Adrift: PART XIII
The shuttle shook slightly as it exited hyperspace, but Anakin didn't take any notice of the familiar sensation. He was already scanning the surrounding space, both with the ship's instruments and with the Force. The Mannova system consisted of a cluster of small stars, each of them cold and dead, devoid of any sentient life. The space around them was equally empty; there were no signs that anything had ever happened there.
There was nothing at all – just as there had been nothing in the six other star systems Anakin had already checked out. The Force stayed silent. There was no trace of Obi-Wan, no hint of his Master's presence. Again, Anakin had drawn a blank, had come up empty, had failed.
"Damn!" He slammed his fist – the real one – hard against the flight console, frustration rising fast like a dark hurricane. Blood rushed through him with an incandescent rush, the beat of it strong, battle-ready. He wanted to smash everything around him to pieces, he wanted to force someone to tell him where Obi-Wan was, wanted to rip the stars to shreds until he found his Master – but he could do nothing, nothing –
A series of high-pitched, alarmed beeps halted his tortured thoughts. Anakin blinked and his hazy vision sharpened to normal, and only then he noticed that the shuttle around him was vibrating violently like it was caught in a strong gravitational pull. Anakin took a deep breath and concentrated; as his impotent fury waned, the vessel's shaking ceased.
R2 expressed its indignation with a profanity-laced tirade, purposefully ramming against the pilot's seat and Anakin's leg. "Hey! Sorry buddy," Anakin said sheepishly. He couldn't believe he had lost control like a scared youngling.
The astromech droid bumped against the seat once again, this time more gently. The domed head turned around slowly as R2 beeped its worry.
"I'm alright," Anakin assured his friend. "I…I will be alright. I can't sleep – not yet." Anytime Anakin had succumbed to fitful sleep, he had been plagued by troubled, fearful dreams. Although beyond tired, he was not keen on repeating the unsettling experience. Moreover, he didn't have time to rest. It had been over a week since contact with the Refuge had been lost, since his Master had vanished into the chasm of immense, unending space. The galaxy had never felt so enormous, so impenetrable.
Anakin sighed. His pity-party wasn't helping anyone, least of all Obi-Wan, who surely was waiting for him. It was time to focus, to get back to work. "There's nothing here, R2. What's the next target on the grid? Prep the hyperdrive."
As R2 entered the next coordinates on their search grid to the flight computer, Anakin contacted the 26th regiment. The regiment had been nearest to the Refuge's last known location, and some of its platoons had already been looking for the medical frigate, when Anakin had caught up with them and joined the search.
Clone Commander CC-3443, or Commander Shiv as he was known, answered Anakin's call promptly. "General Skywalker, any news?"
"Afraid not Commander. The Mannova system is a bust. I was hoping you had better success."
"The search parties have found nothing, sir." Although firmly professional as always, there was a hint of regret in Commander Shiv's voice. The pause that followed was miniscule, but it made Anakin brace for more bad news. He was proven right, when the Clone Commander continued, "General…we have been ordered to end the search. The Separatists have intensified their offensive on Praadost, and we need all our troops there to repel them."
How could the GAR value Obi-Wan so little, that they would not even bother to search for him more than a mere week? How could they afford to write off one of their most brilliant generals for some backwater skirmish? Kark those frigging Hutt-spawns.
"Sir?" The Commander's enquiry drew Anakin back from his bitter thoughts.
"Yes. I understand." The truth was that the Republic troops were hard-pressed on any front, and although a strong asset for the military, in the end Obi-Wan was just one man. But not to me. Never to me.
"The search parties are already on their way back to Praadost," Commander Shiv said. "Sir…I got the impression that the High Command will also contact you soon." The clone didn't say anything more, but Anakin could hear the unstated words as if they had been said aloud: And order you to cease the search too.
"Thank you, Commander. I appreciate everything you and your troops have done. Good luck on Praadost." The 26th regiment was one of those that didn't have a Jedi to lead them; there simply wasn't enough capable Jedi left for every regiment. They would have to make do without a Force-user.
"Thank you, General Skywalker."
The call finished, Anakin cut the connection. He smiled humourlessly at R2 as the droid loudly informed him what it thought about the situation.
"I know R2. It's just us from now on." Did the withdrawal of the 26th complicate things? Did the threat of new orders from the High Command deter him from the search? Hell no. More manpower and machines than him, his droid and one ETA-class shuttle would have been nice, but Anakin had never trusted anyone else than himself to find Obi-Wan. This was just going back to basics.
"Such a shame that the shuttle's transmitter is malfunctioning. It will be quite impossible for us to receive any long-range transmissions." Anakin flicked off a couple of dials on the communication's console. R2's answering beeps sounded like a gleeful cackle.
"Alright then, let's go to…" Anakin glanced at the flight computer, "Kushibah."
-o-
Sunlight slanted through the foliage, casting spidery shadows across the small, mossy clearing. The wide array of creatures that lived in Kushibah's forests were silent and out of sight. All was quiet and still – all but the droid nervously hovering in the clearing.
AZI-2 flitted about, seemingly trying to build a campsite, a bundle of sticks ready for a campfire. The medical droid muttered to itself; "don't like this" and "not programmed to" stood out from the mostly indefinable mumble. Its head swivelled around constantly, adding to the tense atmosphere. The surrounding woods were too silent, too motionless – as if the whole forest was holding its breath.
Suddenly the foliage parted with a crash, and the large bulky form of a super battle droid thrust through the branches. Weaponized arm raised, ready to fire, it advanced towards AZI-2. The medical droid dropped the sticks to the ground, quickly raising its hands in surrender. "Please don't shoot me!"
A group of B1 battle droids followed their deadlier cousin, blaster rifles aimed at AZI-2. "Don't move, Republic scum!"
"I'm not moving," AZI-2 vowed, voice quivering.
"Where's the Jedi?" One of the battle droids asked, shoving its weapon against the medical droid's torso. "Tell us or you will be ripped to parts."
"I don't know!" AZI-2 sounded as close to tears as a droid could. "He left me here alone."
"Ha-ha, you are now our prisoner."
"I think not," Obi-Wan drawled and jumped from the shelter of a large tree, dropping gracefully to the ground. He scrapped two battle droids before the rest of them could react, his blue lightsaber whirling and slashing in a familiar deadly dance.
"Hey, stop the Je –" The battle droid was cut apart, its companion losing its head a second later. The super battle droid started to fire repeatedly at Obi-Wan, who ducked and weaved away from its reach, letting the devastating blaster canon mow down the rest of the B1 battle droids. The tree trunks circling the clearing burst open, a shower of sharp wood splinters raining down on Obi-Wan.
With the aid of the Force, he leapt high, right over the killing machine; the droid was too slow to turn and Obi-Wan drove his lightsaber savagely into its back, the plasma blade sinking easily into the duranium frame. The super battle droid split apart, and the clearing was silent and still once more.
Obi-Wan kept his lightsaber ready, listening intently, reaching with his senses. Nothing lurked in the woods; nothing stirred in the Force. Slowly, his body relaxed from its battle stance, and he shut down the weapon that had once again kept him alive.
"Is it over?" AZI-2's humanoid-like head poked out of a nearby bush.
"I would say so," Obi-Wan said tiredly. Although the Separatist hunting party had been destroyed in its entirety, others would soon follow – they always did.
The medical droid glided gingerly into the clearing, its large round eyes taking in the scene of carnage: the torn droid parts, the shattered trees, Obi-Wan's dirty and dishevelled appearance. "General, I'm not certain this strategy of avoidance and ambush is the optimal option for us."
"But you play your part so well, AZI-2." Obi-Wan grinned sharply. He knew very well that the medical droid didn't like at all being the bait in Obi-Wan's trap; it protested its role every time, complaining it was not programmed for it.
"I am not –"
"Yes, I know, but this is the only viable plan we have."
Eyes looking downward, AZI-2 hovered closer to the ground. The motion gave an appearance of hunched shoulders, of dejection. "It is my duty to keep you healthy and uninjured. Helping you to engage enemy troops seems contradictory to that aim."
"How about keeping me alive? Isn't that your most important duty? You have to trust that in this situation, I know what I am doing." Obi-Wan could hardly believe that he was debating his course of action with a droid, but that was what his life had become in the days since they had become stuck on the planet, hounded and hunted by the Separatists.
"Yes, you have had extensive training in the field of warfare and survival. You have a very high success rate in the Grand Army of the Republic," AZI-2 conceded, but still continued hopefully, "but perhaps a change in strategy would benefit us at this stage…we could head back to the village and ask for assistance."
"No." Obi-Wan had steered the Separatists away from the Kushibans, and he would continue to do so. He had found the village on their second day on the planet, and after only a quick surveillance, he had known they would benefit from the Kushibans very little – and the villagers even less from them.
Observing the four-limbed lagomorphs, Obi-Wan had finally recalled why Kushibah had sounded familiar to him. Although Obi-Wan had never seen him in person, he had heard of the small, big eared, fur-covered Kushiban Jedi Master Ikrit. What little Obi-Wan knew of the planet had come back to him, confirmed by what he was seeing: Kushibah had no cities and had only very limited technology. Kushibans lived peacefully in small villages, farming and weaving. They were no match for battle droids, and would surely only be massacred if the Separatists even suspected them of helping Obi-Wan.
"But we cannot do this indefinitely; the chances of surviving –"
"Oh Force, spare me from the odds," Obi-Wan groaned.
"It is one of my functions to offer probability calculations to aid in any situation…"
But Obi-Wan was not listening to AZI-2; something had shifted. It felt like a light had come on in a darkened room, or like stars had lit up in the night sky. Something that had been empty and alone was now full and alive, and its presence made him realize how very much he had missed it.
Anakin.
Obi-Wan could feel his former Padawan; the bond connecting them was active and there, the silvery strands, unbroken, linking them together in the Force. Anakin was somewhere near – once again, he had done the impossible and had somehow managed to find Obi-Wan from across the endless galaxy.
"…and I have also calculated the amount of sleep you should have to function optimally –"
"AZI-2," Obi-Wan interrupted the rambling droid, smiling widely. "You'll be glad to know that our chances of survival have just improved significantly."
-o-
The shuttle's shrilly proximity alarms went off the moment they entered the Kushibah system; only Anakin's piloting skills, their foundation unconscious and innate, but honed to perfection by hard experience, saved them from a spectacular collision. They had unwittingly ended up in the middle of a large debris field.
"This is it!" Anakin shouted to R2, heart beating faster with excitement. He steered the shuttle over a mangled piece of steel, zigzagging through the remnants of a Pelta-class frigate. If the debris hadn't been a dead giveaway, there was also the fact that Anakin could feel Obi-Wan. His Master was close!
R2, monitoring the ship's diagnostics, beeped in alarm. Anakin grimaced. "I know – I can see the destroyer. Did the Seps notice us yet?"
The droid whistled a negative; R2 had already done everything possible to keep the enemy from noticing the shuttle with their many censors.
"Good, I'll find us some cover." Anakin flew the ship through another impossibly tight gap in the debris, swooping too fast down and then straight back up. Knowing he didn't have much time before the Separatists would notice their presence, he settled his sight on a huge piece of junk. The former stern of a destroyer was badly mangled but still largely intact; Anakin could land the shuttle on its surface and hide there.
Steeling himself, Anakin directed the shuttle towards the slowly rotating relic. He wanted so badly to seek Obi-Wan through their bond, but couldn't – first he had to make the ship as invisible as he could. He would be no help to Obi-Wan, if he charged recklessly through the debris field to wherever his Master was.
Luck seemed to finally be on their side, and Anakin landed the shuttle without incident, managing to find a smooth enough surface for them to attach to. He powered down all nonessential systems, plunging the ship into near darkness. Slowly, they drifted with the dead – but Anakin could only think of his Master, who had survived, who was against all odds alive.
With more eagerness than trepidation, he reached for Obi-Wan. It was easy as breathing, following the silvery threads that formed the familiar path to where their minds met. It was like coming home after a long absence; the well-known touch comfortable and simple, easing the knot of homesickness, the ache of longing. Master. Obi-Wan. Master.
Anakin. He was met with relief, joy, concern.
Where are you? Even as he thought the question, Anakin could see the green-blue planet, the place where the escape pod had landed, the woods where Obi-Wan had taken shelter. Are you alright?
A wry shrug. You know me.
How bad is it? Anxiety started to pool in his gut, but he was quickly soothed by his Master's sincere reassurance. I am fine. The glint of laughter in blue-grey eyes. I have my own med droid.
I am coming for you. Anakin suffused the bond with his resolution, determination, belief. I am coming for you Master.
I know. Obi-Wan's honest faith, his trust in Anakin felt like the warmth of his small river stone. I know you are.