AN: The Kenobi Scandal will be finished this year. I would say within a week but the chapters keeping fleshing themselves out soooo…..
UPDATES: I will bounce around between A Making of Mavericks and The Darkness Between the Stars (not a time travel fic, la gasp!) for the next few months. Significant Brain Damage: Is the next fic that will be finished, however, it is on a slight pause. I just picked up two more Claudia Gray books and the Trilogy books. Leia is feeling a bit hollow for me at the moment and I want Significant Brain Damage to reach comfortably 300K, so I am researching into the Legends and the extended canon!
Chapter 16 - Jedi Lost
Satine was worried about her husband.
To say Obi-Wan had arrived back in her life and completely uprooted everything. It had started with the Sky Corps that had landed on her planet.
She knew most of her people accounted Obi-Wan for being the reason she had broken with her imposing Pafacism on her people. Certainly, Obi-Wan had been the catalyst by not the reason. The reason had been on the Security Chief's lips.
Had the 7th Sky Corps have pushed an attack, there was nothing they could have done to stop them.
Followed by her guard not only allowing the clones among their ranks, but welcoming them, grateful for the support.
It was until that moment did she realize how badly she had crippled her people, and Mandalore was too vital on the larger scale in relation to the rest of the galaxy.
They were Mandalorians, they shouldn't have needed any outsiders' help to protect them.
As much as she loved Obi-Wan, she shouldn't have needed him to protect her.
Her father had raised her better than that.
For Kriff's sake, it was the invitation of the Jedi to Mandalore by Death Watch that had started the civil war that had torn her world apart. Her father would have been appalled had the danger she had placed them all in.
Her own sister turning traitor was the final stroke. Satine, however, would not regret her passed policies, because despite the extreme measures she had taken, it had allowed an era of peace after a period of great loss and chaos.
The Concordia Academy was Obi-Wan's doing, it was an absolute stroke of genius. Bringing back the warriors from their exile on the Concordia moon, that she had imposed on them, not in shame or reluctance, or even 'you've been good, here's a cracker': no, it had welcomed them back into the wider system with honour, an embarrassing of their history and honour, of the good parts that made up their history without ignoring or commending the bad.
Clan honour was only a problem when their talents were turned against themselves. The Academy provided a place for both individual clan pride and Mandalorian unity. Brought together, not because she as a dictator had degreed it, but from the common values they all shared; protecting family, protecting their honour as people.
Her people were thriving, and the clones had been welcomed as, unbeknownst to them, as foundlings.
She had it on good authority that once it became common knowledge that the oldest clone was fourteen standard years old, they had been fully claimed as Mandalorians. Not that anyone treated them as children, but by Mandalorian standards, what had been done to them was beyond criminal. Had Kamino not been overthrown and remade into the System of Zuko, the Kaminoans would have discovered what constituted clan justice.
But as her people thrived, her husband seemed to be spiralling.
The Republic was in shambles, the Separatists were more a political movement than enemy military force, and yet, and yet…
The war was far from over, dragging on, month after month. The Jedi Order and the GAR arrived only to protect Republic planets from what were more like pirate raids than the droid battlefields the war had been.
But Count Dooku and General Grievous were very much alive and kicking. Dooku appealed to Republic systems to let the Separatist planets go, while the Republic cried out for revenge for the Coursanti Senate Terrorist Attack.
The Republic was turning on itself, hatred was rising against the Jedi who refused to take revenge on the Separatist planets that were all but defenceless at this point.
It was a mess, one that Obi-Wan seemed to be taking as a personal failure.
He seemed to believe if they just got rid of Grievous, Count Dooku, and the Chancellor, Darth Sidious, that everything would be righted.
Satine wasn't so sure, but she had no idea how to pull Obi-Wan back from the worry eating away at his soul.
Obi-Wan's grimness, his sharp wit turning lethal at times, were all reminders that no matter how young he seemed, he had spent the last two decades in self-imposed isolation in the desert after losing everyone and everything he loved aside from Luke.
Poor Luke was taking the full brunt of Obi-Wan's rising paranoia.
Satine flinched as Obi-Wan scored a solid right hook into the side of Luke's face as they duelled.
She always knew Obi-Wan was a superb warrior, she was even training her to use the Darksabre, but she hadn't accounted what would happen to Jedi Knights if in addition to their own training they were also taught by clone soldiers and Mandalorians warriors.
The answer?
She was pretty sure she had married the most lethal man in the galaxy.
Her father would have been proud.
Bo had laughed herself sick in her prison cell.
Satine dearly wished she could forgive her sister, but the courts were deciding her fate for killing their nephew.
Kinslaying wasn't something their laws took lightly, especially as Korkie had still been a minor.
"Again, Luke," Obi-Wan instructed, "You must be able to defeat me."
Satine thought this massively unfair, no matter how talented Luke was, he had maybe two years of training. The boy was a far cry from the moisture farmer he had started his journey as.
Luke slipped as Obi-Wan brought his blue sabre down on pink with staggering force.
"Master Kenobi!" Ahsoka cried from the sidelines as Obi-Wan brought his sabre down towards Luke's exposed side.
But Luke Kenobi was down, not defeated.
He rolled toward Obi-Wan and the two began wrestling.
Satine's mouth went dry as she watched the two most important men her life grapple with lightsabres in their hands.
Luke managed to get a knee into Obi-Wan's gut, winding him enough that he got his orange-pink lightsabre a hair's breadth under her husband's still clean shaven, chin.
"Well done," Obi-Wan managed breathly.
Luke turned off his sabre and rolled to his back with a groan.
Satine walked to them, Ashoka and Appo following closely behind.
She crossed her arms and looked down into Obi-Wan's sweaty face, "Was that necessary?"
Ahsoka also crossed her arms, "Coming from the person who is newly able to perform their own form, I thank you're pushing him too far, Master Kenobi."
Luke sighed, but he didn't open his eyes even as he said in an exhausted tone, "I'm still breathing."
Satine rolled her eyes and offered a hand up to her husband, who took her hand, coming to his own feet with ease, using instead her offered gesture as a way to pull her to him.
She didn't mind that at all.
Ahsoka knelt by Luke's side and poked his arm with a finger, "Psst, baby Kenobi, are you dying?"
Luke made a noncommittal noise.
Then she poked his side and he flinched away, exclaiming, "Ow!"
Ahsoka was instantly apologetic, her eyes going wide. an apology on her lips.
But Luke was a terrible actor, and he was already laughing at his fellow Padawan's expression.
This time, when Ahsoka jabbed him in the side, his exclamation wasn't faked.
As Satine watched the two young Jedi start into spar, despite Ahsoka still being newly steady and Luke probably delirious with overexertion, Satine was pretty sure the only difference between Jedi younglings and Mandalorians foundlings, as well as Padawans and Mandalorian youth were the Jedi also training their young in the ways of the Force.
She leaned into Obi-Wan even as she watched Luke carefully.
The boy had been in one of the most demanding training retinues she had ever seen. Luke was actually training harder than Obi-Wan.
In a low voice she asked, "What's wrong?"
"I can't lose him, Satine," he said, "I can't lose another Padawan to Darth Sidious."
She wrapped her arm around his waist, "He has to be able to keep with the other Knights."
"He hasn't been able to beat me yet," he said with a thread of darkness in his voice.
She rested her head against his chest, and she felt his shoulders ease.
Sometimes, Obi-Wan could be... almost disturbed by touch, other times, it seemed to surprise him how much he enjoyed being close to another person.
"Darth Sidious defeated Grandmaster Yoda. Anakin bowed to him, for decades. I ruined his career, Dooku almost killed him and is now actively working against him. Yet we can't find either of them. What if they have taken on other apprentices? What if they found a new plan? As it is, even if the Chancellor was publicly accused of being a Sith with evidence, most of the Senate, the Republic at large, might not believe, might not care."
Satine didn't know what to say to this, because he wasn't wrong. The media had begun speculation as Dooku switched his campaign to a political one that the Sith weren't all that different from the Jedi.
They were just Force sensitives who didn't like the 'mysterious' Order of the Jedi.
That wasn't such an outrageous notion.
Such thinking meant that a Sith openly controlling the Senate wouldn't necessarily be a problem for most.
"But Luke won't be on his own, he'll have you. Obi-Wan, I cannot believe there is a finer dueller than you. I'm told you cut through Maul like he was nothing. A duel with Darth Sidious might take longer, but my love, that's your strength. Your endurance is second to none."
He looked down at her, his thoughts miles away.
But before he could say what had occurred to him, Gregor came into the room, "Sir, Duchess, the Court is preparing to release their verdict."
Satine's own worries rose in her throat.
Due to clan fighting, it had long been ruled that personal to the sitting Duke or Duchess would be decided by the Prime Minister and the court.
Satine missed her nephew fiercely, but the thought of losing Bo too…
Obi-Wan kissed her brow, "No matter they decide, we'll get through it."
It was her own words, but devoid of his normally ever present lilt of sarcasm, the words bolstered her.
She nodded and Obi-Wan signalled to Cody and Appo to keep an eye out on Ahsoka and Luke.
Not that they needed babysitters, but Appo at least would ensure they both stretched and Cody had taken the lead on ensuring that all of Kix's suggestions and instructions were followed.
Ahsoka was still recovering and Luke was pushing the limits that he could physically handle.
As Satine and Obi-Wan joined Gregor said, "They also are deciding on the fates of Asajj Ventress and her apprentice, Feral Oppress."
Obi-Wan didn't say anything to this, neither did she.
She wasn't sure if Obi-Wan understood how the law was likely to fall on the two would be Sith. By Mandalorian law, they hadn't done anything truly criminal. Mandalore remained a neutral system, as such, anything they had done for the Separatists wasn't punishable, any Jedi they had killed was more likely to get a pat on the back than a mark in their record. As for their association with Death Watch.
They had illegally entered the planet's orbit, but they hadn't assisted Death Watch to their knowledge, nor had they resisted arrest.
Satine didn't know what Obi-Wan would think when they got off with little to no punishment. The only thing Satine could think that might either work against the two Dathomirians was that as they had entered their prison system, by galactic law, they became Mandalore's problem. If they were simply released and did great harm, the system's neutrality could become fragile.
Bo was either going to be executed or exiled in dishonour.
Satine's heart broke for either outcome. After today, she may never see her sister again.
Obi-Wan took her hand as they walked, and it felt like a lifeline as they entered the throne room.
"Duchess Satine Kryze Kenobi," the guard announced after the doors shut behind them, "and Duke Obi-Wan Kenobi of Mandalore."
Dimly, Satine was aware of the two Zabracks, Asajj looked bored, though slightly amused at seeing Obi-Wan and her counterpart looked, well, terrified.
He must have been a very new addition to the Sith. Both were shackled, five fully armed guards to each.
But Satine only had eyes for her sister.
She wore no eye patch. The eye had been taken and the dipped socket made Satine's stomach churn.
Bo-Katan left the healing wound bare for Satine's balance.
Hypocrite. For years you suffocated our people, yet when it came to your own life, you tried to kill your own sister.
Satine had said nothing, she was done explaining herself to anyone. Mandalore was thriving, her people were thriving, the land itself was being cultivated again, slowly but surely, native species were being reintroduced, donated by zoos within the Core, and rescued from trappers who sold the animals to private collectors.
That would not have been possible had Satine not forced her people to put down their arms, long enough to grieve, long enough to realize that living for their future was infinitely better than dying for past vendettas.
Satine took in a breath, and released it, letting her mind clear of her doubts and fears so she could be in the moment.
It was something Master Qui-Gon Jinn had taught her when her world had literally been burning down around her.
She took her seat, facing the room and the prisons with a serene expression, Obi-Wan took the position to her right on the same step her feet rested on, folding his hands with an equally calm expression.
She knew he was going to grow back his beard, she even agreed it suited him better. His face was too young for the sorrow in his eyes.
But she would love every part of him, every degree of him.
Always.
Her Prime Minister, Chakraborty of the Concordia Moon addressed the room without deliberation.
"Heiress Bo-Katan Kryze of Clan Kryze is hereby found guilty of murdering her own kin, a minor, Korkie Kryze."
Attempting to kill her own sister was seen as moot, as an inter clan cue was only clan business. Satine had chosen to wave her own right to distribute punishment, which might have been seen as weak, except the murder of her own nephew was a crime that took clear president.
"As such, Bo-Katan is stripped of all title and clan, even if, in the highly unlikely situation that the rest of Clan Kryze perishes, and we somehow run out of Kenobi's-" that got a few chuckles as everyone in the 7th Sky Corps was Clan Kenobi, and already marriages had taken place integrating them more solidly within Mandalore, the chances of killing off every Kenobi would have been a rather spectacular feet, "Bo-Katan will never be eligible as representing Clan Kryze or Kenobi."
Satine let out a slow breath even as Bo sneered up at her.
Her sister would live.
Chakraborty continued, "Her exile will be permanent and irreversible. If ever-" and this time he addressed Bo directly rather than the assembled court and guards, "you raise a weapon against a fellow Mandalorian with the intent of harm, you will be executed."
Bo spoke for the first time, "What if I'm attacked?"
Chakraborty stared at her with absolutely no sympathy, "Then I would suggest you avoid angering Mandalorians and stay out of their way in the wider galaxy. If ever you are seen or return to the Mandalore System, you will also be executed."
Bo-Katan's face went red, and Satine tensed, waiting for one of her sister's outraged rants about the unfairness of things, but Bo didn't disgrace them. Holding her tongue and swallowing her complaints, she raised her chin in defiance.
When she stayed, remarkably, quiet, Chakraborty moved onto the Zabraks.
Feral's amber eyes were so wide, so terrified, Satine felt almost compelled to give the boy a hug.
How could this male have been Darth Maul's twin brother?
Asajj, counter wise, cocked her hip, "Well finally, I expected you all to be quicker with a conviction. Silly politicians."
"Not even going to wait for the verdict before wagging your tongue, Ventress?" Obi-Wan chided with an insufferable smirk.
Satine was taken aback by the lightness of his tone, the fondness. Weren't they enemies?
Asajj made a purring sound that was vulgar in nature but too reminiscent of an actual cat to be anything but, well, odd, "I'm surprised, Kenobi, finally breaking your vows of chastity. Though I'm not surprised that you became a politician, I am a bit offended that you didn't seek me out before," she flicked her gaze to Satine, "committing yourself."
Obi-Wan actually laughed, startling Satine, and she looked up at her husband who's expression had lightened, "Oh, it looks like you moved on without me. After the Count and I, you've finally found someone your own age."
Satine gaped at her husband. Did he just publicly admit to having a past affair with a Sith? And accuse the same female of sleeping with her Sith Master?
Asajj laughed, "In your dreams, darling."
"Unfortunately, my dreams don't include your ugly mug. In fact, you've yet to even make an appearance in my nightmares," Obi-Wan quipped back.
Asajj pouted, but she leaned into Feral and ran a tongue up the other Zabrak's cheek.
Feral seemed surprised by this but some tension went out of him as he pressed his shoulder to Asajj's, nearly leaning on the slight female for support. She seemed more than capable of carrying his weight, as her gaze flicked to the guards who had come to attention.
Asajj continued her verbal spar with Obi-Wan, "You've yet to taste inked flesh, Kenobi, you wouldn't be so dismissive if you had."
Chakraborty called it then, "Would you like to hear your verdict? Or would you rather me shoot you to save all from the depiction of your fantasies."
"Isn't a blaster bolt how the Mandalorians execute their convicts?" she asked.
Chakraborty nodded, "It is, however, you and Feral Oppress have been cleared of all charges. Your crimes against the Republic are not Mandalore's concern."
Asajj blinked at him, "Really?"
"However," he continued, "as Mandalore is yet a Republic system-"
Asajj's face closed down, "You are handing us over to the Jedi Order."
Chakraborty snorted, "No, that is not the way. However, as long as you remain within the Mandalorian system, the court has agreed to grant you both with asylum. The possibility of citizenship will depend on your actions in the next six months. If you were to leave the Mandalorian system, you would be re-apprehended and turned over to the Republic Senate -what remains of it at any rate, and if you were to resist, we would use force."
Asajj's surprise was evident in the silence that followed. "You do realize," she began slowly, "as an assassin, slipping past your security measures are far from impossible."
Chakraborty smiled, "Of course, but it is important that the token effort be made in the eyes of the Senate. But if I might appeal to your own benefit, that asylum would include food, shelter, possible employment, and transportation. You will not be left in the streets."
She barked a laugh, "Why? What possible reason could you possibly have for not turning me over to the Senate now? Mandalorians traditionally respect bounties on non-Mandalorians."
Chakraborty stared at her, "Yours is a closed case, this is not the place-"
"For what? To list how many people I killed? For the terrorist attacks I assisted, for all-"
"Your history speaks for more criminal action taken against you than by you," Chakraborty interrupted, "As for Feral Oppress, his record is clean, but for his own protection, we offer asylum. Unlike you, he is free to leave."
"I am not leaving her," Feral said with a snarl.
Satine finally saw the family resemblance.
Asajj leaned into the male a bit more, silencing him, and she demanded, "And what about my history leads you to trust me."
"Trust," Obi-Wan said, "might be taking it a bit far."
"Then what?" Asajj demanded, all humour and teasing gone from her demeanour, "Why offer me asylum?"
Obi-Wan cocked his head, "You and I have teamed up in the past to save our mutual hides. Why are you so disturbed with a verdict that leans in your favour?"
"Because you're still hunting the Sith."
"You are not a Sith, Asajj," Obi-Wan said, "you are a lost Padawan who was, for a time, taught in the Sith arts."
"I am not a Padawan," Asajj growled, "And even if I was, that only worsens my position. So what was it? Tell me!"
She nearly bellowed the last.
Satine watched this unfold, unable to place Asajj's rapid alteration between emotions.
Chakraborty spoke, "It was your history, which is admissible in Mandalorian court in this case. I would need your permission to speak openly about it before this assembly."
"You have it if you'll answer my kriffing questions," she snarled, her nostrils flaring.
Chakraborty nodded, and held out his hand to one of his aids, who immediately handed him a datapad, he began reading without much between each revelation, "You were sold into slavery to pirates by your own mother and clan leader. A pirate you grew attached to only to have him murdered during a revolution, at which point you were found by a rogue Jedi Knight, Ky Narec. Who trained you on Rattatak while ruling the planet and subsequent criminal organizations as a dictator. Narec trained in the Jedi arts but failed to connect you with the larger Jedi Order, which by all rights, should have been your people.
"Narec's death orphaned you for a third time. You were able, for a time, to avenge your traitorous mentor who left you with nothing and no one, to take over Rattatak for a brief reign. You were overthrown and imprisoned in a place known as 'The Pit', where you routinely battled to the death with fellow prisoners as a part of gambling and sentient trafficking organization.
"This was where yet another rogue Jedi discovered you. Count Dooku, Sith Lord and criminal mastermind. Who trained you not as an apprentice but an assassin. You were plunged onto the frontlines of a Galactic Civil War. Only you did too well, and Count Dooku turned on you, fearing your power.
"You have been running ever since, taking the odd bounty hunter job and skirting the Republic. You may have briefly aligned with the Sith again as well as Death Watch, however, you took no criminal action against Mandalore, your possible intentions notwithstanding your peaceful surrender. So tell us, Lost Jedi Knight Asajj Ventress, what part of your illustrious career was of your own making and not the result of desperation or coercion?"
Satine felt her heart twist, and she gazed at the famed assassin, and saw a young female who had been treated cruelly by the galaxy.
Her voice was oddly toneless as she asked, "How do you know any of that?"
"Duke Kenobi informed us when we spoke of initial intentions of turning you over to the Senate."
Asajj gazed at Obi-Wan with disbelief, "How-"
"I made it my business to learn about your past, Asajj," Obi-Wan replied.
"But why?" she asked, "Because of pity? None of this changes what I've done."
"And you believe my hands are so clean?" Obi-Wan returned. "It was not pity that moved me, Asajj. Ky Narec was a crechemate of my Master, Qui-Gon Jinn. I knew him briefly, he was a strange man, and vain. His dearest wish was to be chosen by Master Dooku as his Padawan, and Narec was never at ease with Qui-Gon who Dooku chose instead. Narec failed on one of his missions, and instead of returning to the Temple to admit his faults, he faked his death."
"He didn't fake his death," Asajj bared her teeth, "the Order abandoned him."
"His faked death was odd, his death report noted, that there was indeed a chance he had survived, however, no one but him could have faked that evidence in that way. It was his choice to leave. The Order does not compel its members to leave, the manner of his departure was disheartening but not our place to force him back."
Asajj looked disturbed by this, "My Master was a great man."
"He was quite exceptional, as are most Jedi who reach Knighthood. But he was a disgrace, not for his cowardice but for failing you. You should have been raised at the Temple. We can still be the same people."
"I am not a Jedi," she said.
"Mandalore is not the Jedi Order," Obi-Wan said gently.
"Why?"
"Because it is the least we owe you. Not that it makes up for anything, not that it truly absolves you of anything, but you deserve the chance to decide the own direction of your life. We can offer you shelter to start that. Once the war is over, you will be free to travel wherever you wish."
Asajj cocked her head, "Fine, I'll stay. And we shall see Duke, if you prove more honourable than your predecessors."
"Of that," Satine speaking for the first time, "you can safely rely."
Asajj smirked at her, raising her hands, the cuffs falling off where she had managed the mechanism somehow on her own.
Well, maybe not on her own as Feral's hands were suddenly free as well.
"Careful, your Majesties," Asajj said with a smile that was more teeth than anything else, "Safe isn't a word you should toss around so lightly."
Bo laughed, "I shouldn't have bothered trying to kill you sister, you're doing such a good job of getting it done yourself."
Satine stiffened, but Obi-Wan put a hand on her shoulder, "I will vouch for Asajj Ventress, she will harm no one who does not offer her violence first."
For Obi-Wan to say such a thing, when he had been stressing for years and years about the galaxy and the people he loved...
Satine took him at his word, despite her sister's sharp words and Asajj's own opinion on the matter.
It was funny, Anakin had just achieved what was possibly the greatest success of his military career, but at this moment, he couldn't care less.
The galaxy fell away as he held his baby daughter in his arms.
Leia Amidala Skywalker hadn't even opened her eyes yet, and yet for Anakin, she was every star in the sky.
He had been plagued with so many nightmares of late, knowing from Obi-Wan that Padme had died in childbirth once had only made it worse.
Yet is wild, dauntless, independent wife, had signed herself into a hospital apartment for the three weeks before Leia's due date. While Anakin continued to scour the galaxy, picking up the pieces of a broken Republic and destroying the remnants of Separatist weapons still on Republic systems.
The Senate had yet to acknowledge the Separatist planets as being apart from the Republic, but the Jedi Order had, and the Order had the army. It both made them a lot of friends and a lot of enemies. But as Master Mace Windu stepped up as a political power in the Senate had resonated with just about everyone.
"We must fortify and rebuild our federation before we can enforce morality on systems who took up arms against us because the Republic could neither offer them security or unity. The war was never the preference of the Jedi Order. There is no winning a civil war, only death and suffering."
Furthermore, with such much free time on their hands for those stationed on Coruscant, the Jedi Order had begun venturing into the lower levels.
Public education was being offered to all, transported escorted by Knights and clone soldiers to take children to the upper levels.
It wasn't something that the upper or even middle classes on the surface approved of, but as it turned out, the majority of Coruscant's population lived below the surface.
The Senate might be pissed at the Order, but the Jedi popularity on their home planet had skyrocketed.
It was quickly becoming a world that he would be proud to bring his daughter to.
Padme laid her hand over his where he supported their daughter, "She's healthy and we are both safe. Some dreams, Ani, are just dreams."
Anakin could have cried, but he settled for kissing his wife's cheek, "Thank you, Padme."
She smiled up at him, her brow still dewed with sweat, the exhaustion of giving birth clear, but she had never looked more beautiful, "I love you too."
Anakin grinned, his gaze tugged back to his daughter. He was under absolutely no delusions that both his wife and his daughter had him wrapped around their fingers.
But he was okay with that.
Quinlan Vos wasn't sure what to think about the changes in the Order or the fact that they knew the Supreme Chancellor was Sith Lord yet could do nothing about it.
All he knew was that he was grateful that the war had slowed down. Not that they had less to do, but the number of army to army firefights were, for the seeable future, over.
So what was Quinlan doing wandering the underground following behind a hobbling Yoda?
Simple, Kriffing Kenobi had told them to pursue every single lead, no matter how small, no matter how vague the rumour in the hopes that they would keep the Chancellor on the run. The closer they watched the traitor the less harm he could do.
That was the hope.
"Master Yoda," Quin said, "we've been at this for hours."
Not that it would have taken quite so long if Yoda had simply let himself be carried, but no 'touch the ground, I must.'
Only the ground was filthy, and Quin had spent most of his time trying to keep foot traffic from running their Grandmaster over.
"Speak to me the Force does. Darkness I sense, follow I must. Clouded too long as my vision been," Yoda said, not turning around as Quin glowered at a pickpocket.
Sticky Fingers skittered away down an alley.
Yoda looked like the old sentient he was, and no one's first assumption about Quin was 'Jedi Knight', a thing he had used to his advantage on multiple occasions.
His background in undercover work was why Yoda had picked him for the company, rather than his favoured partner, Mace Windu who had become public figure number two after Kenobi made himself the galaxy's greatest spectacle.
Quin could not pretend to understand the dramatic changes in a man he had seen grow up, but he was happy for him.
Quin was only put out that he hadn't the opportunity to rib the man about his illicit affair. Luke Kenobi was probably Satine's child, but he supposed it didn't matter as Mandalorian law didn't differentiate between adopted and blood kin children.
Frankly, it was easy to see how a Jedi Knight might adapt well to such a society, despite their history.
Yoda came to an abrupt halt, and Quin nearly tripped over him.
Quin looked around, then caught sight of an alley.
He wasn't sure if it was his imagination, this particular alley seemed darker than all the rest.
Yoda didn't look back as he stepped into the darkened space. Quinlan had his hand on his sabre hilt as they approached the dead end.
The oddest thing about the alley, turned out not to be the lack of light ambient or otherwise, but the smell.
This particular level of the underground was far enough down that everything smelled from waste and lack of even the attempt of maintenance.
But not this alley... It wasn't clean per se, but it had the feel of a place that had gone long unoccupied by any living thing.
Yoda spoke very softly, "Connecting point this is, far from the surface we are, yet not far from routes easily connected to the Senate distract, is this."
Exactly the recipe for a hideout for a politician.
But Quin's foreboding rose when Yoda abruptly lit his sabre and cut a hall through the nearest wall.
It took a few minutes, but no alarms sounded as Quin got on his knees to crawl in after the little green Master.
What they found?
Was not a rundown apartment.
Quin closed his eyes, the layers upon layers of metal levels, extended far deeper than they should. There was a breeze here, a cave with opening points.
But the darkness was thicker here. And it was not a physical darkness.
This time, Yoda did take Quin's offered shoulder as they crept through the space, his soft boots making hardly a sound on the metal grate beneath his feet. The red lights bled out any other colour, making the shadows of what was a maze of industrial tunnels black and vast.
Quin was afraid to breathe lest the halls magnify the sound.
"Deeper, we must go," Master Yoda instructed as they came to a metal staircase leading both up and down.
So down they went, and down, and down.
When he had lost count of how many stairs he had taken down what had become clear was a service escape, he finally reached a door with a window.
Quin went to the side and peeked through.
He sucked in a breath.
Kaminoans.
Almost two dozen Kaminoans, all wearing slave collars and a handful of military humans. He recognized a few as men who had been 'relieved' of their positions after the Order had merged with the military wholesale.
"Cloning," Yoda whispered, "deeper yet we must venture.
Quin was ready to call for backup, but Yoda urged him, "Quickly we must act."
Quin slowed his own misgivings and turned down the last set of stairs. When his feet touched the ground, he was almost shocked at the feel of true stone. He understood what Yoda had meant about feeling the ground. The ground beneath his feet was true Coruscanti stone, and there was power here, such power.
The Force twirled around him, "Master," he began in an urgent whisper, "we shouldn't be here."
Before Yoda could respond the sound of a lightsaber activating brought a chill running up his back even as Yoda hopped down, and two green lights illuminated the dimly lit space, a natural cave that had been transformed into a training room of some sort.
"No," said a grating voice, "you should not."
"Darth Sidious," Yoda greeted, "Many secrets you have, over this is now, before the Senate you will never stand again."
Darth Sidious cackled and despite knowing their Chancellor was an evil bastard, Quin was still taken aback by the cruel madness about this man who had played the kindly and competent leader of the Senate.
"Master Yoda, too far from your Temple have you wandered."
"Not alone, am I."
Sidious cackled again, "Your arrogance blinds you. Now you will witness the full power of the Dark Side!"
Quin threw himself in front of Yoda as a bolt of Sith Lightning struck him.
Force it hurt. It was like his being, his essence, his very life, was caught in a live wire.
But it didn't last, Quin struggled to his hands and knees as the sound of clashing sabres.
Quin wasn't sure he had ever seen Yoda fight.
But he finally had an apparition for Kenobi killing the Sith's Apprentice.
Mother of Starlight, Darth Sidious was- playing with Yoda.
Using the wall for support, Quin managed to get to his feet, calling his fallen sabre back to his hand.
"I have waited a long time for this moment, my little green friend. I will break your Order, a pity you will not live long enough to witness it."
Quin was pretty sure he had also never seen Yoda truly enraged, "Not if anything to say about it I have!"
Yoda Force-flung Palpatine across the room, the man rolling in a graceless heap on the ground.
"At an end, your rule is. And not short enough, it was!"
But as Yoda raced to deliver a fatal blow, the Dark Lord rose like a leviathan from the depths of Mon Cala.
Quin was very lucky his own didn't shatter as they were thrown back.
Yoda was braced for it, Quin fell back to his knees, dazed.
Some Jedi Master he was being.
Yoda, however, kept going.
"This is where I trained my first apprentice," Darth Sidious said lightly, seeming to take joy in being able to unleash himself on their Jedi Grandmaster. "Isn't it amusing that had you not just listened to your own apprentice, Master Dooku, we wouldn't be here today."
Yoda caught a bolt of lightning in his palm and pitched it back at the Dark Lord who danced out of the way.
Quin hoped when he was their age he was so nimble.
"My apprentice first he was, failed him I did, use him you do. Never important to you was he."
Sidious laughed, "You're right, of course. Yet my assassin killed Master Qui-Gon Jinn, the sole man who could have thrown a wrench in my plans."
"Master Kenobi, done worse, has he."
Sidious's humour faltered and he snarled, "Obi-Wan Kenobi will live to see me tear apart his son. My empire will rise from their ashes."
And Sidious pulled a second sabre from his cloak, and Yoda began to falter.
"Vos! Run you must! Contact the surface!" Yoda called.
Quin didn't hesitate, his head was swimming, his body ached from the lightning, and he wouldn't have been able to spar with Darth Sidious on a good day.
That much was clear.
Still Quin's heart lurched as he left Yoda to cover his retreat.
Quin pulled on the Force to help him speed up the steps.
Lightning hit the metal grate and Quin screamed as he was unable to pull his hand away from the metal rail held onto.
He was going to die tonight, far, far from the surface, from his home and people. And no one was going to know what had happened to them.
The lightning stopped and Yoda grunted as Sidious cackled some more.
Quin didn't give in to the pain, shoving his discomfort to the Living Force that was already in a bad mood, he plowed through, taking the steps three at a time.
Deciding the stairwell was a death trap, he barged through one of the doors that had no windows. He didn't pause to try to identify the storage crates as he raced toward the turbo lift directly across the room, his body protesting each footfall.
He didn't call the lift, he cut a hole through the door, which did cause strobe alarms. If Darth Sidious didn't kill them, there were going to be at least five disgruntled captains and majors who had a bone to pick with the Order.
Thankfully, the lift was below them, and the emergency procedures locking it in place, hooking his sabre on his belt, he began to climb the cable.
He was two floor ups when Yoda caught up to him. The Grandmaster hopped easily onto his back, his breathing ragged in Quin's ear.
Quinlan made it up several more floors, the shaft extending so far up he had to wonder if it reached the surface.
Sidious's laughter echoed up the shaft, magnifying in rippling measure.
"Live," Yoda spoke in his ear, before he let go.
"Master!" Quin bellowed, but Yoda spun with sabre lit, cutting the cable, sending Quinlan shooting up into the darkness at such speeds that the Force lighting that licked up the shaft never reached him.
The lightning pittered off, and Quinlan understood that he couldn't have possibly heard it, he was too far away, but when Sidious sabres cut down into Yoda's body, Quin felt the wounds through his own heart.
He made it to the surface, but he would have given his life a thousand times over to not have lost Master Yoda like that.
The being who he had known since he was a youngling, whose abundance of light the Order had shaped itself around, blown out with sickening ease.
Obi-Wan woke gasping, the only thing that kept him sane in that moment was Satine's sleeping form spooned in his arms.
He reached out into the Force and found the surest light in the galaxy, the ever present star that had existed before him and had remained when all other lights went out, had faltered.
Winked out into the darkness.
Satine woke and tried to turn to face him but he held on to her burying his face in the curve of her neck.
"Obi-Wan," Satine said coaxingly, "it is just a dream."
He felt the tears spill as he said roughly, "Yoda is gone. He was the only one…"
Who had continued on into a broken future. Who had seen Obi-Wan through every trial and failure.
He was a part of the Force now, he shouldn't grieve. Yoda had certainly lived a full life.
But it was the final blow to Obi-Wan's nerves.
He had destroyed his own cursed past, yet that didn't mean that things couldn't alter into something far worse.
Satine arched in his arms, bringing her arm back to press his cheek to hers, her hand tangling in his hair.
"Hush, my love, it's okay to fall apart. I'll catch you, and in the morning we can put the pieces back together. It is alright to grieve."
He could argue that, but for tonight, just for tonight, he let himself fall into darkness and Satine followed him down.
AN: Thoughts, puppies, or feedback? Pretty please?