KEYnote!: In this story, I have destroyed the Clone Wars plotline from being possible. I will remind you that there is no time paradox and the pairings I mention will not be the pairings I follow ;)
Chapter 18 - Mistakes
Dooku was rather enjoying himself teaching Asajj Ventress. Had he not had so many other responsibilities he would have taken her as a Padawan. However, he could admit that Mor was able to relate with her better than he could.
One early morning, Mor finally joined them, and Dooku called him onto the mats, "You are out of practice, so practice."
He caught Asajj's smothered smile as Mor scowled, walking onto the mats with his golden-yellow saber.
Mor was ruthless, and Dooku saw why his duel had grown out of hand so quickly with Rey.
Rey was a survivalist, Mor was a killer, neither was wired to hold back in a real fight.
But even with Mor's bloodthirst, Dooku had little issue holding him off.
Obi-Wan was more difficult to duel because his fighting style almost demanded Dooku attack first.
The violence with which Mor and Asajj used against him, only worked to Dooku's advantage. Makashi was designed for lightsaber on lightsaber combat. Ataru and Niman were designed for battling multiple enemies at once.
He disarmed Mor thrice before he was able to rest one of Asajj's sabers from her.
However, Mor was not inapt, the longer they practised the more heavily Mor relied on Qui-Gon's teachings. And Qui-Gon, wise teacher that he was, hounded all his apprentices with the basics. The basics of which even Makashi was built on. This made Dooku's job in retraining the Shadow that much easier.
At sunrise, they broke for tea.
Mor made the tea as Asajj stretched.
"You seem troubled," she said to him as Mor came back with a tray of tea.
"Take a seat, Padawan Ventress," he commanded.
She sat.
"She's right," Mor said, taking the centre seat. "You're crankier than usual."
"Watch yourself, Shadow," Dooku said, turning his gaze toward the rising sun. The clouds were touched with pink, the traffic winking in the light like sparks from a fire.
The three of them sat in silence as they waited for the tea to steep. Only after Mor poured each of them a cup, and Dooku had his first sip, did Asajj try questioning him again. "It's Kenobi's mission, isn't it?"
Dooku sighed, the tea was good, but his mood had soured. "Yes, it bothers me. Rey should not have been sent on that mission, her relationship with her father is… complex."
Less complex if they just let the bastard die, he thought as Mor said, "Why is the Council even bothering to save one politician? Naboo has already replaced him in the Senate to much success. I didn't think it was possible to get an amendment passed that quickly. I assumed a mere bill on abolition would take years. So why is Palpatine being prioritized?"
"Yoda," Dooku hissed, "Yoda thinking he knows best. But Rey and Kenobi are Jedi down to the marrow in their bones, to test them this way, to test Qui-Gon in this way, it is cruel."
"Cruel how?" Asajj asked.
Dooku shook his head slightly, it was not his business to share, "Senator Palpatine is not a good man."
"So what?" she asked.
He gave her a look, "He's her father, and she wasn't raised at the Temple."
Asajj tapped her fingers on her teacup, "I am from a culture where our sires do not matter, no offence to your masculinity. But perhaps the way to help Rey isn't to harp on the father but rather to discover the reasoning of the mother. After all, it is the mother's choices that most affect the daughter."
Dooku sipped his tea.
The Jedi kept records on the family trees of all their initiates.
"Padawan Ventress, may I ask about your relationship with your mother?" he asked.
"She was forced to sell me into slavery when I was very young. I only reconnected with her recently."
Dooku went very still, "You forgave her?"
"It wasn't her choice," Asajj said, "I'm grateful that she wanted me, both then and now."
"And your father?"
"As I said, my sire means nothing to my people."
Dooku's mind was spinning as he reviewed what Rey had told him about her conflicted feelings about her father.
He had always liked Palpatine, as far as politicians went he wasn't so bad, he knew now that he was not at all what he had appeared to be.
What if Rey's unknown mother was something different?
He said I would be safe.
Dooku pinched the bridge of his nose. There was no excuse for selling one's child into slavery.
But here a girl sat across from him, the same age as Rey, and she had forgiven her mother.
Is that what they wanted though? Did they want Sheev Palpatine to be forgivable?
He knew Qui-Gon must be worried, having lost Xanatos to his father.
"Master Dooku," Asajj said gently, "whatever the truth is, it will be exposed eventually. I had more trouble accepting Ky's betrayal and lies than my mother's choices."
Dooku nodded, setting down his tea, he said, "Excuse me, Master Mor, Padawan Ventress, but there is something I must look into."
oOo
"Run the test again," Dooku ordered the healer, frustrated beyond belief.
Rey's maternal side had been isolated, though the mother herself wasn't in the system, hence why the initial genealogy test had come back with only Sheev Palpatine listed as her father.
But Rey's maternal grandparents had come up in the system. Dooku had used his access as Council member to tap into the intergalactic data files on Republic citizens.
"The same," the healer said.
Dooku sighed deeply, "What are the alternative reasons it could happen then?"
"Half siblings?" the healer said, her voice sounding dubious, "I mean it should show us which of their parents coupled with whom as all four are in the data files but…" she made a helpless gesture.
"What can you tell me for certain?" he pressed.
Mace walked into the room, "You're late, Dooku. What are you doing down here?"
The healer looked at Dooku.
He motioned with his hand, "Go ahead, explain to Master Windu what you have discovered."
She winced, but she didn't back down, "My programs are not wrong and I have seen both their charts. I can and have done this manually."
"And the result?" Dooku asked, fighting to keep the sneer out of his tone. It wasn't the healer's fault he was so on edge.
"He's her maternal grandfather."
Mace sighed, giving Dooku an annoyed look, "I feel that I will regret asking this, but who is whose grandfather?"
"Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi is Rey Palpatine's maternal grandfather," the healer stated with dignity.
Mace blinked at her, "They are within five years of the same age."
"Six years, actually," the healer stated.
"That's absurd," Mace said, "Kenobi could not have sired a child six years younger than himself, much less a grandchild."
The healer threw up her hands, "I don't know, but I do know they are related. As I was telling Master Dooku, it is possible they directly share a relative."
Dooku looked to his fellow Council member, "They have a right to know."
Mace looked at him, "What? You don't want me to tell them now, do you?"
"The sooner the better, there is something wrong, I can feel it."
Mace sighed, "And I suppose that feeling is why Sifo-Dyas sent me to go look for you." He pulled out a hologram caller, muttering as he did so, "This is ridiculous."
An image of Qui-Gon appeared, hands on his hips, "Yes, Mace?"
"Are you busy?"
"Not particularly," Qui-Gon said casually as someone shouted in the background: "JEDI SCUM!"
Mace raised a brow, "You sure?"
"It's being handled," he said, "The rathtars are not on our side of the freighter at any rate."
"Rathtars?" Dooku asked.
"The pirates had them," came Rey's cheerful voice. "Obi-Wan, pull that lever."
"You sure?"
"Pretty sure."
Qui-Gon's image walked forward then sat down on an invisible chair.
"I told you it was the right one," she said.
"Says the woman who released the rathtars," Obi-Wan said in a tone both dry and amused.
"It worked out."
Mace cleared his throat, "Are you all alright?"
"Yes," Qui-Gon said, "we are descending to Bandomeer now. What was the purpose of your call, Mace?"
Mace exchanged a look with Dooku, who he passed the hologram to.
"Ah, Master Dooku," Qui-Gon greeted warmly, "What's happened now?"
"Is Obi-Wan busy?"
"I can talk and copilot at the same time," came Obi-Wan's voice.
Qui-Gon's hologram image was replaced with Obi-Wan's, "Greetings, Master Dooku."
Dooku did not waste time on small talk, "Do you know the Duchess Satine Kryze from Mandalore?"
"Yes," Obi-Wan said at once, "Is she alright?"
Dooku frowned at his quick response, Is it possible that he remembers their family ties?
But Mace coughed, "Kenobi guarded her for a mission a few years back."
"Interesting," Dooku remarked, "The Duchess is your step-sister, Padawan Kenobi."
"What!?" Obi-Wan squeaked, and even though they couldn't really determine it through a hologram, the young man appeared to go pale.
"Damnit, Kenobi!" Rey cursed at him, "Master Dooku, please give us a minute so I can safely land the ship without Obi-Wan crashing us."
"I was not going to crash the ship."
"Says the man who just squeaked like a desert lizard run over by a speeder and went as white as a cotton bloom. Is it really that surprising that you're related to a Mandalorian?"
"Satine is not a Mandalorian -I mean, she is, but she isn't a warrior. She is a pacifist."
"Pacifism is for the rich, or for dead people."
"She isn't dead."
"Then she's rich."
"She was caught in a war when she was young. She has been trying to bring peace to her planet since then."
"Through pacifism?" Rey asked, "On Mandalore? Where a bunch of the galaxy's best warriors are from? That sounds like a great way to start a civil war."
Dooku adored Rey, sometimes she could be painfully naive, other times she saw straight through to the heart of the matter with remarkable simplicity.
Obi-Wan's scowl was humorous, and Dooku wondered if the boy had once had a crush on this Duchess.
They waited for another minute for their ship to land.
"Alright," Obi-Wan said, "can you repeat your statement and explain why you felt the need to tell me this on-mission?"
"Duchess Satine Kryze is by our best estimation your step-sister," Dooku repeated.
"Estimation?" Obi-Wan asked, "I'm sorry, Masters, what is the point of this conversation? Either she is or she isn't my step-sister. And to be clear, by step-sister, you mean related by marriage, not by genetics?"
"Estimation," Dooku went on, "because the alternative doesn't make any sense."
"Though it would be factual," the healer insisted.
"And an impossibility," Mace remarked lightly.
"The point?" Qui-Gon asked out of view.
"Duchess Satine Kryze is your step-sister as Rey Palpatine's mother is the Duchess's half-sister. Rey Palpatine's mother is also your half-sister, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Making Rey both yours and Duchess Kryze's niece," Dooku said. "And no, you and the Duchess are not related by blood, but we are unsure which of your parents are Rey's grandparents. I wanted to find out who her biological mother was, this was all I could discover. Who the mother is exactly remains unknown."
Obi-Wan's head turned, likely to stare at Rey.
Rey asked, "What was the impossible alternative?"
Dooku sighed, "That Duchess Satine Kryze and Obi-Wan Kenobi are your maternal grandparents."
Obi-Wan gaped at Dooku, before gaining his composure, "So Rey is my niece… that's -odd."
The healer cut in, "I have both yours and Rey's records, I can say with absolute certainty that the two of you are related. But unless cloning was involved, I can't exactly explain how."
Dooku felt Qui-Gon tug on their old bond, and Dooku opened the way for him.
Why are you bringing this up? Why now?
Dooku questioned in turn, Don't you want Rey to have a familiar connection that isn't Sheev Palpatine? Surely, her relation to Obi-Wan is a stroke of fortune.
Qui-Gon didn't respond to this as Obi-Wan said a bit shortly, "Is that all, Master Dooku, Master Windu?"
"Yes, Padawan Kenobi. May the Force be with you all."
"And with you," he responded, cutting the communication.
Mace looked at Dooku with a furrowed brow, "That couldn't have waited? You know Obi-Wan shouldn't know more about his family unless he had reason to request it. You know, willingly approached the Council himself."
Dooku bowed to the healer, ignoring Mace altogether, "Thank you for your help, if you find out anything further, please contact me. May the Force be with you."
"And with you, Council members."
They bowed and Mace followed Dooku out.
"Dooku, explain yourself, or so help me I will bring this up before the entire Council."
"Yoda made a mistake. Rey is loyal to the Jedi, but her father is dangerous."
Mace caught his arm, Dooku came to a stop, "You are afraid, why?"
Dooku glared down at the other man.
Mace did not let go.
The older Master sighed, "I fell for his charms, Mace. I believed in the stories he spun to me, the perspectives. The more I look back… was the Separatist movement my idea, or was it his? His words were sweet poison. I am seasoned, Rey is a child. She is his child. He has done her enough harm."
Mace let go of him, "Yoda should have let this mission pass, but the Chancellor asked us to intercede."
"This is a mistake," Dooku said gravely, "I feel it in the Force. We shouldn't have sent her to him."
Mace quirked a smile, "Well, thanks to you, we now know she's as much a Kenobi as she is a Palpatine. And the stars know, that boy has far more influence over her than anyone else."
"Obi-Wan Kenobi is a good man, but he doesn't understand the Dark, and for better or worse, the Dark knows Rey Palpatine."
Mace sighed, "Have faith, Dooku. The Force is with them."
Dooku knew this was true, but he also knew that what was good for the Force wasn't always good for the people he cared for.
He couldn't shake the feeling that the storm was building.
Obi-Wan Kenobi had not been nervous about this mission.
He had been frustrated. Rey shouldn't have been on this mission.
Sheev Palpatine wasn't worth saving.
But now with Dooku's revelations, he was unbalanced, distracted.
Satine was his step-sibling? Rey was his niece?
Obi-Wan didn't know his parents, he didn't really care to either. He was a Jedi, his parents had given him a good life. But he had fallen in love with Satine, he had even considered leaving the Order for her, he might have if she had asked.
To find they shared a relation was so many levels of- of- ick. He wasn't even sure if it mattered to him that they weren't technically blood.
Qui-Gon put a hand on his shoulder, "Rey, scout the area."
She dipped her head before jogging off across the barren shoreline.
Obi-Wan took in a deep breath, bracing to face Qui-Gon. All it took was one look from those midnight blue eyes for him to know. "You knew, didn't you?"
"Of course I knew, you were a boy, Obi-Wan."
He sighed, "I- I don't know how to feel about this."
"You should talk to Satine when we've completed the mission."
"Qui-Gon, we might have been related."
"But you aren't," he pointed out.
"We share a sister. Our parents were together, that's-" Obi-Wan ran a hand through his hair. Rey had been cutting his hair for him of late, and she had snipped off the ponytail. When he suggested growing his hair out longer, she had ignored his wish to grow it out in the back.
"Think it through, Obi-Wan, you're making this a bigger deal than it is. What does this change in your life?"
He let out a breath and thought it through.
Satine and he were not related, but they were now family of sorts and he was both pleased with this and disappointed.
Some things were better in fantasy than reality.
He was a Jedi, would he really give that up for a life with a beautiful spirit like Satine?
He looked at Qui-Gon who he had left once to save a planet from war, maintaining the peace of that one planet had not been enough for him. If he was honest with himself, no woman would ever be enough to fill that hole in his life. Being a Jedi was his calling, his purpose in life.
Rey had circled back, her pace slow as she approached them.
What had changed between them? Niece. Uncle and niece.
He reached out and tugged on her braid, she grinned up at him.
Nothing. Nothing had changed between them. They were already siblings of sorts, and that ran deeper than blood.
Even now, he couldn't think of her as a blood relative, she was more important to him than that. She was as much Qui-Gon's Padawan as she was his, whether or not he had been knighted yet.
"Find anything?" he asked.
"Just the dubious transports we are supposed to take below the ocean," she said with a frown. "For the record, I have a bad feeling about this."
Qui-Gon sighed, "Well, if we follow the pattern of last time, I'm sure explosives will be involved."
"I mean we are missing Dark Siders and hutts," Rey said, "That's a plus."
"Where are the people who were going to meet us?" Obi-Wan asked.
"They said they would meet us in the mines," Qui-Gon said.
Obi-Wan shook his head, "I agree with Rey, I have a bad feeling about this."
Rey's mind was in turmoil.
Obi-Wan was her grandfather?
How was that possible, how could Senator Palpatine be her father and Obi-Wan be her grandfather?
The first meant she was from this time and someone had messed with her mind, the second meant she really was from the future and someone had time travelled her back eighty years or so into the past. How could both things be true?
She had become so good at shoving this issue to the side that when Master Jinn commanded her to centre herself and focus on the present, she did so with a sigh of relief.
They had a mission to do, and with every league the descended, Rey felt the Force thrum in a warning.
Obi-Wan brought up a scanner on the ship, he was looking for life forms. "Today is an off day, but the mines are always staffed." He tapped on the screen bringing up the centres of life forms, "This is going to sound paranoid, but I think we should evacuate the mines."
She nodded, letting rathtars attack their captors had been one thing, but risking the miner's lives when they knew there was a deadly bounty hunter hanging out among them was another matter entirely.
"Agreed," Master Jinn said.
Obi-Wan switched on his comlink, "Si Treemba, can you read me? This is Obi-Wan Kenobi."
"Old friend Obi-Wan," came a pleasant voice, "We read you, we are waiting for you."
Obi-Wan smiled, "My old friend, I'm sorry to come to you with bad news. But I must advise that the mines be evacuated."
"We hear you, Obi-Wan, we do trust you. Are you still descending?"
"We are and will continue to do so, but you must start evacuation protocols now," he said with a growing urgency.
Rey felt it too.
When their ships connected with the dock, the bay was filled with dozens of Arconans going to their ships.
One met with them, greeting Obi-Wan warmly, "Obi-Wan, glad we are to see you."
"It has been too long, Si Treemba," he said in kind, "tell me, my friend, do you know where the bounty hunter, Cad Bane is holding out?"
Si Treemba, whose reptilian face was scaleless, shook his head sadly, "Core 5 has been disturbed, we don't know more than that."
Master Jinn let out a small sound of disapproval.
"What?" Rey asked.
"History it would seem is apt to repeat itself," Master Jinn said.
"And I don't think the same tricks will work twice," Obi-Wan added. "Si Treemba, get yourself and your people to safety. Leave us two shuttles if you can."
The Arconan bowed its head, "Take luck, my friend."
Rey followed after Obi-Wan at a run, Master Jinn dragged behind, checking their surroundings.
An explosion rocked the caves, Rey put a hand out to the wall to keep from falling, and a voice came over the speakers, "Come, come Jedi, time rides short."
Another explosion followed this taunt, rocking the caves like an earthquake.
"Small explosives," Master Jinn said, "Obi-Wan, we should turn back this mission-"
"Has changed," he cut him off, "We need to make sure everyone is out of here. Master go back the way we came, one of the explosions came from there and the miners will be panicking. Rey, stay with me, the second explosion came from ahead of us."
Master Jinn shook his head, "Padawan, we-"
"Are Jedi, and this is my mission. Please, Master, these people don't deserve to die like this."
Master Jinn shared a long look with him, and he nodded, "Perhaps Yoda was right." He looked at her as he said the last, "We cannot forget who we are."
She frowned, "Master Jinn?"
"Be safe," he said before turning back the way they came.
"Come on, Rey," Obi-Wan said.
She followed without another word.
They met several Arconans as they went, but it wasn't till they reached Core 5, her trepidation rose.
Another explosion rocked the mines, and the lights began to flicker. Screaming preceded them, and Obi-Wan ran headlong into the danger.
But something held Rey back. Following her instincts, she turned down a darkened passage.
She found a locked door. She ignited half her staff and she cut through it, the Force calling to her.
Or perhaps it was warning her to stay away.
Her heart was in her throat.
She felt Obi-Wan's panic when he realized she was no longer behind him, she sent reassurement down the bond as she worked the lightsaber beam through the metal.
Kicking the door in, the seared metal fell with a loud clank on the tiled floor.
She found a man laid out on a cot, tubes and wires were attached to him as monitors tracked his vitals.
It was her father, cheeks sunk in, closed lids bruised, and so pale his black robes gave him the appearance of a corpse. The monitors were the only thing that told her he did remain among the living, until they didn't.
Another explosion shook the mines, this time the power went out, the room lit only by the dim emergency lights.
Her father's breath turned raspy and she felt his life flicker through the Force.
"No!" she cried. Powering down her saber she ran to his side, "No, you bastard, you aren't allowed to leave me! Not again."
She put her hands to his chest, he was still breathing, but weakly, "No, no, no… you were supposed to come back. I hate you! If you leave me now I'll hate you forever and I'll never forgive myself…" Tears were trailing down her face as she reached through the bonds for Master Jinn and Obi-Wan.
They had to help him, she couldn't come this far just to watch him die.
She hadn't had the chance to-
She cut her thoughts short, feeling for the Force that swirled around them. The Darkness was thick down here, and she didn't know if it was because of where they were or because she had lost control over her own emotions.
The reality of her father dying hadn't hit her until she heard the monitors go dead.
She shook him, "Father! Wake up! You told me I would be safe, why? Why did you leave me? Why did you lie? We were happy." She hated her voice, the weakness she was showing. She had taken care of herself for so long and this man had abandoned her, but what did it matter. He was dying, and she was never going to have another chance.
Warning lights and mournful alarms sounded in the hall.
"Father, please, not again," she said, clutching his robes, "please."
She reached out through the Force to him, she wrapped her power around the ember of his life, trying to coax him back.
His eyes flicked open, he let out a low moan.
In turn, Rey's heart nearly stuttered, there was still hope for him.
She flattened her palms against his chest. "Breathe," she told him, "please, father, breathe."
Force save him, he tried, his eyes rolling, but he was able to take a breath, his eyes finally coming to focus on her. "Rey," he whispered, and it was almost like he said it through the Force.
She was crying, her own vision blurred, and she despised herself for it. She didn't want him to see her weak. Under his gaze she didn't feel loved, she felt like a bird caught in the gaze of a serpent. That she still wanted his approval broke something deep inside her. Broke her own self image.
She needed him to live.
This man who had sold her. Who had abandoned her, who had made her beloved mother disappear so not even Master Dooku could find her.
Rey pressed her hands down on his chest, and he gasped, but his gaze never left hers.
"Rey," he said again, his voice a whisper, but it was her father's voice.
She would have staked her life on it.
And she was about to.
Gazing down at this man, she knew that she should let him go. But she was too afraid to let him go. As Master Yoda taught the younglings, attachments led to the Dark Side, their fear of losing them.
And she was afraid of losing him, so afraid that she could feel the Darkness eating its way into her heart.
She closed her eyes, centring herself as Master Jinn had taught her.
"Help me…" her father said brokenly, "my daughter."
She flinched, but she steadied her own breath, knowing she should let go of him, but instead she let go of her fear.
There was nothing to fear if she could heal him.
She would not leave him behind.
Reaching within, she found the source of her own life and fed it to him.
She gave him life and he took her warmth.
Her eyes were closed, but even still, she saw white starbursts as her hands grew cold, as his breath evened beneath her touch.
She tried to stop, knowing that he could survive his injuries now, but she couldn't break the chain between them as he pulled the Force through her.
She didn't mind, the Force was with her, welcoming her, even as she grew colder and colder, the Light remained with her.
And she was not afraid.
Qui-Gon ran through the darkened tunnels, the explosives had taken out passage after passage. It was only a matter of time before the water pressure from above them came down on them.
He pushed himself further, cursing Yoda at every foot fall.
Rey's desperation had staggered him, now he felt her life fading.
Her light that was the sun was growing cold.
He found the room by the lightsaber cut out doorway.
Rey was on her knees, her hands on Palpatine's chest. Her shoulders were rounded and Qui-Gon could feel how shallow her breath was.
He ripped her back from the man she was trying to heal.
She let out a soft scream, her eyes rolling back as Qui-Gon held her. He passed a hand over her forehead, she was clammy.
"Rey, Padawan, answer me," he commanded.
"Master Jinn…" she slurred before her form went completely limp, and Qui-Gon swept her up fully in his arms.
Obi-Wan came into the room a moment later, covered in dirt and dust, he was bleeding at his temple. "Rey!"
"She will live," he told his wide eyed Padawan. The words were surer than he felt.
"Grab the Senator, we need to go."
Obi-Wan went to Sheev Palpatine, ripping out the tubes and off his oxygen mask, the Senator made a protesting noise but Obi-Wan didn't slow. He stooped to pick up Rey's staff, before hoisting the Senator over his shoulder.
Palpatine made an indignant noise, but wasn't able to form a sentence as Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon took off at a run.
The senator had a less than pleasant trip with Obi-Wan's shoulder jabbing into his gut.
Qui-Gon didn't care, Rey was frightfully cold and still in his arms. He knew she was alive, but if not for the bonds he might have believed she was dying.
He couldn't help her and take her to safety at the same time. So he focused on the moment, drawing on the Force to aid his speed.
Another explosion rocked beneath their feet, and the passage they had just come through collapsed, the stones tumbling inward.
"Hurry, the pressure is building!" Obi-Wan called.
Qui-Gon didn't answer, knowing what would happen if the water broke into any air pocket.
They were too deep underground, the pressure would kill them as easily as a pressurized bomb. They were just lucky the mining technology had kept them safe this far below sea level so far.
It was a good thing Obi-Wan had asked Si Treemba for a second ship. Due to the foundation of the docks collapsing, they had to jump down to the ship. The hatch only opened halfway, the nose of the ship pointed down.
Obi-Wan unceremoniously dropped Palpatine through the gap.
The man yelled out a protest and a sharp curse as he landed.
Obi-Wan followed after, and Qui-Gon gently passed Rey to him. She never stirred.
Qui-Gon jumped in afterwards, the hatch closing behind him.
He took Rey back as Obi-Wan started the ship.
Standing, he balanced as the ship righted itself, Senator Palpatine rolled across the floor, his hands scrabbling as he tried to find a hand hold.
His leg was bent at an odd angle, and Qui-Gon wondered if it had been broken before or if it had broken when Obi-Wan dropped him.
The entire cave shook, and Qui-Gon yelled, "Go, Obi-Wan!" He buckled himself in, holding Rey close.
They were plunging into the water, when the final line of explosions went off, the lights weren't as impressive as the sounds, the vibrations. The water swirled around the ship, and just as they were emerging to the ocean bed, rocks clapped down on their ship.
Obi-Wan did something with the throttle, and they lurched forward, the glass of their front window cracked and Palpatine was slammed against the back of the ship.
But they made it through, they were headed toward the surface even if they were missing two propellers and a wing.
Warning lights came on and Obi-Wan pushed the ship faster.
"We're rising too fast," Qui-Gon said, his voice was even if he was sweating, his ears ringing.
"Better pressure sickness than being crushed by water."
"Obi-Wan, we have to slow down," Qui-Gon said, his chest compressing as he fought for breath.
But even as he said it the glass began to crack.
"Stop! Obi-Wan," he commanded.
Obi-Wan turned off the throttle. "We are going to have to swim." He unbuckled and went to the survival gear. Qui-Gon joined him.
Palpatine had pulled himself up against a wall, "Too deep," he said, "we're too deep."
They ignored him, the sound of the glass cracking like the ticking hands of a clock.
Obi-Wan found the rebreathers and diving suits.
"There is no time," Qui-Gon said, but Obi-Wan was fitting a mask to Rey's face. As she wasn't conscious she couldn't use the rebreather without her nose being plugged.
Obi-Wan's nose was beginning to bleed.
Force be with us, Qui-Gon thought as he took a rebreather.
Palpatine took one, seeming to realize that their chances of surviving this had just dropped dramatically.
"We are thirty meters from the surface," Obi-Wan said, "we ascend eight meters each minute or we could do permanent damage to our brains."
He took Rey's saber and going to the hatch, he stabbed a hole through it. The ship began to fill with water as more warnings sounded, red strobe lights casting their faces in unnatural hues and shadows.
Qui-Gon felt his nose begin to bleed.
"What are you doing?" Palpatine croaked as the sea water rose around him.
"If we just went out into the ocean, the pressure would kill us, this gives us time to adjust," Obi-Wan explained, eying the windows.
If the glass gave they would have no time.
Qui-Gon put his back to the hatch, holding Rey close, supporting her head as Obi-Wan stooped to put an arm around Palpatine's waist.
"Rey," Obi-Wan called both aloud and through their bonds as they waited, their ship dead in the water.
"Rey," Qui-Gon echoed him, "Come now, Padawan, wake up. You must wake up."
She didn't flick so much as a lid, the goggle mask fogging with her breath.
She could probably hold onto the rebreather in her state, probably.
Qui-Gon tried to even his breathing, his lungs were tight, but the Force was there with him. He had explained the idea of healing with Rey, but he hadn't thought she would try it.
He should have known better, this was his fault, his failing as her Master. His mistake.
He should never have allowed her to come on this mission.
"Did you get…" Palpatine tried to say, "safe, the mines?"
Obi-Wan shook his head, wiping a sleeve under his bleeding nose even as blood still dripped from his head wound. "No, helped some, but I lost five in a cave in, I tried dragging one Arconan out, but his lungs had been punctured by a falling stone."
"Quiet," Qui-Gon told them as he focused on Rey's life source.
Why had she shared so much of herself?
No wonder the man was doing so well despite having been hooked up to so much life support equipment. Even the broken leg didn't seem to slow his mind much.
Qui-Gon pushed it all out of his mind, focusing on Rey's light at the end of the bond.
She was cold, he shared some of his life force with her just as the glass broke and Obi-Wan hit the button to the hatch, and they were sucked in different directions.
He barely had the presence of mind to put his own rebreather in his mouth as he folded himself around Rey.
Rey! He called through the bond.
He felt her wake. Felt her panic at having a large someone holding her and then her registering the icy water surrounding them.
The speed of exiting the ship was replaced with the slow sinking suspicion in the water. In the water, they were at once weightless and heavy.
Qui-Gon raised his head, blinking into the salty depths, he saw at first nothing but an endless blue, but then he saw the two silhouettes of Obi-Wan and Palpatine. Obi-Wan had an arm under one of Palpatine's, both held onto Rey's staff, keeping them locked together.
Obi-Wan! Came Rey's panicked thought, she was delirious.
I'm here, Rey, bite down on the rebreather.
Qui-Gon had the bonds between them wide open so he knew she did as instructed even if her attention was wavering.
Obi-Wan…
Stay awake, Padawan, Qui-Gon ordered as he began to swim toward the surface.
Master Jinn… where…
Stay awake! Obi-Wan called to her, Just stay with us, Rey.
She stayed awake with constant encouragement, but Qui-Gon knew she never came to enough to understand what was happening.
It was slow going to the surface, fully dressed as they were, Rey hardly conscious, and Senator Palpatine wasn't much better, especially not with his broken leg.
The cold wasn't good for Rey, and Qui-Gon fought to keep his connection to the Light as they swam up through the vast blueness of the ocean.
He almost didn't feel the giant fish that rose to the depths to take a bite out of them.
Obi-Wan ripped the staff from Palpatine's hands and used it like a spear, the blue light shining like a star as he cut through the things fanged muzzle.
When we get back, we are talking to Master Kit Fisto too and redesigning our own lightsabers. Rey was right to ask about the underwater capabilities of a lightsaber.
Agreed, Qui-Gon thought back at Obi-Wan as they continued their slow ascent.
Keeeeet Feast-do… Rey mused through their bonds.
Almost there, Rey, stay with us a little longer, Obi-Wan told her.
Obi-Wan… grandpa...
You're never going to let me live that down, are you?
Harris… funny… I'm a Mando too...after all…
Qui-Gon wanted badly to dash to the surface, not least of which when more predators came to eat the thing Obi-Wan had killed below them, the creature's black blood clouding the water they swam through.
The last few minutes were painstaking.
Breaking the surface, Qui-Gon took the mask off Rey's face, "Look at me, Rey, look at me."
Her eyes were unfocussed as she blinked up at the sun and the rebreather fell from her lips.
He kicked at the water with his feet as Obi-Wan burst to the surface. Obi-Wan struggled to stay above the waves as he was half drowning with Palpatine's listless weight at his side, the man looked as if he had aged another twenty years. His white hair translucent when slicked to his skull. Obi-Wan lifted an arm, signalling to the ships floating on the waves.
Qui-Gon angled her face to him, "Rey, look at me. Padawan Rey, look at me."
Her eyes focused on him for a moment. Her lips were blue as she said too softly, "Cold, Master Jinn, I'm so…"
She went limp, and Obi-Wan began shouting to the rescue team.
"Obi-Wan!" Qui-Gon yelled in warning as the Force called to them. He pushed a hand out, using the Force to propel them back from each other as another giant fish with razor teeth and black eyes leaped from the water.
An even bigger fish rose from the water, it's muzzle snapping one of their rescue rafts in half.
I miss the rathtars, Obi-Wan quipped as he fended off one of the creatures with Rey's saberstaff. At the surface, the super heated blade hissed and created steam.
The ocean creature screamed, diving low.
The Arconans were shouting for them, a bigger ship, sped toward them.
Obi-Wan used the Force to throw Palpatine onto the craft, he went over with a startled shout. Obi-Wan swam back to Qui-Gon's side, they switched loads without discussion. Qui-Gon used the staff as a pike to keep the monsters back, and Obi-Wan used his youth and stamina to swim and then climb up onto the ship with Rey in his arms.
Qui-Gon wasn't far behind and helped the rest of their rescue team off their rafts. The ship hovered in the air. Both Rey and Palpatine were insensible as they rested on their sides in case they choked up any salt water.
"Well," Obi-Wan said, half sitting, half falling into a seated position by Rey as Arconans brought them thermal blankets. "That couldn't have gone much worse."
Qui-Gon fell to his knees beside his Padawans, putting himself between Rey and the Senator. "We could have died."
Obi-Wan began to shiver as he looked down at Rey.
For once, Obi-Wan Kenobi didn't have any smart remarks.
AN: Thoughts, ideas, any type of feedback or sea monsters for your author whose new goal is 300k, pretty please?