The door shut behind him, and Obi-Wan breathed a sigh of relief. He leaned back and ran a hand through his hair. He needed a moment alone to meditate on what the droid, C-3PO had unwittingly brought them. Some of it was actionable news, such as locations of prisons and conversion camps peopled with Jedi and Republic sympathizers. However, Obi-Wan lacked the resources to act on it. There was also a comprehensive list of the dead, and though Obi-Wan's heart ached at the number, ached for all the lost companionship, the joy that Ahsoka was alive out there combated despair with hope and purpose. The information had it that she escaped from Mandalore to Dathomir, and who knew where she was now, but Obi-Wan had a plan, and hope.
R2 had plotted a course, and they were currently traveling through hyperspace to Dathomir. Dathomir was not a world the Empire cared greatly about. The Republic had avoided it, and Obi-Wan doubted Emperor Palpatine would infringe on Mother Talzin's territory. He certainly didn't want to. Ahsoka would be safe there for a time, and they would be safe picking up her trail. Probably.
He sighed, heavily this time, and moved to sit on the floor. Palms on knees, eyes closed, even breaths, Obi-Wan settled into the Force. It was hard to listen to, after the fall, death and betrayal poisoning the serenity he yearned for. He hadn't had this much difficulty since his Master's death. But he needed it now, needed to know the will of the Force.
One of the locations of interest had been Mustafar. When he saw the name, the Force whispered to him, a warning or invitation he could not tell. He would have noticed Mustafar anyway, because of Windu. His brow furrowed. Had Ponds assisted in Windu's death, forced to obey his programming prematurely? And had it been Lars to strike the killing blow? His heart clenched at the thought of the friendly man, so at odds with the ruthless murderer Obi-Wan knew him to be. He hadn't had time to think of Lars, with the fall of the Republic and rise of the Emperor, but that didn't erase what he knew-Lars was central to the Force.
Something shifted in the Force around him, like a muscle sliding into place after twisting an ankle, and the niggling unease eased away.
If Obi-Wan went to Mustafar, he would find Lars, and get answers to his questions. Perhaps the man could be brought to the light, and with him on their side the Sith master would finally be revealed and defeated. Perhaps he would be the key to ending the nascent Empire. Obi-Wan felt hope, while the Force seemed to exude pleasure at being understood. It was a sensation he felt rarely, though he wondered if Master Yoda felt it all the time. Probably not, he decided, despite how confident the diminutive Jedi acted.
Obi-Wan remained still, basking in the Force's hum. But it could not last. The Force withdrew, or he withdrew, he could never be sure, and Obi-Wan was returned to a lackluster ship, grey and dull, with artificial lighting that sucked the life out of a person's face.
There was an argument brewing on the other side of the door, he noted, mood dampening. R2 whistling, C-3PO stuttering. That droid stated a lot of opinions, easily switching from one side to the other when someone illuminated a flaw. He had been on board for a week, aware for 12 standard hours, and Obi-Wan was ready to send him back to Coruscant.
He reached out to the Force for some lingering comfort, but there was only him and the silence of the dead Jedi. Obi-Wan quickly stood, anxious to not be alone, and went to embroil himself in the argument of the rambunctious droids.
It took almost as long as it would have to get to Coruscant, with C-3PO constantly reiterating that fact, but eventually they arrived at Dathomir. Obi-Wan reminded himself to be kind to the droid. It wasn't often your master and creator had pirates kidnap you away to safety. It actually sounded like something Master Qui-Gon would do. Obi-Wan smiled briefly.
"What?" Padme inquired from the pilot's seat, glancing over at him as they descended through pink fog.
"Nothing." He gestured to the deformed trees with giant pods hanging like fruit, though a number of them were deflated. "Be careful of those pods."
She raised an eyebrow, but avoided them all the same. "Anything I should worry about?"
"Something Ventress said about their dead." He pointed to the base of a rocky structure. "Land there."
Padme eased the craft down. "Do you think Ahsoka's still here?"
He shook his head. It had been too long. "Let's hope not. The Night Sisters are not the most hospitable of hosts."
Reluctantly, the two left the cockpit, strolled down the ship's main courseway, to the door to the outdoors. It wasn't that they didn't want to find Ahsoka, but this place sickened Obi-Wan, and looking at Padme he was sure she felt the same.
Padme hit the button, and the ramp lowered. "Stay in the ship," she yelled back to any of the listening denizens, but there was no response.
"We're not staying long." Obi-Wan took a moment to look at their surroundings as well. Something happened since the last time he came here. Desiccated corpses littered the ground between them and the structure where Mother Talzin resided, if she had survived whatever massacre had occurred. "We'll find what information we can on Ahsoka, then leave. No distractions."
"You say that," Padme joked, prompting a wan smile on his face.
"You're thinking of Ahsoka. I, however...Something's coming."
Padme unholstered her blaster and descended the ramp. She looked sickly, the reddish fog and rock reflecting strangely on her skin. Soon enough Obi-Wan could make out what he'd felt, a furtive figure moving from bare tree to bare tree. Padme yelled, "Stop!"
The world seemed to absorb the word, the silence demanding to be heard. The figure stopped while still obscured by the fog. "Who are you?" Padme called again.
"I am brother Kroso," the stranger replied. "I come for answers. The sisters have not visited our side of the planet for many rotations."
Padme looked back at Obi-Wan and he shrugged. She holstered her blaster. "We're here for answers too. Perhaps we can help each other."
"My questions are answered." Kroso stayed where he was, at a distance where Obi-Wan couldn't even see his horns and his voice was a thin sound in the air. "The sisters have been killed, but their killers have left the brothers alone. That is enough."
"The aggressors could come back," Obi-Wan argued. "Though I agree, it is unlikely."
The more he looked at the scene, the more strange details he noticed. Separtist droids mixed in among the dead, Night Sister bodies sliced in a way that suggested an attacker with multiple lightsabers-General Grievous. What had become of the cyborg general and his trophy collection since the end of the war? And what had he been doing on Dathomir?
Obi-Wan descended to the planet's ground, steps crunching on a thin layer of dry soil. "The war is over. And, as I recall, Dathomir has no resources of interest to the Empire, so it is unlikely that you will have any Imperial visitors." That left only the Night Brothers themselves as a resource. Obi-Wan wished he knew what had become of Maul and Opress, but overall to the galaxy the planet was useless. "That is, unless you have any Jedi prisoners. We're looking for our friend-"
Kroso interrupted him. "We have taken no strangers into our village, but before today I saw one ship come to our planet, then leave. A few days later, another ship left."
"Do you know where they landed?" Padme inquired, glancing up at the hazy sky. "Our friend is in danger."
"Here," Kroso motioned at the structure, and Obi-Wan squared his shoulders. He couldn't feel Mother Talzin, but he didn't dare hope that the structure was still vacant. Kroso took a step back. "I will return to my brothers now."
"Of course. Thank you for your assistance," Padme said.
Kroso didn't respond, moving away til the fog swallowed him.
They watched the fog, curious if anything else would appear. When nothing did, Obi-Wan turned to Padme. "Shall we?"
In response, she progressed towards the monolith. A gaping hole was the door, symmetrical, but no less unsettling for its more civilized appearance.
Just as before, the tunnels and caverns were illuminated by glowing green smoke, with plinks of water echoing throughout. When the entryway split, they followed suit, both leaving marks to let them find their way back.
The place still felt malevolent, but it was lessened, an echo of its former hatred. Obi-Wan flicked a hand through the smoke, and it eddied away. There were some carvings on the wall, spartan sleeping rooms along the way, but everything was empty. It was like the planet was going into hibernation, pulse slowing until more people came for it to corrupt. The Dark Side pulled at him, but it was lethargic, weak. Unpleasant, but manageable.
"Uh, Obi-Wan?" Padme's voice came through his comm, still deadened by the atmosphere.
"Yes?" He kept walking slowly, eyeing budding fungus on wetter sections of the caves.
"I think I found a Jedi...thing." Her voice was hesitant, quiet like she wasn't talking to the comm. "I found where Ahsoka was, but she's not here now."
"Are there any datapads? Written messages?" he inquired, hesitating in the dripping hallway.
Padme took a moment to answer, probably checking the area again. "Nothing like that. I think this...box is our best bet."
Obi-Wan guessed, "You mean a holocron?"
"Maybe? It's glowing, and feels warm, looks like it should open but I can't get it open."
"That sounds like a holocron." Obi-Wan turned around. "Alright. Let's head back to the ship and I'll see if I can open it."
Padme agreed, and the two trudged to the craft, feeling alone even when they met up, the barren planet acting as a graveyard for the fallen warriors they stepped around. It was a short distance, Obi-Wan knew, and yet the whole jaunt felt like hours had passed.
The ramp closed, and wordlessly Padme passed him the holocron and went to the cockpit. The engines thrummed to life. Obi-Wan returned to his quarters, doors closing right before the other shipmates got into the hall to ask how it had gone. Their footsteps suggested they had joined Padme up front, so Obi-Wan set to work.
Again, he sat. Again, he cleared his mind. Again, he reached out to the Force.
Though his eyes were closed, Obi-Wan knew the holocron was rising and glowing brighter, pieces floating slowly apart like a shattered asteroid. It was a training holocron, most padawans had one. This was definitely Ahsoka's, he could feel her Force signature even if he hadn't recognized its scuffed appearance.
Obi-Wan opened his eyes to a smiling Qui-Gon reviewing lightsaber forms, carefully explaining each move as he performed it, leading the listener through a set of Ataru, one of the few Ataru sets that employed two lightsabers. Ahsoka primarily employed Shien, and Qui-Gon had only used one lightsaber. Obi-Wan had not expected this. He had expected the first thing to be an encoded message from Ahsoka. On the run, and she'd been practicing lightsaber forms.
The holographic Qui-Gon halted and smiled. "You have done well, padawan. As you grow more comfortable with your sabers, these forms will be the backbone of your movement. Do not be restricted by them, however. A wise Jedi knows when to follow the rules, and when to break them." Even in the holo his eyes twinkled. "Following these forms may say your life-your mind may freeze, but your body will know what to do. But following these forms can also kill you. Predictability in a fight is death." Obi-Wan's throat tightened. "But that is why you have me, your instructors, and most importantly yourself, to teach you. Trust your instincts. May the Force be with you."
The image flickered, and replaced Qui-Gon with a Jedi Obi-Wan didn't know teaching Shien dual saber fighting.
"And with you," Obi-Wan said over the new instructor's harsh voice, still seeing Qui-Gon in his mind's eye. The image of Qui-Gon teaching warred with the image of him dying in Obi-Wan's arms, and for a moment Obi-Wan felt his emotions on the precipice of the long-remembered sorrow. But the moment passed, and he could think on his old Master with a smile on his face. It was a good day, then.
Obi-Wan watched through everything recently used on the holocron. Surely Ahsoka wouldn't abandon this for no reason. Training videos. He watched through it all again, perhaps lingering too long on Qui-Gon. He was at a loss.
"Good job," Obi-Wan told himself, sighing as he shifted the pieces back together. It was then that he noticed that it was scuffed on the inside as well. "How did you manage that, Ahsoka?" he beseeched the innocent holocron, exasperated at his padawan. Usually she was meticulous in cleanliness, any item she repaired also getting a quick shine up.
Realization and a smile dawned at the same time. Obi-Wan reopened the holocron, then shifted the pieces around, squinted his eyes, scooted back, shifted them more, angled them to one side, then the other side, then to both sides, and so on.
It took a while to figure out her system. Instead of the standard basic alphabet she was using a Togruta phonetic system and the words crawled around all sides of the holocron, including the top and bottom, but Obi-Wan deciphered her message:
Hello Master, though it's more likely this is being read by a hermit. I'm fine. Lars saved me. I don't know when you'll find this, if ever, but I'm going back to Mandalore. The clones turned because of a chip in their head, and that chip can be removed. I'm going to save Rex, maybe even the whole squad. I know this is risky. I can hear you telling me not to. But I have to do this, Master. May the Force be with you.
Obi-Wan let the pieces nestle back together and looked over the message. She was right, he would have told her it was too dangerous. This was just like Ahsoka, to escape, and then head straight back into danger. He held the holocron, enjoying the warmth. "At least we're close."
He placed it on his bed and headed for the cockpit, trying to ignore his fear that they were too late.