a second bump, another ship appeared... this one looking alot like it's from the Galactic Republic.
"Now what?" Eval grumbled.
"Jedi," Bane realized. He was right, of course - the manouvering and speed could only be up to a jedi, and a good one at that - but no way in hell was I gonna tell him that.
"Are you sure?" I said hurriedly. "It could be another bounty hunter, or a freighter driver - it could even be the hutts back!"
"I know a jedi when I see one," Bane snarled.
The ship shook as the other one grinded against us, hurtling the ship to the ground. A figure landed on our ship, one that looked a lot like...
"Anakin," I muttered to Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan's eyes widened for a fracture of a second as he saw it too. "I'll take care of him," he said grimly, but Bane grabbed his shoulder.
"No, it's my turn to kill a Jedi," Bane said, and ran out onto the deck of the ship.
"This isn't gonna end well," I whispered to Obi-Wan.
"No," he said gravely. "No it is not."
The ship banged against us a second time. Ahsoka. "Cover for me," I hissed to Obi-Wan.
"What are you gonna do?" he asked.
"Subdue that ship," I said, running out.
"What are you doing here?" Bane demanded, watching me run over to the other ship.
Oh, kriff.
I could sense Anakin's cry of anger before I could hear it. I jumped up to hit the ship just in time to avoid the slash of blue light coming my way. I climbed up into the access point, jumping down to see Ahsoka sitting at the control point.
I could see the fury in her eyes as she turned around. For a second I felt a stab of guilt, but brushed it off immediately. I had no reason to be guilty... right?
"You," she hissed, reaching for her lightsabers. They spun into her hands, getting ready in a fighting stance.
"I promise, it's not what you think," I said, dodging the first swing of her saber.
"Oh, really?" Ahsoka snarled, taking another shot at me. "And what do I think?"
"If you would just give me a chance to explain -" she got me pinned to the control panel by her lightsabers, leaning over me in a way that - if it was anyone else - I would have been frightened out of my mind.
"You killed my master's master, my uncle, and worst of all, you killed Vaessa. My best friend. And still, you ask me to let you EXPLAIN?"
Her lightsabers were barely out of burning range of my neck. I was getting short of breath, but I had just enough to say -
"S-Soka."
Ahsoka's eyes widened in shock, but just as she realized what was happening, the ship suddenly lurched downwards.
"Obi-Wan," I realized. He knew neither of us would get injured, but he would have to make it seem like he wanted Ahsoka dead to keep the other on his side. Kind of clever, if you ask me.
"Oh, so he's alive too?!" Ahsoka snarled.
We landed in a holed out sewer, both at opposite ends of the cargo. Ahsoka was closer to her lightsabers. She grabbed them, running towards me. I attempted to get out of the way, but it was too late. She was too fast, and I was disoriented by the crash. I covered my face in order to protect myself from the worst of it...
The two lightsabers clanged down at my feet. I looked up to see Ahsoka glaring at me. "Explain."
I scrambled to my feet. "Eval has a plot," I said. "A plot concerning the Chancellor. Me and Obi-Wan were dispatched to find out more. So we faked our own deaths and got aboard his team under our 'murderers' names."
Ahsoka looked at me. "Why didn't you tell us all this before?"
"We-we couldn't," I said.
"Couldn't?" Ahsoka said testily. "Or wouldn't?"
"If you two had been in the know, no-one would have believed we were dead," I said. "It would be too obvious. But if you truly believed we were dead, you could act like we really were."
"That still doesn't excuse it."
"I know it doesn't," I said. "But come on, Ahsoka. The mission always comes first, remember?"
Ahsoka narrowed her eyes. "I guess that checks out," she conceded. "There's still one thing I don't get, though. Why didn't the chancellor know about this?"
"He did," I said. "At least, from my understanding, the council told him they had a plan. He wasn't allowed to meddle."
"Then why did he send Anakin out to find you two?" Ahsoka asked.
"He did that?" I asked. But just then, an angry cry echoed through the mist.
"Anakin," we said in unison.
We made our way up to the other ship. I stole one of Ahsoka's lightsabers, rounding on her with the blade drawn. "What the -"
"Just go with it," I hissed. She parried and dodged, just like Anakin taught her.
Speak of the devil, he and Obi-Wan were still duelling fiercely, but soon enough Anakin had Obi-Wan at his mercy. My heart dropped - if Anakin killed Obi-Wan, I don't think me, the council or even Anakin himself would ever be able to forgive him - but then, all of a sudden, he fainted.
Ahsoka cried out in anger before physically pulling her lightsaber out of my hand and going to defend her master. I wanted to do the same, but then I remembered which side I was meant to be on. So I ran back to my own master and his two partners, aware this mission might ruin my morality.
Suddenly, Eval, came out the mist. "Ship is still operational," he informed us. "I got it working. Now let's get out of here." He ran back to the ship.
"You're lucky we're in a hurry, little lady," Bane sneered, turning to follow Eval. "We'll have to dance another time." Me and Obi-Wan - with one last look at Ahsoka - left to follow them. Before long, we were up in the air.
"Do you think they'll follow us?" I whispered to Obi-Wan.
"That's not what I'm worried about," Obi-Wan whispered back. "What I'm worried about is what Anakin will think when he realizes we kept this a secret..."
Me: So, that was a wild ride.
Vaessa: Yeah, no kidding.
Me: You okay, Vaessa? You sound like you've got something on your mind.
Vaessa: I'm fine. I'm just kind of confused as to what Obi-Wan meant - why is he so worried about what Anakin thinks? I mean, I get he has a temper, but he's not gonna kill anyone.
Me: Oh, you sweet, innocent child.
Vaessa: What?
Me: Nothing. I just think that Obi-Wan was more right than he even realized when he said that.
Vaessa: I don't understand.
Me: It's a domino effect, and this mission's the first.
Vaessa: What in the galaxy are you talking about?
Me: Eh, you'll find out soon enough. So, are you gonna say bye or what?
Vaessa: Fine, fine, fine. See you guys next chapter?
