A/N: I still don't know exactly how to write the Force (there's a reason I usually write from the clones' perspective...) but, eh. I tried. :D
A little over an hour later, Obi-Wan waited in the shadowed doorway of one of the houses. He had a clear view of the south ridge. If he turned and squinted between the two Bouresh -the leader, who Obi-Wan had taken to thinking of as Elder, and another younger one with moss green fur- he could see the building concealing Cody.
Not Cody himself, nor any of the other men. While Obi-Wan waited in an outlying building, the Bouresh had herded the clones deeper in the village.
"As if they're protecting them," Obi-Wan mused, recalling Wit's earlier statement. "Why the clones, and from what? Have other battles been lost in this village?"
Obi-Wan's senses roamed. Territorial protectiveness flooded throughout the village. No anger, just an intense longing to protect. Obi-Wan could tell where each of his men were, just by sensing where the protective emotions were strongest. Ten spots. Nine men, and the building in the center full of fear and determination.
Obi-Wan found his attention pulled repeatedly to the center building. There was something inside drawing his attention. Something curious and longing…
Growls snapped Obi-Wan back to himself. With a glance at the bristling Bouresh, Obi-Wan shifted closer to the door.
Mechanical footsteps clanked somewhere out of sight. They were closer than Obi-Wan expected, making him wonder how long he'd been distracted.
Obi-Wan tapped his comlink once, a signal to everyone that the droids were close. Trepidation buzzed through the village, quickly tamped down by training and determination.
Determination that faltered when the footsteps drew closer, louder. Louder than Obi-Wan had hoped. How many droids were there?
"Too many."
Obi-Wan wasn't sure if the thought was entirely his. He shook his head and squeezed the rough wood of the doorway, trying to ground his wandering senses.
Battle droids clanked into view. As they topped the ridge, the hollowed ground gave way beneath them. Wailing in surprise, the droids tumbled into the hole, snapping off limbs and heads to be buried under the loosened dirt and a couple more droids who didn't stop fast enough.
The battle droids behind came to a stop. Obi-Wan could hear them muttering mechanically to each other. There wasn't a tactical droid amongst them, so it wasn't until a super battle droid in the middle impatiently shuffled forward that the droids continued to advance.
A battle droid was pushed down the collapsed ridge, squealing protests all the way. It bounced off its broken companions, then sprawled on the ground. The forces above leaned forward, curious.
Obi-Wan's heart sank when the fallen droid picked itself up, felt itself over, then raised its arms at the others. He'd been hoping that the droids would attempt other areas of the ridge before discovering they could climb down the debris.
Obi-Wan waited until a small group of droids had picked their way to the ground, then he leaped out from cover in Force-assisted lunges. He crossed the distance in a second, slicing through half a dozen droids before they could react. He leaped over their heads and landed halfway up the debris, where he cleared out a circle around him.
"It's a Jedi!" squealed a battle droid, right before it was sliced in half.
Blasters were turning in Obi-Wan's direction, telling him it was time for phase two of the plan. He grabbed the droid halves with the Force and hurled them into the air. Droid blasters automatically tracked the movement, giving Obi-Wan enough space to leap out of their midst. He landed in a roll and bounced to his feet, turning as panicked wails and Bourish roars echoed across the plains, accompanied shortly by the sound of splintering logs and metallic limbs.
Ignoring the plight of the droids above, the droids who had made it down the ridge opened fire on Obi-Wan. The Jedi's lightsaber spun, deflecting a barrage of bolts back the way they'd come.
"Now!" Obi-Wan barked into his comlink.
Bolts hummed out of the village, taking down the nine frontmost droids at once. In the brief lull of collapsing droids, Obi-Wan leaped back to the shelter of the village. He hurried to the roof of the building under the cover of his men's shots. He swiveled to the plain and his breath caught.
This was one of the biggest clusters of droids they'd encountered all week. The ambushes had done well to cut down their numbers, leaving battered droid remains on the front and forest-side of the group. At least half remained, however, not counting the half-dozen supers staying in the middle of the regular droids.
Behind the droids, the last of the first wave of Bouresh were vanishing into the trees, howling protectively as injured Bouresh were carried swiftly to safety under a rain of droid fire. With the Bouresh retreating, the droids turned their attention to the village.
Obi-Wan instinctively twitched to the side, narrowly avoiding bolts from the super battle droids. He leaped to the ground and stood at the front of the village, returning every bolt sent his way.
"General!" Cody called from close by.
Obi-Wan quickly retreated to his commander's side, shielding both Cody and the growling yellow-tan Bourick from earlier with his lightsaber. Obi-Wan had taken to calling it "Mother" after watching the attention she showed to the clones and Elder.
"I'm afraid the numbers are a bit more than we expected," Obi-Wan said.
"Yes, sir," Cody grunted. He didn't even flinch when Obi-Wan deflected a bolt inches from his face. "But we've got good cover down here."
"I'd rather have the high ground."
"Looks like we'll be even soon enough, sir."
With a rumble and squeal of battle droids, more of the ridge collapsed. At the sacrifice of the frontmost droids, the rest of the remaining droids clattered down to the ground.
Growls rose from among the Bouresh. Obi-Wan raised his free hand in a gesture to wait, not expecting them to understand but unable to pull his attention from the attacking droids.
A long, low howl pierced the sounds of battle. Immediately, the growls stopped and Obi-Wan felt rather than saw Mother retreat. Cody grunted and, with a scuffle of feet, pulled back as well. Obi-Wan spun around the back of the building in time to see Mother put Cody down. She kept a paw around his middle, though, keeping Cody at her side. A second howl came.
In the seconds that followed, shots from the clones ended abruptly with more than a couple startled -but not hurt- yelps. Mother picked up Cody and straightened, then used the roof overhang to clamber overhead.
Obi-Wan stood for a second, staring up in confusion. The battleground had gone silent of blasterfire, only the droids' repetitive "roger, roger" coming from outside the buildings. Hearing the battle droids clank closer, Obi-Wan hopped onto the roof with Cody and Mother.
Cody was doing his best to get out of Mother's grip, but to no avail. He waved a hand in a useless gesture, then tried to get a new angle to keep shooting over the roof.
Mother responded by covering his helmet with a huge paw.
"Wait," Obi-Wan whispered.
Cody squirmed some more, then crossed his arms in defeat. Obi-Wan turned slightly, watching the battle droids spill into the village. Looking behind him, he could see Bouresh and a few of his men laying on rooftops. Tangle was the only other clone being held by a Bourick, the others looking to Obi-Wan for instruction.
Before Obi-Wan could decide what to do next, Elder appeared on the roof of the center building. He intently watched the battle droids pouring into the village, then threw himself into the air with a howl.
Once he did, the other Bouresh followed his lead. Abandoning the clones on the roofs, all the Bouresh dropped onto the unsuspecting droids, crushing one or two each in a single blow.
Obi-Wan smiled to himself. The final ambush was a surprise to him, but not an unwelcome one. He hopped to his feet and leaped back into the droids' midst.
Obi-Wan sliced through a circle of droids as he landed. He planted his feet and pushed, one side of the street's droids tumbling over each other and under the pounding fists of Mother. He spun on his heel and deflected the droid's bolts, returning a few to their owners before cover fire from Cody gave Obi-Wan the space to leap forward and cleave the droids in half.
"Stay on the roof!" Obi-Wan ordered into his comlink before darting onto another street.
"General," Cody protested as Obi-Wan's path brought him out of Cody's line of sight.
"There's still more outside the village," Obi-Wan said, cutting his way to two Bouresh with their backs to a wall. "Quickly, before they can recover."
"Supers!" shouted Skipper over the comms. "West side!"
"On it," Obi-Wan said, switching direction.
Obi-Wan found the first super in the midst of smashed droids, mercilessly blasting down the street to pin a dozen Bouresh against houses. He took to the roofs, running even to the super and leaping down to slice it in half.
Elder appeared as Obi-Wan and the super battle droid halves hit the ground. The Bourick dragged a battered and sparking super, teeth bared in jubilant glee.
"Don't celebrate too soon," Obi-Wan warned pointlessly.
Elder huffed, then hurled the destroyed super to plow over another. Boil popped up on the roof nearby, finishing the third super with two well-placed shots.
"Thank you, Boil," Obi-Wan said.
Reach's frantic voice came across the comms, "Grassy fell!"
"Where?" Obi-Wan asked, leaping to the roof.
"Near the center! I can't get close!"
Obi-Wan reached the central building in a few long leaps. He scanned the grappling Bouresh and scrambling droids, finally spotting grass-stained armor at the building's back.
Grassy's blaster laid several meters away, behind an approaching super and handful of battle droids. Grassy was scrambling backwards along the wall, dripping blood from one hand.
No time for grace, Obi-Wan hurled himself from the roof in one Force-powered lunge. He impaled the super with his lightsaber, landing with enough force that the powerful droid toppled. Obi-Wan couldn't pull his lightsaber free fast enough, and was momentarily jarred by the droid's sharp impact with the ground. The super growled beneath him, its voice modulator punctured instead of the power cell as Obi-Wan had intended. He ripped his lightsaber free and stabbed the super, instantly darkening its optical sensors.
Grassy shouted behind him. Obi-Wan spun, his lightsaber clumsily yanking free in a mess of sparks. The battle droids had passed the super and Obi-Wan, blasters up. Grassy's bloody hand slipped and he fell. Obi-Wan reached out-
And shrieking howls erupted from the building as a pup launched itself from the highest window. Several more were behind the first, each crashing into a battle droid almost bigger than they were.
The frontmost droids went down with squealing wails. The interruption bought Obi-Wan enough time to leap forward and cut down the droids in the back.
The pups -a dozen by then- leaped away from the droids, landing in tight crouches before jumping at another cluster of droids. They all gave yipping howls of excitement as they sewed chaos in the droids.
Obi-Wan hurried to his fallen man. "Grassy, where are you hurt?"
"Just my hand," Grassy said, already pulling himself to unsteady feet. "Where's my-"
Grassy broke off and Obi-Wan spun at the pained yelp. One of the smallest pups had just hit the ground, the droid in front of him with its gun still raised.
Obi-Wan leaped and sliced the droid in half before it could take aim at the black-furred pup. He shoved the halves into the rest of the droids, knocking them over for the pups and adult Bouresh hurrying their way.
As he turned, Obi-Wan sensed a small presence headed his way. Well practiced with younglings, Obi-Wan automatically took a step to the side, so another black-furred pup crashed into the fallen pup instead of Obi-Wan. The second pup yanked up the first in a flurry of growls before Elder scooped them both against himself and growled at Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan raised his hands, bemused, then leaped to a rooftop to survey the ongoing battle.
The droids had finally figured out who was sniping them from above, and most of the clones were laying flat on roofs to avoid being shot. Tangle kept rolling toward the edge of the roof to shoot, ignoring Skipper yelling at him to stay away from the side.
"General!"
Obi-Wan looked toward Cody's shout, then said into his comlink with a sigh, "Cody, what did I tell you?"
Cody, sprinting down a side street, responded, "When? The days have been blurring together a bit, sir."
"You know perfectly well what I mean."
Obi-Wan leaped to another building and dropped down beside Cody, just as a battered super and a cluster of battle droids appeared. Obi-Wan quirked an eyebrow at Cody, who apparently chose to ignore him in favor of opening fire.
Obi-Wan spun his lightsaber, easily deflecting the droids' bolts in the narrow street. The front droids fell under Cody's fire, then Obi-Wan was upon the rest, cutting them down in one neat slice.
Or, nearly so.
Obi-Wan instinctively ducked, narrowly missing the super's smoking arm swinging toward his head. A bolt from Cody knocked it back a step, then Obi-Wan finished the slice through the droid's center.
This time, it was Obi-Wan who ignored Cody's pointed look.
Both took off down the street, leaping over the wrecked droids. Each street they passed held broken droids and celebrating Bouresh, and the sounds of blasters were quickly trailing off. Obi-Wan smiled to himself, pleased that the fight had gone much better than he'd expected.
They reached the central building and found Grassy, Tangle, Skipper, and Reach waiting. As Obi-Wan checked with each man, Bouresh brought the rest of the men to the building as well.
After a few minutes, Obi-Wan stepped back with a light smile. Aside from a few mild burns and Tangle twisting his already injured knee, there weren't any injuries among his men.
"Wait here," Obi-Wan told Cody.
"Where-"
"Just securing the perimeter," Obi-Wan interrupted. "I'll only be a minute."
Cody nodded grudgingly, his attention pulled away when Mother pushed up to sniff him over. He tried to push her away, much to the amusement of his men.
Obi-Wan turned away, then paused. He turned, catching one of the black pups seemingly staring at him. Shaggy fur hid the pup's face, but not the worried growls as he ducked closer to Elder.
Obi-Wan shrugged off his curiosity, then returned to the roofs. He made a quick check of the village, ensuring no droids still stood and that each of the supers had been felled. The Bouresh from the ambush in the field were already returning, reuniting with family and friends with happy yelps. As far as Obi-Wan could see, none of the villagers had suffered severe harm, either.
Satisfied, Obi-Wan returned to his men. Cody trotted away from Mother's inspection to Obi-Wan's side, where he linked his hands behind his back and studiously ignored Mother's annoyed huffs.
"The droids have all been finished off," Obi-Wan said with a grin Cody ignored.
Cody took out his datapad and checked the screen. "By my count, that should be the only droid unit this far out. They were either stationed at the other village this whole time or, like us, have been moving outward."
Obi-Wan nodded, having thought along the same line. "There's no sense in going further out ourselves. We've been going for too long already."
"It will be quicker heading back," Cody said. "Assuming droids haven't reclaimed the villages we already passed through."
"If we could be so lucky," Obi-Wan said with a sigh.
"We can make it back to base camp in three days if we leave now," Cody offered. "Get back into communication with the other squads; figure out what's left for us."
Obi-Wan was quiet for a minute, watching how the datapad shook in Cody's hand. "If we leave now, none of you will make it back."
"We'll follow you all the way, sir."
Obi-Wan was briefly distracted by a flash of anger. He glanced in the general direction, where Elder was bristling. The two black-furred pups -distinct in the muddle of green and browns of the other pups- mimicked his low growl. Mother sitting nearby to watch Obi-Wan and Cody as well.
"Sir?" Cody asked.
"On the other hand, staying the night might not be a good idea," Obi-Wan murmured. "Not here, at least."
"They probably blame us for the attack," Cody said, a wince in his voice.
"Then perhaps the sooner we leave, the better," Obi-Wan said. "Cody, see to the men. I'll speak to the leader."
Cody nodded and returned to the others, who hadn't noticed the tension coming from Elder. The rest of the Bouresh remained cheerful, fondling the other clones as much as they were allowed.
Obi-Wan appreached Elder, who promptly moved toward the edge of the crowd. Obi-Wan took his lead, unsurprised when Elder stopped outside the group and pushed Obi-Wan a few steps further.
"I do apologize for the mess," Obi-Wan said. He had the impression that Elder understood Basic to some degree, so he kept his voice pleasant and message simple. "But they should leave you alone now. I'll just take my men and leave you in peace."
Obi-Wan turned toward the center, then found his path blocked by Elder's paw. He looked up at the Bourick's jowled face.
Elder growled a phrase Obi-Wan had heard with increasing frequency in the further villages. He didn't know the exact words, but understood the meaning to be asking for the clones to stay.
Obi-Wan didn't understand the Bouresh's fascination with him and the clones. He guessed it had to do with humans being so much smaller than the Bouresh. Maybe Bouresh thought they were pups and wanted them to stay to protect them. It was an amusing gesture, really, having the Bouresh politely request to keep one of Obi-Wan's men or, on occasion, Obi-Wan himself.
Still smiling, Obi-Wan shook his head and pointed back the way they'd come. "Sorry, but we're all quite fond of each other and would rather stay together."
"General?" Cody asked. His feet scuffed on the rocky path as he stepped to where he could see Obi-Wan.
"It's fine, Cody," Obi-Wan said. "Though they aren't mad with us. They would really like us to stay."
Cody huffed and shook his head, then glanced at where Tangle laid, shooing off Skipper's attempts at doctoring his injuries. He looked at Obi-Wan, then shrugged a shoulder.
"Perhaps for the night?" Obi-Wan asked Elder. "We can't stay any longer than that, I'm afraid."
Elder shook his head and pushed Obi-Wan back another step. Obi-Wan's smile slipped. The Bouresh in the past hadn't ever pushed for anyone to stay, and Obi-Wan was getting the distinct impression that Elder had drawn him away intentionally.
"Cody," Obi-Wan said slowly, keeping his voice pleasant, "I do think you should come over here."
Elder growled. Mother quickly reached out, snagging Cody's arm before he could move away. The other clones jumped, just realizing something was wrong when Cody struggled futilely. Bouresh grabbed the men before they could move.
"Wait!" Obi-Wan barked, tensing-
Whap!
Intent on Cody and the others, Obi-Wan never saw Elder's paw coming until it smacked him full in the face. His back hit the dirt and his lightsaber flew out of his fingers.
Obi-Wan blinked once, then scrambled to his feet. He jerked away from a second swipe a second too late, the tip of Elder's paw catching his arm and spinning him around. Obi-Wan staggered backward, forcefully collecting his senses with a sharp inhale.
His men weren't hurt; Obi-Wan checked them first. For all their size and strength, the Bouresh restraining the clones used gentle paws and soothing growls. Mother picked up a fiercely writhing Cody, carefully holding him in the manner of one attempting to calm an angry, hissing tooka.
Not so with Elder or the grizzled Bouresh joining him. They bared their teeth and drew themselves up with deep-throated growls.
Obi-Wan reflexively looked behind him, but the street held only destroyed droids. He turned back, giving a bit of ground when Elder advanced. His mind raced as he checked his men again. Unhurt, but still being held or blocked with paws. It was as if the villagers were protecting the clones.
From Obi-Wan.