Disclaimer: George Lucas owns Star Wars
A Shift in the Force: Chapter Thirty-Six: Unfortunate Turn
AN: Talk about an exciting cliffhanger, am I right? I'm not sure how much longer the Carina arc is going to be, but I think its winding down now and it'll probably be less than ten more chapters and more than two, but don't quote me on that. I currently only have three chapters outlined.
But ASITF is eight reviews away from hitting 200, so thanks so much for the support, guys!
She moved fast, like a predator poised to strike with a strength that Obi-Wan hadn't been anticipating. He stumbled back slightly as her lightsaber collided with his, battering furiously against him.
Carina kicked him back, twisting the lightsaber into two and spreading her feet evenly, holding the twin 'sabers in her hands. He'd seen the stance too many times with Sabé's 'sabers, but now it was different. This wasn't Sabé, no matter how many times he tried to find her in Carina.
The two lightsabers clashed with Obi-Wan's single one, and Obi-Wan gritted his teeth behind his lips, his head close to the helmet that hid Carina's face. It was disconcerting not to be able to see her eyes, whether or not they were yellow instead of the usual warm brown.
"I admire your guts," Carina said with a jeer, "never met a Jedi that had any…but it won't save you. Very soon you will be dead, like all my enemies are."
"Only a Sith deals in absolutes," Obi-Wan refuted and a loud chuckle reverberated within the helmet.
"Did the Jedi teach you that one?" she asked. "Sounds something kriffed up enough to be one of their teachings. Maybe you should use your own brain for once, Kenobi, it might do you some good."
Obi-Wan narrowed his eyes as Anakin rushed forward, his lightsaber flaring to life but Carina merely caught it with her other 'saber.
"Now, that's interesting," Carina said suddenly, the helmet twisting in order to look at his padawan as if suddenly intrigued by his presence. "I've never met a Jedi that was so…angry."
"You're wearing the face of a friend of mine," Anakin managed to force out through gritted teeth. Obi-Wan could feel his anger coursing through the bond they both had.
"You're deluded, boy," Carina said shortly before pressing her 'saber more firmly against there's before they were forced back by an invisible force. It was more disorientating for Obi-Wan, but Anakin had ran forward and then they were battering against each other once more, all fire and fury. "This is my face."
"You're Sabé Amidala," he said before kicking her back and she hit the ramp of her transport, the helmet rolling off her head and the lightsabers going with it and Carina turned to look at him with furious yellowed eyes before raising her hand and Anakin dropped his lightsaber to the ground as he was lifted into the air, clutching at his throat, his eyes wide and bulging.
"You know what I hate?" Carina seethed as Obi-Wan stood and ran forward to break her concentration, but she ducked around him easily. "Entitled Jedi that think they know me."
And then she jerked Anakin from where he was hanging in the area to knock into Obi-Wan, sending them into a pile in the ground.
A lightsaber was called to her hand, the crimson blade bearing down on them. Obi-Wan waiting for the searing pain of the cauterizing laser, but it never came.
He looked up and stared. Carina was standing there, the lightsaber inches from their skin, her body tensed and straining as if against an unseen force. Her expression was of startled surprise. She strained harder, but it was to no avail.
"Oh, this is so kriffing typical," she seethed and for a single moment Obi-Wan saw something flicker deep in her eyes, but then there was a sound like a hiss through the air and Carina was thrown back.
Obi-Wan and Anakin quickly pulled themselves out of the pile she had thrown them into in order to see her slumped on the ground, a blaster burn to the chest plate of her armor and three more on the underside of her right arm.
For a traitorous moment Obi-Wan thought she was dead, but a hiss of breath passed her lips.
"Carina!" a metallic and modulated voice called from the transport and both Jedi turned in order to see a very tall security droid lumbering out in order to lift Carina and her discarded helmet, narrowly missing a few more blaster bolts from what could've only been at least one sniper as it lumbered back on board the transport, the ramp shutting behind it and lifting off a few moments later, firing off into the air.
"What was that?" Anakin demanded hoarsely, rubbing his hand over his throat.
"A sniper," Obi-Wan said, looking in the direction the shots had come from. "Carina has her own enemies, I think." He turned back to look at Anakin. "Are you all right?" He dropped a hand to his padawan's shoulder, a concerned gaze lingering on his throat, upon which appeared the slowly developing ring of bruises that indicated the force at which he was strangled via Carina, and it was incredibly concerning.
"Fine," Anakin gasped, still massaging his throat before following after Obi-Wan as he moved up the lift to come out to where the sniper had positioned themselves, waiting for the perfect opening to strike.
Carina had tried to catch them in a trap and in doing so and ended up trapped herself. It was almost ironic.
Sabé would've been more careful about that.
Obi-Wan picked up the empty bolt cartridge, a frown on his lips. Who else could want Carina dead? Another bounty hunter? Surely not another Sith?
He didn't even want to think about there being more Sith; Carina was difficult enough and there was only one of her.
"What're we going to do now?" Anakin asked hoarsely.
Obi-Wan lifted the silver lightsabers, twisting them into a single one once more, considering them with a frown. "I think we need to rethink our approach."
Talik was scowling fiercely as she looked over Anakin's throat, fingers probing gently over his skin. "How bad's the pain?" she asked.
The first thing Obi-Wan had done when they'd returned to Coruscant was take Anakin to the Halls of Healing to get his throat looked at. Talik had seen the bruises and her expression had turned positively stormy with Arthree peering at them with a doleful hoot.
"It's not bad," Anakin said and Talik frowned, considering him before glancing back to where Obi-Wan was sitting in the plastic and uncomfortable chair, looking incredibly uncomfortable. Anakin had taken the brunt of the hits from Carina; Obi-Wan was barely singed.
"You two moon-jockeys run off half-cocked," she grumbled to herself, "really, I'm honestly surprised you two didn't lose limbs."
"Hey!" Anakin complained as Obi-Wan heaved a heavy sigh and Arthree gave a trilling beep of amusement.
But then Talik pressed down a bit more firmly on Anakin's bruises and his voice faded with an abrupt wince. She narrowed her eyes, focusing the Force in her hands when the door slid open and a muscle jumped in her jaw.
"Out," she said shortly before the Jedi could even speak.
"I could help," Nahdar Vebb said, ignoring the command and Anakin frowned at him over Talik's shoulder.
"Get out," Talik snapped, "that's the only way you can be helpful in any way."
He opened his mouth to say something but then he deflated and conceded defeat, leaving as Arthree pushed him out, running his wheeled feet against the Mon Calamari's ankles, and pressing the button that slid the door shut and Obi-Wan arched an eyebrow.
"Talik."
"What?" Talik said shortly as her hands at Anakin's throat gave off a soft glow. "He doesn't have anything nice to say about Master, so I've got nothing nice to say to him. It's an even trade."
Obi-Wan pressed a hand to his face a sighed again. Really, Talik was fighting a losing battle; there weren't many in the Temple that didn't think poorly of Sabé's decisions.
The coloring of Anakin's bruises lightened gradually until they faded completely.
"You're probably going to feel a tingling at your neck for an hour or so, and you're going to be hoarse for about as long," Talik informed him as she removed her hands from her friend.
Anakin raised a hand to his throat. "Great," he said dryly and Talik rolled her eyes.
"Attacking a Sith, honestly," she muttered, "that sounds like a terrible idea to me, and it's even worse for you two nerf-herders."
Obi-Wan couldn't help but get the feeling that Sabé's disappearance and consequent reappearance as Darth Carina had really brought Talik out of her shell, if she'd ever had one. Talik spoke her mind without thinking of the consequences of such actions. She wasn't endearing herself to the High Council, but Talik didn't really care. And she certainly didn't care about calling others respectfully by their title of 'master' if she didn't agree with them, or like them.
Aayla had all but given up on trying to rein her in, silently impressed by her guts to go against nearly everyone in the Temple.
"Do no harm, but take no shit," Talik had said once rather solemnly, and evidently it was a philosophy she was living by. She certainly looked it with her black jumpsuit and the blaster at her side and fierce personality.
"Talik, I need to ask you some questions," Obi-Wan said.
"About Master," Talik guessed with her back turned, frowning at the screen briefly. "I told you I could be helpful."
She scowled at Obi-Wan, but Obi-Wan didn't budge; he still thought it was a bad idea to have Carina and Talik in the same place at the same time. Sabé wouldn't thank him for that.
"Fine," she said, crossing her arms, looking very petulant. "But I think you're going about it wrong."
"We are?" Anakin's brow furrowed as Talik leaned against the wall.
"You barely know Carina five minutes and both of you tried to kill her on –what planet was it?"
"Kalla VII," Anakin said helpfully. "And she attacked first!"
Talik tilted her head to look back at the ceiling with a loud sigh of "Why?"
"And somehow she didn't kill you when you were all locked up together, it's honestly a wonder…" Talik pretended that she couldn't see or hear them for a brief moment and then she collected herself. "What did she say when you were all locked up together?"
Obi-Wan frowned deeply for a few moments. "Well she did mention that she usually killed anyone that saw her face, but that she was feeling merciful…and I had a pretty face."
Talik arched an eyebrow. "That's…that might be helpful."
"Why?" Anakin asked, befuddled.
"Because it means that Master didn't 'erase' herself completely, that there's some of 'Sabé' still in 'Carina'." Talik tapped her lips thoughtfully with a single finger. She'd done a lot of reading up on the things that interested Sabé prior to her disappearance.
Her eyes held Obi-Wan's and he tried to keep his cheeks from flushing faintly at the implication.
"And I talked to Master Taria," Talik added. "You know when you wipe the memory-banks of a droid?"
Arthree made a small tittering noise.
"It's like that, only with Master she had to leave a sort of framework, a baseline of who she was," Talik explained. "Master Taria says that was because she needed a way to come back, that was where she locked her key phrase, a way to come back to being her. Of course, since she doesn't subconsciously know that that phrase is, she's less 'Sabé' and more 'Carina', but there has to be something that they both shared, that's the way it works, that's the way she always has a way back."
"I don't see how that helps—" Obi-Wan started to say.
"It means you need to stop thinking about Carina as a separate person and think about where Sabé would go, what would Sabé do," Talik said, her eyes flicking between them. "Now, I have to go, Master Aayla and I are assisting a mercy mission on Christophsis."
She lingered in the doorway with Arthree at her heels, and then she turned back. "Be careful, all right?" she pressed. "Master's killed before and Carina's done worse."
"We'll be careful," Anakin promised and Talik's shoulders fell slightly as she murmured a phrase under her breath.
"What was that?" Obi-Wan said suddenly and Talik blinked.
"Nothing," she said quickly only to see his wide-eyed surprise, "it was just something I heard in a dream: I am one with the Force and the Force is with me."
"A dream?" Obi-Wan repeated dubiously. "You're certain she never said it in front of you?"
"No…?" Talik looked befuddled at the thought. "Why?"
Anakin twisted his head to eye his master curiously.
"It was…a sort of mantra of hers when we were children, back when she used to get those terrible headaches of hers," Obi-Wan admitted. "She'd repeat it on a loop…she hasn't said it in years, though."
He'd honestly forgotten that she'd used to do that. He'd walked past her countless times when she had her fingers pressed against her temples, murmuring the words over and over again with her eyes closed while Kit and Aayla steered her carefully around obstacles.
"Why d'you always say that?" he'd asked her once, bright-eyed and full of curiosity and Sabé had flushed, appearing faintly uncomfortable.
"It's calming," was all she'd ever said about it.
"Is that important?" Talik asked, bringing him back to the present.
"Probably not," Obi-Wan said with a decisive air. "Good luck on your mission, Talik."
Talik inclined her head slightly before leaving with the astromech wheeling around after her.
"Master?" Anakin capitalized on his friend's absence, hopping off the cot to turn his head to fixate his eyes on his master.
"Hm?"
"Carina could've killed us, couldn't she've?" he asked with a frown. "But something stopped her."
That very thought was plaguing Obi-Wan's mind as well. Carina had been genuinely surprised when she hadn't been able to bring down her 'saber completely, and then she'd been angry. Obi-Wan wanted to believe that maybe somewhere in the depths of Carina's mind, Sabé had reached out to stall her own body's movements.
He tried not to think about the last few times he'd seen her when she was still Sabé. He tried not to think of the feeling and taste of her lips. He tried not to think of the curve of her smile.
His feelings about her were still muddled, even more so with the whole issue with Carina.
"Come on, Anakin," he said finally, "we need to find Kit."
"Why?" Anakin asked in surprise, looping his cloak over a shoulder.
"Because with Talik and Aayla leaving, he's the one that knows her the best," Obi-Wan said, curling his fingers to his padawan in a gesture for him to follow.
Carina was delirious, parched, absolutely exhausted, and in pain.
"Jay?" she called as best as she could, her voice raw and hoarse, like she'd swallowed sand. Her eyes felt like they'd been glued shut and even moving her arm slightly sent a painful jolt up it to join the dull pain over her chest.
"Carina," the droid answered neutrally, "you are alive."
Carina almost laughed at that bland statement. "Am I?" she managed to force out.
"Well, of course," Jay-Seven sounded a bit like he was talking to someone of inferior intelligence. "You wouldn't be talking if you weren't alive."
"It's a joke, Jay," Carina winced.
"Oh, yes, of course, a joke."
There was a short and stilted silence. A conversationalist, Jay was not.
"Shall I catalogue your injuries for you?" he asked a moment later and Carina almost sighed.
"Please," she grumbled.
"You took three blaster bolts to your left arm," Jay-Seven informed her, "and one to the chest. I calculate that there is a fifty-four percent chance that you will experience nerve damage if you do not receive appropriate treatment."
That made Carina actually pry her eyes open to focus in his direction. The pair of them were bathed in semi-darkness, making his optical lights seem impossibly bright. She closed her eyes again, feeling around at the ground with her metallic arm, the sensors on the pads of her fingers allowing her to feel the sandy stone underneath her.
"Where are we, Jay?" she asked.
"A planet in the Outer Rim," he informed her, "in the Yavin system, unpopulated by humanoids. We are within one of the ziggurats the planet holds. The coordinates to this planet were pre-programmed into the nava-computer."
"You didn't want to take us straight back to Tython?" Carina asked, swallowing in order to moisten the inside of her mouth.
"I am a droid the specializes in strategic analysis," Jay-Seven pointed out in an annoyed manner. "Returning to Tython after a failed assassination attempt would be detrimental to your health and my continued existence."
"I'm so glad you're concerned," Carina almost snorted.
"You have reprogrammed me for loyalty and self-preservation," Jay-Seven pointed out.
"A mistake, I'm sure," Carina muttered to herself, feeling uncommonly warm.
"And I believe you might be gaining a fever due to the extent of your injuries," the droid added.
"You probably wouldn't be wrong," Carina murmured tiredly.
"I will watch over you while you rest," Jay-Seven said in what they clearly hoped was a reassuring tone of voice, Carina didn't notice either way.
"You got a blaster?" she asked numbly, forcing herself to stay away to be certain. Falling asleep without a way to protect oneself was a good way to get killed, Carina would know.
"Of course," Jay-Seven said. She'd gotten him one rather early on; he needed to be more than just a pilot for her and she needed someone that could shoot.
"Good," Carina managed to grunt before she fell into a deep and pain-filled slumber once more.
"What Sabé liked best?" Kit tilted his head, his tentacles falling over one shoulder as he did so. "I'm afraid you'll have to be specific, Sabé liked a lot of things."
"What about a planet?" Obi-Wan inquired in curiosity.
"Well, she liked Naboo quite a lot, but, then again, it was her home planet, so that's not really saying all that much," Kit said thoughtfully, his large eyes almost appearing to drift off. "She liked planets that had ancient history, with the Jedi and the Sith, she wasn't very particular about which…she adored Ossus when we were kids."
"Ossus?" Anakin's brow crinkled. "Never heard of it."
Kit chuckled. "You probably wouldn't, Anakin. It's the planet that was believed to house the first Jedi Temple it was the leading center of knowledge for more than eight centuries. Sabé always wanted to go back there and wander through the ruins. It was probably the thing that drew her towards becoming a Jedi Shadow the most…but what kind of parameters are you looking for?"
"Well…a planet that's generally uninhabited," Obi-Wan ticked them off on his fingers, "one that hosts neither Sith nor Jedi currently, and one largely without technology, and being the kind of planet Sabé would've had an interest in."
Kit hummed thoughtfully before gesturing them to follow him as he lead them into the Archives, settling into the nearest seat before a computer, his fingers moving over the keys, inputting words too fast for Obi-Wan or Anakin to follow.
"All right," Kit said a moment later as a list appeared on the screen. "Here are the planets within those parameters…you've got Ilum, Seline, Ambria, Ossus, of course, Shotem, Tython, well we don't have a lot on Tython since we don't even know where it is…and…Yavin…IV." His words drifted off and Obi-Wan considered the Nautolan with curiosity.
"Is that significant?" Obi-Wan inquired.
"Well, not completely," Kit cupped his chin, a crease forming on his brow, "but we had a mission together when we were…twenty, I believe. There was a malfunction with our craft and we went down on one of moons of Yavin, Yavin IV, to be specific. The damage to the craft wasn't too significant, but my leg was damaged in the fall and she had to help me limp my way out and into one of the temples there. We were there for about a week, and if there was one planet Sabé would've gone to, I believe it would've been that one."
"Thank you," Obi-Wan said gratefully, before telling Anakin that they'd leave in two hours if he wanted to change out of his singed clothes.
"Obi-Wan," Kit said and the Stewjonan paused to turn back to look back at one of Sabé's closest friends, "she has to know that something isn't right with her memories, if you can convince her to come back, to meditate with Master Plo, she can come back."
Obi-Wan gave a short nod before sweeping out of the room, leaving Kit with a thoughtful frown.
Yavin IV was a sprawling jungle world, abandoned long ago and Obi-Wan could understand the appeal of hiding out there.
"You want me to set her down close to the temples?" Anakin asked Obi-Wan as they looked through the viewport. "Or in the jungle?"
"I believe the jungle would be a safer bet," Obi-Wan said, only to yelp in surprise as Anakin brought them down rather suddenly. "Slower, Anakin!"
Anakin allowed himself and amused smirk, slowing at the last possible second before dropping onto the ground and opening the ramp down before cutting the power. "She did take a blaster bolt to the chest and the arm," he pointed out, ambling after his master. "She might not be walking around much."
"No," Obi-Wan agreed as they made their way through trees, ducking down to hide under behind a fallen one in order for Obi-Wan to free the macrobinoculars from his cloak's pocket in order to focus it on the several temples in the clearing, in front of one of which rested the craft that Obi-Wan and Anakin had tracked to Kalla VII, the one that Carina had to be carried into. "But she did have a security droid with her last time. I suspect it's the one doing most of the legwork."
"She probably reprogrammed it," Anakin commented quietly, "but that class are supposed to be really difficult to be reprogrammed."
Trust Anakin to know more about the droid they'd barely seen for thirty seconds. Obi-Wan almost shook his head in exasperation as he continued to look through the macrobinoculars, focusing on the entrance to the closest temple in time to see the hulking security droid enter with a canteen –undoubtedly full of water– swinging from one metallic arm and a wet cloth in the other. It was safe to think that Carina wasn't faring well.
Take a leap of faith, Sabé might've said, despite being so careful, so Obi-Wan hopped over the fallen tree and strode towards the temple purposefully, leaving Anakin to scramble after him with a startled mutter.
It was a rather headstrong course of action, if he had to be perfectly honest with himself, but their last meeting hadn't really gone according to plan.
Obi-Wan raised his hands above his head in time to hear the click of a blaster ready to fire.
"One more step and I will fire a blaster bolt into your chest," a metallic tone cut through the silence and Obi-Wan had to narrow his eyes in order to see the two figures at the end of the cavern within the temple's base. One, Carina, no doubt, was slumped unmoving on the ground, but the droid was easier to see with the optical lights. "My accuracy is currently at ninety-eight-point-seven."
"But then you won't have a way to heal your master," Obi-Wan pointed out with an agreeable voice and the security droid's head tilted slightly. "We're not here to attack anyone…we just want to talk to her, and in order to do that she has to be conscious, and I don't think you have the necessary supplies to heal her."
The droid twisted to look at Carina, analyzing her present condition.
"Carina has no love of the Jedi," it said finally, sounding almost…human. "She will not approve, but I am a droid that specializes in strategic analysis and I know that optimal survival for her Carina will be increased by more than thirty percent, and if you try to kill her, you won't succeed."
It was practically a threat and it hung in the air, but Obi-Wan thought it was the best they were going to get as he dropped to his knees as her side, pressing a hand to her cheek, his thumb curving over her cheekbone, feeling the warmth of her skin.
"It'll be all right, Sabé," he murmured and focused hard on the injury to her chest to channel the Force into healing the damage there. "I've got you."
AN: Carina's not having a good day, is she? Obi-Wan and Sabé are going to have a nice chat next chapter. It's going to be nothing but ASITF updates for awhile, so that should excite you lot.
Anyone recognize that mantra? ;)
As always: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!
