Author: TemporaryUniverse
WC: 2,075 (3,019 Total)
A.N. I return with another chapter for the fic I thought I finished, lol. I was possessed by the muse and wrote about 3.5k words in three days and now this fic has an ending! I posted this to Ao3 months ago but forgot to do it here. Better late than never, right? Hope you like it.
Not good. This was very not good.
Obi-Wan could barely contain his panic. He was crammed in a small cage on a pirates' ship headed to an unknown destination, and Master Qui-Gon hadn't arrived in time to enact a daring rescue. He struggled to calm his breathing, gripping the bars hard enough to turn his knuckles white.
Remember, you are a Jedi, he reminded himself. Jedi do not fear. Fear leads to anger. Anger will not serve you here so neither will fear.
Qui-Gon wasn't here, so he would just have to escape himself. With the three other kids in cages around him. There was the Zabrak boy, but also two who had presumably already been on board, a Human and a Rodian, both seemingly a bit younger than himself. The Zabrak was crying, huddled in a corner of his cage. The others were quiet, resignation in their eyes.
He didn't know what to do. Even if he broke out of his cage, there was nowhere to go. They were in hyperspace. Unless he could somehow take down three Togorians and commandeer the ship, the only chance he would get would be once they landed. But he didn't know when that would be or where they would land, so any plan he made would have holes in it. So many things could go wrong.
He'd been foolish and impatient in the hangar, he couldn't afford to do so again.
First things first, he needed information.
"What are your names?"
The Rodian's head snapped up and wide, starry eyes gazed at him in surprise.
"What?" They said.
"Your names? I'm Obi-Wan."
"…Hruum. And that's Jornussi." They gestured to the Human. "We call him Jor. He doesn't talk much."
Obi-Wan nodded.
"Pleasure to meet you. And what about you?" He asked the Zabrak.
"I'm Xevo," he said, sniffling a little. Then, with awe, "Are you really a Jedi?"
"A Jedi?" Hruum exclaimed. They hadn't seen the fight, if one could call it that, in the hangar.
"Yeah, I'm just an apprentice, though."
"That's so cool!" Xevo's enthusiasm made him flush, a bit thrown by the reverence in his voice. The fact that he had seen Obi-Wan fail so badly against the pirates didn't seem to dim his admiration at all.
"Uh, I'm going to do my best to get us out of here, so does anybody know where we're going? Did the pirates mention a system or planet or something?"
He got three headshakes and tried not to let his grimace show.
Looking around the cargo hold, Obi-Wan tried to take stock of all their assets. Really, it was just a whole lot of crates and cages. He could break them out of their cages fairly easily, but after that… What he needed was some way to hide them all. A pirate ship like this probably had some smuggler's nooks, but those would be the first place the Togorians would check when they discovered their prisoners missing. There were the vents, but they would be noisy, especially for kids with no stealth training, and would probably alert the pirates to their escape. They could hide in the crates, but Obi-Wan would need to find some way for them to breathe, cargo boxes like this had pressurized, airtight seals to protect the goods inside if they were to eject from the ship.
"Alright, here's what we're going to do," he said. He focused on the lock of his cage and reached his hand out, calling on the power of the Force and directing it to the mechanism. It popped open with a small snick. The kids stared at him in wonder.
Obi-Wan clambered out of his cage and headed for Jornussi.
"I need you all to be very quiet, okay? And do exactly as I say." Another application of the Force and Jor was free. He released Hruum, and then Xevo. The three of them followed him over to the stacks of crates. "We're going to open these quietly, I need to check what's in them."
Hruum nodded and lifted the first lid. Inside were racks of blasters. Obi-Wan closed it back up. The next crate held food, and the one after that, carefully packaged alcohol. Jornussi finally found what Obi-Wan was looking for. A half-filled box of med supplies.
"Okay, keep that one open. We need another one that's almost empty." A few minutes of searching later, Xevo found one that held only a small collection of disassembled droid parts. Obi-Wan used the Force again to carry them over to the other crate, earning more looks of amazement from the kids. Luckily, everything fit after a bit of rearranging. Now they had an empty box and a full one. Obi-Wan closed up the med and droid stuff and led the three kids over to the empty one. He took the lid and pulled out his boot knife, thanking the Force that the pirates hadn't thought to search him for weapons other than his saber. He dug the tip into the seal and sliced it apart. Then he destroyed the latching mechanism for good measure.
"Hopefully, this will work. Alright, everybody in," Obi-Wan said. The kids glanced at each other, and then Hruum shrugged and climbed into the box. With all three of them in there, they were packed in tightly, and there wasn't room for Obi-Wan.
"What about you?" Xevo asked, worry written across his face.
"Don't worry. I'm going to see if I can find out where we're going. Will you be okay here? It may be a while and you will have to be very still and as silent as you can."
"Okay, Obi-Wan," Hruum said, Jor and Xevo both nodding.
He gave them an encouraging smile and closed them in.
"Can you move that?" He asked. The lid opened an inch. "Good, the seal should be disabled, but if it starts to get hard to breathe, do that. Getting caught by the pirates is better than suffocating to death."
"Be careful," Xevo replied.
"I will. May the Force be with you."
With a silent prayer to the Force that the kids would be okay, Obi-Wan headed for the vent. He pried the cover off, and hoisted himself in, replacing the grate behind him.
The vents were a little small, but Obi-Wan could push himself forward with his feet and elbows easily enough. He wasn't very good at dampening sound with the Force yet, but he did his best, and he'd been the top of his class in stealth training back at the Temple. He wiggled his way through the narrow shaft, making his way toward the front of the ship until he came to the main hold. When he peered out through the grate, he saw two of the Togorians there, talking over a meal and a bottle of alcohol. The third, the one who had stunned him with the shock prod, was presumably in the cockpit.
As he watched, the larger one took a swig of his drink and said, "D'you think the Hutts will take the Jedi kid, boss?"
"Hutts won't give us half of what he's worth. No, I've got another contact. Specializes in moving Force freaks."
"On Nal Hutta?"
"Nar Shaddaa. We'll drop the Jedi brat with Tikio first, then meet our buyer on Hutta for the other three." So that's where they were headed. Obi-Wan chewed his lip. Home to an assortment of slavers, Hutts, and other criminals, Nar Shaddaa was a dangerous place for three young kids and a Jedi Padawan. They wouldn't be safe even once they escaped these pirates. If Obi-Wan could steal a commlink, he'd be able to call Qui-Gon, and they could lay low until his master got there.
He listened to the Togorians talk a while longer but heard nothing more of value. Eventually, the pirate he assumed was the captain left, leaving just one in the hold. The other moved out of sight, and Obi-Wan crept closer to the grate to keep him in view.
As he pulled himself forward, the Togorian jerked his head up, pointed ears flicking towards the vent. Obi-Wan froze, watching him sniff the air. The pirate took a few steps closer, staring at the grate. Not allowing himself to panic, Obi-Wan held his breath and kept every muscle in his body perfectly still, even going as far as to slow his heartrate. After a few tense moments, the pirate shook his head and sat back down, grabbing his blaster. Obi-Wan relaxed a bit, not daring to move again.
He waited and watched as the Togorian cleaned his blaster, then pulled out a datapad and scrolled on that for a time. Finally, the Padawan's patience paid out when the pirate also got up and left. He stayed still for a few more minutes until he was sure the pirate wasn't coming back, before slipping gracefully out of the vent. It was risky, but also his best option if he wanted to survive the Smuggler's Moon.
As quickly and methodically as possible, he scoured the room, even feeling between the bench seat cushions. His search was unsuccessful, and he stood back, trying to think of what to do next. At that moment, the ship jerked slightly, in the telltale way of exiting hyperspace.
His heart jumped into his throat, and he turned and ran, just as the Togorian returned.
"Hey!" Obi-Wan dashed through the other door, hearing the pirate behind him bellow, "Captain! The Jedi's loose!"
Heavy footsteps thundered after him as he burst into the cargo bay. He spun around to face the pirate, feeling battle calm settle over him. The Togorian snarled, advancing, his ears flat against his head and eyes gleaming green.
"Give it up, kid. You can't fight us both," the captain said as he entered.
"You sure about that?" Obi-Wan replied, sliding his stance wider. The Togorians were stronger, but he was smaller and faster. He had a chance.
The larger pirate lunged and Obi-Wan ducked underneath his arm and slammed his elbow into his ribs before dancing away from the Togorian's attempt to snatch him. He avoided the captain's punch and Force pushed him from behind, sending him into his crewmate and making them go down in a pile of limbs. The pirates untangled themselves and got to their feet, circling him to trap him between them, forcing him to keep moving. He struck again, another quick jab to the larger pirate's ribs, and followed it up with a flying kick, his heel smashing into the pirate's jaw and making him roar in pain. But the captain seized him as he landed and flung him into a pile of crates, knocking the breath from his lungs.
As he coughed and struggled to get his bearings, the other pirate approached him, leaning down to grab him.
He summoned the Force and pushed, sending the huge Togorian flying across the room to smack into the wall, the thud sending vibrations through the floor. He struggled to his feet, squaring off against the captain. The pirate attacked, and he dodged to the side, kicking the back of his knee to make him stumble, but the captain recovered quicker than he expected, turning and lashing out. Obi-Wan wasn't quick enough and sharp claws ripped through his face, from his temple to his nose. A cry escaped him, his hand coming up to clutch at the wound as he staggered. Blood ran into his eye and down his cheek. The pirate fisted the front of his tunics and slammed his knee into his gut. He gave another hoarse cry, the Togorian pulling him up off his feet, bringing them nose to nose.
"Where are the others?" The captain growled, his breath warm on Obi-Wan's face.
Obi-Wan bared his teeth and said nothing. His face throbbed. Snarling angrily, the Togorian threw him to the ground. He attempted to stand, and the captain drew his blaster and fired. The stun bolt hit him in the leg, and he collapsed, the limb suddenly going numb and crumpling beneath him. The other pirate had finally gotten up and he approached them now, sneering disdainfully down at the Padawan as he lay there panting, trying to breathe through the pain.
The pilot found them like that and Obi-Wan realized they had landed.
"Cashhche, search for the kids. They're on the ship somewhere. We'll take this one to Tikio."
"Aye, Captain," the pilot replied.
Thanks for reading!
