Welcome once again, ladies and gentlemen. I have brought to you yet another chapter of Walking a Tightrope, and with it, another recommendation. Today's recommendation (and the source of the quote) is the Ciaphas Cain series of novels. These are practically mandatory reading for anyone who is even passingly interested in the Warhammer 40,000 franchise, and just really good and entertaining books in their own right. This chapter focuses a bit more on dialogue and some interaction with Nitai and Obi-Wan, and we might start to see a few small deviations now that he's around and being a bit of an influence on the other characters, although since Obi-Wan didn't do a whole lot during this particular arc it's mostly limited to speaking. But next chapter will be an original arc, which will allow me a bit more room to get creative.
Walking a Tightrope Chapter 8 (V. 1)
When the traitor's hand strikes, it strikes with the strength of a legion
After suffering several defeats at the hand of General Grievous, the Republic's foothold in the Outer Rim grows more and more tenuous. Anakin Skywalker and his weary battle group have been commissioned to protect the strategic world of Bothawui, and they are all that stands between the system, and domination by the droid army.
While the rest at the Jedi Temple had been welcomed, it wasn't long before Nitai, Ahsoka, Anakin, and Obi-Wan were sent back to their fleets, although thankfully it seemed that there was a brief lull in the war along their particular front for a while. The only brief moment of excitement came when General Grievous tried to sneak by one of the Republic listening outposts to attack Kamino, although thankfully the clones manning the station had managed to destroy it, alerting the fleet and allowing them to drive off Grievous' forces after a quick space battle. However, recently the General had been making more devastating attacks, assaulting some of the least defended fleets and causing no end of stress amongst several Jedi commanders.
At the moment Nitai was standing with Obi-Wan in the command center of their fleet's flagship, staring at a projected image of Anakin, Ahsoka, and Captain Rex.
"Among our most recent losses is the battle group at Falleen. The Separatist fleet headed by General Grievous is headed your way." Obi-Wan reported, having only recently received the report from their agents about the destruction of the Falleen battle group.
"It seems like that coward always knows where and when to attack us." Anakin said, and the tenseness was evident in his voice. Nitai could hardly blame him for his frustration, from what he had heard Anakin and his troops had been constant harassment in one form or another, the fighting hadn't even been particularly fierce, but it had been so constant that he would be surprised if any of the troops, or even Anakin himself, had gotten a solid night's rest.
"You're heavily outnumbered Anakin, I suggest retreat." Obi-Wan cautioned, but Anakin didn't even seem to give that option a moment's consideration. "If we run, the Separatists will take control of this sector, we can't let them do that." He argued.
"And that is your problem." Obi-Wan responded, Nitai found himself a bit torn, on the one hand he could sympathize with Anakin's desire to protect the sector, but on the other, there was seemingly no way for him to defeat Grievous' fleet in his current condition.
"Master Kenobi is right, we should regroup, we don't stand a chance against-" "Ahsoka." Anakin quickly cut off his young Padawan, but she seemed determined to make her opinion known. "Suicide is not the Jedi way, Master."
"You should listen to your Padawan." Obi-Wan spoke up, and Anakin only turned his attention back to him. "As you listened to yours, my old Master? No, we are going to stay and fight, and I think I know how to beat Grievous at his own game." Anakin said, and a smaller projection of an AT-TE walker appeared. As Anakin began to explain his plan, a wicked grin started to spread across Nitai's face, oh yes, he definitely liked the way Master Skywalker thought.
"Only you would think up a plan as crazy as this, Anakin." Obi-Wan sighed. "But it sounds like it might work. But if it looks like it isn't working then I expect you to pull back, you'll be no help to anybody if you're dead."
"Don't worry, Master, when have my plans ever failed us before?" It seemed Obi-Wan didn't take the obvious bait, and the transmission cut out.
"Master Skywalker seems to have a penchant for unconventional tactics, I like it." Nitai said as he and Obi-Wan returned to the bridge.
"Yes, but what concerns me is how Grievous has managed to attack us so precisely." Obi-Wan said as they looked out over their arrayed cruisers.
"I agree, I expected him to try and attack us with more rigor after the loss of the Malevolence. After all, I doubt that the Separatist leaders, especially Dooku, are happy at the loss of such an important and expensive ship. But these attacks are a bit too accurate for my liking." Nitai said as he rubbed his chin.
"I think I know what you're getting at, and I share your suspicions, hopefully when Anakin contacts us again he'll have some good news, and then we can discuss just how Grievous could be getting such accurate information on our fleets." Obi-Wan added.
It was a few hours before they received any report back from Anakin's fleet, but when they did it came in the form of a rather downtrodden looking Anakin.
"Master, I'm here to report that Grievous escaped, but his fleet has been destroyed." He said, with an unusual lack of enthusiasm, normally Nitai would have assumed that the destruction of such a large fleet, even with the escape of Grievous, would have put Anakin in a very chipper mood.
"Congratulations Anakin, the destruction of that fleet will save a lot of lives, and your resourcefulness continues to amaze me." Obi-Wan said with a proud look.
"Thank you, Master." Anakin said, this time his sadness seemed a lot more evident and Obi-Wan looked concerned, he had expected his former apprentice to be practically glowing at his success.
"You look troubled, is something wrong?" Obi-Wan asked. "I lost R2 in the field." Anakin said as he raised his gaze to once more look at his old Master.
"Well R2 units are a dime a dozen, I'm sure you'll find a suitable replacement." Obi-Wan said and Nitai recoiled at his Master's words, his face showing a mixture of shock and even a bit of anger. Anakin seemed to share the young Padawan's feelings, although in his case it seemed that anger was the predominant emotion, as he clenched his fist before exhaling to try and calm himself.
"I could take a squad out there, track him down." Anakin said, trying to hide the desperation in his voice.
"Anakin, it's only a droid. You know attachment is not acceptable for a Jedi." Obi-Wan said, Nitai tried to suppress the urge to sigh and roll his eyes. No matter what way he looked at it he still had trouble reconciling the Jedi's desire to avoid attachment with the teachings that he had received. Although so far, he had managed to avoid bringing it up, since he didn't want to start causing trouble, he knew that there were many in the order who were keeping an eye on him due to who he had been trained by, not everyone was glad to see a disciple of Seer Chiida, especially one who had been raised outside of the Order, welcomed into the fold.
"It's not just that, Master. Uh, how do I put this?" Anakin muttered slightly to himself. "I…didn't wipe R2's memory." He admitted.
This revelation certainly got a reaction out of Obi-Wan. "What? He's still programmed with our tactics and base locations? If this Separatists get a hold of him…" The rest of his thought didn't even need to be spoken aloud, they all knew what would happen if the Separatists managed to get their hands "What possessed you not to erase that droid's memory?"
"Master Obi-Wan, sometimes R2 having that extra information has come in handy." Ahsoka said, coming to her Master's defense, she knew that Anakin was broken up about R2's loss, and having Obi-Wan scold him probably wasn't going to do him any good.
"Well, then find that droid, Anakin. Our necks might very well depend on it." Obi-Wan said, and Anakin looked practically overjoyed at the permission to go out and look for R2. "Right away, Master." He said, a relieved smile spreading across his face as he ended the transmission.
Obi-Wan sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as he saw the hologram fade. However, he was broken out of his internal musings by Nitai's voice.
"Just a droid? Dime a dozen? I certainly hope you don't let S1 hear such words, he might decide to take umbrage. And despite what you might think, droids like R2 and S1 are quite irreplaceable." Nitai said as he turned and headed out towards the bridge, although anyone who looked at him could tell from the set of his shoulders and the stiffness of his gait that he was not pleased with what his Master had said.
Obi-Wan only shook his head, realizing that he might have misspoke in his conversation with Anakin, and his words had clearly affected Nitai. He would have to apologize to the two of them later, he had never gotten particularly close to any of his droids, but he did know from experience that quite a few people did form very tight bonds with them, especially when they allowed they didn't periodically wipe their droids' memories and allowed them to develop personalities. It was a bit of a gray area for most Jedi, who typically discouraged attachments, although most didn't form close bonds with their droids, there were some notable exceptions, and most agreed to look the other way most of the time when a Jedi developed an attachment to a particular droid, since most of the time those attachments didn't get in the way of performing their duties, and most people were more capable of handling the loss of a droid than the loss of a person.
After receiving another report from Anakin and confiding to him about reports indicating that Grievous had been intercepting their transmissions, Obi-Wan walked out onto the bridge and stood next to Nitai.
"It seemed our suspicions were correct, Grievous likely has a listening post somewhere that is feeding him information, or an agent in our ranks, possibly both." He said, Nitai only nodded in acknowledgement. "I've sent Anakin and his battle group out to try and find it, with any luck they'll be able to put it out of commission." This seemed to draw no visible response from Nitai.
Obi-Wan sighed at his young Padawan's change in demeanor, it was upsetting to see someone normally so upbeat become so dour. "I understand that what I said in there upset you, and I'm sorry. I spoke too hastily and didn't consider how you or Anakin might feel. I just believe that he's a bit too…attached to R2."
Nitai's shoulders slumped as he glanced at Obi-Wan out of the corner of his eye. "It's okay, Master, I understand that not everyone views droids the same way. But with me and S1, and for Anakin and R2, they aren't just tools, they're people. To suggest just abandoning one and replacing him…that just doesn't seem like something a Jedi should do, we should be willing to try and save everyone, no matter who or what they are." He said, and his words made Obi-Wan smile. He had had some Jedi confide in him concerns that Nitai might not be fit to be a Jedi due to who he had been trained by, but it seemed that those fears were completely unfounded.
"You have a good heart, Nitai. I'm sure you'll make a fine Jedi, someday. I'll apologize to Anakin when we have some time together." He said as he placed a hand on Nitai's shoulder, and the red-skinned Padawan smiled, both at the praise, and at Obi-Wan's willingness to apologize to his former apprentice. He may not have changed his views on droids, but perhaps Obi-Wan might be a bit more willing to see things from Anakin's perspective.
Shortly afterwards they received a transmission from Anakin, and returned to the command center.
"Anakin." Obi-Wan said as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"Master, I believe we've found your Separatist listening post." Anakin said confidently, and Nitai smiled a bit as he saw a grin on Anakin's face, he recognized that type of grin. It was the type of grin only sported by people who had gone against orders and realized that things had turned out even better than they would have if they had stuck to the plan, he had sported that exact look on more than enough occasions to be able to recognize it at an instant.
"Excellent work, back off and wait, I'll send two main line cruisers to help you destroy it." Obi-Wan ordered, a hologram of Ahsoka suddenly appeared beside Anakin and said something to him, although it was too soft to be picked up.
"We believe my droid is the one that led us here." Anakin said, and Nitai realized just why Anakin had been looking so pleased a few moments before.
"Hmm, that complicates things. You must sneak aboard that station and destroy it before they crack R2's memory banks. Anakin, I'm sorry for what I said earlier, I know how fond you are of that droid. You can try and rescue him, but don't let your emotions cloud your vision. If they manage to get the secrets from his memory, then we will almost certainly lose this war, and countless people will die, if the choice has to come between saving R2 and destroying the station…" Obi-Wan left the sentence unfinished, knowing that Anakin would understand his meaning.
"Understood, Master. But don't you worry, we'll knock out that station, and get R2 back." Anakin said with a smile as the hologram flickered out of existence.
"Don't worry, Master. I'm sure he'll make the right decision if he has to." Nitai said with a small smile as his gaze drifted over to Obi-Wan. "But you know he's probably going to send Ahsoka and the clones to take it out while he looks for R2 himself." He said knowingly, causing Obi-Wan to sigh.
"Yes, yes I suppose he will." The older Jedi said with a bemused smile.
They didn't have to wait that long to receive yet another transmission from Skywalker, who quickly recapped the details of their successful mission.
"So, let me get this straight, Anakin. You deliberately blew up a station that you were still on, putting yourself, your men, and your Padawan at risk to save R2. Anakin, I approved of your attempt to rescue him, but you put a lot of people at risk." Needless to say, Obi-Wan wasn't exactly happy at his former apprentice pulling yet another of his risky stunts.
"R2 found the listening post and led us there, we couldn't just leave him." Anakin protested.
"One day Anakin, one of these plans of yours is going to explode in your face." Obi-Wan sighed as the transmission terminated. He turned to Nitai, who was grinning like a cat that had just discovered an entire species of defenseless, flightless birds. "And what exactly are you looking so pleased about?" He asked.
"Oh, nothing much, Master. Just wondering if you might be willing to lend me over to Master Skywalker for a bit. A daring escape from a collapsing and exploding Separatist station sounds like quite the adventure." Nitai chirped happily.
"Not on your life, I can only imagine what havoc the two of you would wreak together." Obi-Wan responded, shuddering slightly at the thought of just what Nitai and Anakin would end up getting themselves into if they ever teamed up for a prolonged period of time.