So this chapter's a little longer and deals with a lot more action! Next chapter should be up next week sometime deadlines at uni this week are slowing things down. anyway enjoy!
Both Obi wan and Anakin vaulted up from their positions on their respective beds, just a moment before the first blast rocked the ship. The ship had only just exited hyperspace a few seconds before being hit. What in the blazes was going on? How could the hyperdrive fail before getting blasted? And how did the pirates know their precise location? All these thoughts raced through Obi wan's mind quicker than the time it took for Anakin to blink. The entire ship lurched to the side and Anakin slammed into Obi wan who was doing quite well with his own balance, until that is when his apprentice slammed into him. They sprawled onto the floor as the ship started its own evasive maneuvers and Anakin heard the familiar sound of shields being raised all over the ship. They had come out of nowhere then, and surprised the crew. They both had come to the same conclusion at the same time.
With one glance towards each other, both master and apprentice dashed towards the door.
'Get the family to safety, Anakin, I'll head for the bridge and help with defences.' Obi wan veered off towards the bridge as he calmly issued instructions across the bond.
'Yes, Master,' Anakin replied trying to keep the anxiousness out of his voice. He quickly rushed off towards the Senator and his family's quarters. How did his master stay so calm?
'Because I took a moment to gather my thoughts, Anakin, just stay calm this is the reason I had you scout the ship earlier. You know the routes and you know what to do, you can do this padawan.' Of course Obi wan had noticed the quite frankly terrified look on his apprentice's face, this whole situation had gone sour, very quickly.
Anakin appreciated his master's words and the soothing wave of comfort travelling across their bond, so he too took a deep breath and composed himself. Focus, you need to get to the family. He thought to himself as another blast rocked the ship. This time he was prepared and didn't slow his jog, the ship seemed to be more able to deflect the brunt of the attack as well, the shields were holding for the moment.
Obi wan had just made it the bridge as the latest blast hit the ship, most of the crew had trouble staying on their feet, but now Obi wan was expecting the rocking it didn't even interrupt his stride. He headed straight for the captain and glanced outside the main viewport. Stars that's a big ship, our only chance will be to try and outrun it.
The offending ship was swinging back around, obviously it was coming back towards them again for another volley of shots. It wasn't high-tech but if Anakin were here Obi wan was sure he'd be telling him all the specs and all about the modifications. As Obi wan observed every inch of the ship in less than a moment a daunting thought came to mind. With those modifications and weapons, it could possibly outrun us!
Obviously they needed a better plan than just running, Obi wan could see from the various screens around the bridge that the hyperdrive was down. How could they have knocked that out on the first shot? Obi wan again thought back to his initial questions, somehow their ship was now incapable of running away and the pirates knew their exact location. Someone on board must be working for them, he mused. Glancing around the room there were no obvious candidates right now. What does it matter right now?! he chided himself, their first priority were disabling those pirates.
"Status report!" The Captain bellowed, blood trickling from the side of his head, they had obviously got knocked around on the bridge earlier as well.
A few shouts from various crew later gave the news Obi wan was dreading. The hyperdrive was completely knocked out and engines were failing. The pirates knew exactly where to shoot to disable the ship and were doing a very good job of it. They had only fired a volley of shots and had effectively disabled their prey. This meant one thing, they wanted the Senator alive, they weren't aiming to destroy the cruiser just stop it in its tracks. Also to top it all off the ships weapons were overheating so they only had a few precious shots to spare. Probably the work of the traitor, they had been thorough.
Think, Kenobi! There weren't many options open to them as all the possibilities and strategies raced through his mind. He had to admit the pirates had been very thorough, there wasn't an immediate answer for them to get away. There was only one thing for it then, the pirates had missed one weapon, the ship itself. If they could get into the right position they would have one run to ram their ship hopefully enough to damage it, if they could get close enough and target the pirate's weapons they could at least stop themselves from being shot at and start the repairs. It was desperate… but then again it was either that or just be boarded, and with the size that ship is they must have a large crew. He and Anakin could hold off a fair amount of pirates, but the rest of the crew would be in danger not to mention the Senator and his family who could be used as hostages. No it would be best to try and disable the Pirate's ship. Obi wan concluded and went about informing the captain and bridge crew how to proceed. He just hoped Anakin was getting on okay.
Anakin rushed along the corridor of the ship skidding to a halt just in front of the Senator's door, the personal security nodded at him indicating the family were still inside.
"I have to get them to a safe place," Anakin blurted out, not waiting for the security to move out the way, he bounded into the room and looked around for the senator.
Anakin's eyes scoured the room, Senator Farr was pacing across the floor, his antennae waving about, anxiety emitting from his being in waves. In the corner of the room, cowering behind some furniture, were his wife and two children. Fear, the atmosphere surrounding them all was filled with it. Anakin glanced down at the children, they were both too young to be caught up in all this. Their wide eyes darting around trying to identify the threat, confused as to where the danger was coming from, their innocent gaze landed on him. Anakin had always been fascinated by the Rodian's eyes, it was like looking into the galaxy itself, if you weren't careful you get lost in those eyes for hours. At that moment he vowed to do everything in his power to keep them safe, these people were innocents caught up in this whole terrible mess.
Another blast hit the ship, the children cowered more in fear and their mother wrapped them closer to her. Anakin stayed on his feet this time, more prepared for the jolt that hit the ship. How was Obi wan going to outrun these guys? Anakin shook himself mentally, he needed to get the family to safety that was his first priority, he had to leave the rest of the thinking to Obi wan they were a team after all.
Anakin stepped towards the Senator and helped him back to his feet, he had fallen to the other side of the room during the latest blasts.
"Senator, I'm here to get you all to safety, please follow me." Anakin waited until the Senator helped his family to their feet and they all headed out back into the corridor.
Anakin took the position at the front of the group, light saber in his hand, ready for any threat that the entourage might come across. He instructed the security force to flank the rest of the family, keeping them in a protective bubble essentially. He headed towards the nearest safe room he had previously scouted, confident in his ability to reach it. Well as long as the ship didn't collapse in the mean time!
'Anakin, do you have the family? I have reason to believe there is someone helping the pirates on board this ship. There are for too many problems happening at once for it to be a coincidence. ' His masters voice drifted into his mind.
'Yes, Master, We're heading towards the east side of the ship. I'll stay on the lookout for any suspicious behaviour.' Anakin had also had this feeling that someone must be aiding the pirates from aboard this ship. Now they just had to be vigilant in case they tried to take direct action against the Senator.
'Good, I'll make sure we ram from the other side then,' came his master's voice, incredibly calmly as if he'd just been discussing making a pot of tea and not ramming an enemy's ship!
'Ram? Did I hear you right master? We do have weapons on this ship you know,' Anakin exclaimed, clearly shocked by his master's plan of action.
'Yes, my young Padawan, you heard me correctly we're going to RAM them, our weapons are nearly depleted. Engines are failing, the hyperdrive is out of action and to top it all off we are very close to becoming sitting ducks. This is the one weapon they didn't intend on us using, our own ship. This is our one chance to try and cripple their weapons and their ship. We can't outrun them and certainly can't beat them in a firefight with the remainder of our weapons and our maneuverability currently,' Obi wan explained to his apprentice.
'Sounds like a better plan than any then!' Anakin replied enthusiasm and sarcasm dripping off of his voice.
'Sarcasm is not appreciated right now Anakin.' Obi wan lectured, although he couldn't help a faint smile slip as well, he was picking up that particular trait from his padawan, he couldn't help the sarcastic comments that slipped out in conversation every now and again.
Anakin knew how strategically minded his master was, he would have thought of the all their available options and chosen a strategy within the blink of an eye. Anakin was always amazed at how quickly his mind seemed to work. He glanced behind him to make sure that everyone was still keeping up, he would have to warn everyone of his master's plan before the ships hit, they would all need to brace it would most likely be a rather large collision.
'Master, this must be why the threats were given, so the Senator left earlier and the pirates could attack!' Anakin exclaimed as the cogs turned in his brain over all the current problems, this was the most likely answer to the query he and his master were meditating on earlier.
'Perhaps, Padawan,' Obi wan mused, he still wasn't sure what the reason was, it all just didn't sit right with him. He would have to think on it later, if they got the chance that was. Right now he was getting ready to ram the ship into the pirates.
The transport lined up, the pirate ship was dead ahead. This was it, everyone on the bridge knew of their various responsibilities. They would ram the ship using the front, and if the pirate ship turned, then the west side of their transport. All the way there they would be firing shot after shot at the pirate's weapons systems until theirs burned out. This would be it, all or nothing.
The captain's voice drifted across the intercom around the entire ship, informing the crew and passengers of the plan to ram the pirate's and that everyone should clear the west side and brace themselves for collision.
Obi wan felt everyone's anxiety levels rising, this was pretty risky he had to admit. But this was their only chance of not becoming completely defenceless. The ship was ready, the crew were ready, this was it they were now heading forward for the ram maneuver.
Anakin had tried to comfort the family as they heard the captain's voice over the intercom informing everyone to brace. They hadn't quite reached the safe room yet so Anakin ordered the security detail to form a tight circle and had everyone brace themselves. He could hear the ships weapons firing at an alarming rate and felt the veering, meaning the ram would happen any second.
Their ship smashed into the pirate's ship with incredible force, he couldn't stay on his feet even though he knew it was coming. The engines groaned in despair as the horrible screeching sound of the scraping of metal on metal filled the corridors. That was one hell of a bang! It sounded like Obi wan had hit the pirates right on target. Let's just hope we knocked out their weapons Anakin thought grimly, getting everyone to their feet again. They were just yards away from the safe room, so Anakin sped everyone up. The family were ushered inside along with most of their personal security. The Senator ordered two of the men to accompany Anakin incase the pirates ended up boarding. They would need all the firepower out here that they could get!
With one last look at the children, Anakin slid the door shut and fused all of the door controls. The room itself wasn't too near the edge of the ship so should be safe if there were any more collisions. Besides it was one of the thickest walled rooms he had found. Anyone else trying to get in that room would have a hard time doing it. Of course Obi wan and Anakin could both get in, in an emergency by cutting through the thick walls with their light sabers. Confident that the family were as safe as they could be Anakin raced towards his master, their next threat would be any boarders that made it onto the ship.
Obi wan picked himself up from the floor of the bridge, not even he could withstand that amount of force that rocked the ship. He rushed forward to help the rest of the crew up off the floor, the entire room was full of smoke and alarms from various consoles filled the air informing the crew of the glaringly obvious, most of the ships systems were down. Obi wan glanced at the various readouts quickly, the shields seemed to have held across the ship and there were no hull breaches. The volley of shots that the ship had fired at the pirates had been successful in knocking out their weapons so there was one good thing that came of it.
Obi wan watched in dismay however as the pirate ship seemed to be still functioning engine wise, although there did appear to be damage to quite a few of their systems. So they could still move but they couldn't fire on them. Whereas the transport Obi wan was standing on was now completely a sitting duck. That meant the pirates probably had one thing in mind as soon as they stabilised their ship, Boarding.
Obi wan felt along his training bond with Anakin trying to ascertain the location of his young padawan. He felt relief coarse through him when he felt Anakin's force presence, unharmed. It appears he was heading for the bridge which meant he must have been successful in getting the family safely hidden away. Good now we need to plan on meeting the various boarding parties they will inevitably be sending over.
Not a moment later did Anakin come bounding onto the bridge, ready for action with his light saber gripped in his hand. The personal security for the Senator weren't far behind, huffing slightly more as they didn't have the energy levels of a 12 year old boy.
"Master, the family are sealed away on the east side. I've already seen the pirate ship readying ships to deploy towards us, they will be trying to board!" Anakin breathlessly blurted out.
'Patience, Padawan, we will be no help to this ship or the Senator if we go rushing in without a plan.' As Obi wan saw Anakin take a deep breath and prepare for instructions, he gathered the remaining security forces around and started detailing the plan.
Anakin was on one side of the transport and his master was on the other, they were each accompanied by the remaining security guards that weren't guarding the Senator. Each of them had just a handful of guards and they both realised they would have to split up to effectively defend the ship. There were three docking points, two on either side of the ship and then one at the rear which the pirates would inevitably try to use. The only problem was there were only two Jedi. So they had sent the Senator's personal guards to head up the rear defence and they themselves took the other two entry points.
Each guard held a blaster gun aiming at the docking doors. Obi wan had drilled Anakin and the teams of what to expect. Pirates usually attacked with force they would blast through the doors, and throw any kind of grenade you could think of. From smoke, to stun, to paralysing. It all depended on how well equipped their enemies were, for that reason all the teams waited a couple of yards away from the door to try and diminish the effects on them when the door was first blown open. There wasn't much finesse to the boardings, after chucking in grenades it was always followed by a volley of blaster fire.
They could hear the clang of metal as the pirate ships hit the docking port. Anakin had done his best to make it difficult for them door controls wise, but they would blast through them just the same eventually. His nerves were really getting to him now, the adrenaline pumping though his blood vigorously helping his focus on the door. This wasn't training anymore, these were real blasters, and he was protecting real people. If he messed up now it wasn't just his life on the line. The memory of being shot in that alley by a bounty hunter sprang back into his mind, he had never been in so much pain in his life, and really didn't want a repeat of that incident. With that determination in mind he ignited his light saber. The azure blade shot upwards and Anakin could feel the heat on his face. I'm ready as I'll ever be…
'Be careful, Ani, trust in your training. If you start to get hit by too many pirates retreat towards the centre of the ship. Are you calm?' His master's voice floated into his mind. Obi wan must have sensed the conflicting emotions broadcasting from his apprentice.
'I'm getting there master, it's just a lot of responsibility. These people are trusting me with their lives!' The true weight of the situation suddenly caught up with him, What if he let people down? What if he let his master down?
'There is no point in thinking of what if's, Anakin, you know this. Live in the moment, the best you can do for these people is concentrate. Think back to training the other day, imagine you're wearing a blindfold. Block everything that doesn't matter out, just concentrate on the threat and deal with it.' Obi wan paused as the sound of blasts from the rear of the ship echoed along the corridors. 'Do that and you could never let me down, Anakin, May the force be with you, Padawan' Obi wan was all business now, he knew they only had seconds.
'May the force be with you, Master.' Anakin took a deep breath and sent a wave of gratitude along the bond, thankful for his master's words of encouragement. A few seconds later chaos reigned down on them all.
Obi wan and his team waited in cover at the end of the corridor, the door had just been blasted open and smoke poured out of the hole where the door used to be. Shock grenades were the next out, intending to blind their victim's sight. Obi wan of course didn't need his vision to fight, in the Jedi temple they were trained from when they first arrived to fight whilst blinded. Next came the blaster fire.
The fire wasn't really aiming at anyone at first but it still served its purpose as the pirates scrambled to get feet onto the ship and find cover, the team behind Obi wan couldn't stick their heads round the corner long enough to fire back without nearly getting hit by stray bullets themselves.
Obi wan jumped into the fray, his movements a blur to the casual eye. Deflecting any blasts that were heading in his general vicinity back the way they came, he heard a few bolts hit their targets and bodies hit the floor. Yet still the pirates continued piling out of the hole tossing more grenades as they went. Interesting only stun and disorientating measures, they could have easily thrown more harmful grenades towards them, something twigged at the back of his mind at that but Obi wan was far too involved with the battle in front of him to worry about it.
The men beside him were using crates and anything they could find as cover, he heard more and more bodies drop to the floor as blasters hit their targets. The stench of smoke and death filled the air, and Obi wan missed one of the shock grenades before it blasted near to his feet. An awful ringing sound filled his ears, and his eyesight was just a flashing white light. Obi wan called on the force and closed his eyes, he felt every bolt that came his way still and deflected them with precision. An outside eye wouldn't have believe what he was seeing, a Jedi moved so quickly that it all seemed to happen in the blink of an eye.
He grimaced as he heard the man that was just beside him drop to the floor in a cry of pain, he obviously had been stunned by the grenade and was wandering around disorientated, well before being hit square in the chest by a blaster. There are too many of them here. Not only that but he sensed that a lot of the pirates were now roaming the ship, every now and again they'd make a break for the adjacent corridor and some of them always made it. Not just that though, the force was screaming a warning at him. They were being outflanked! It looked as though the rear of the ship's team had been disabled, so hordes of pirates were piling on there. He could sense that Anakin only had a few members of his team left, and he himself only had a handful of men still up and fighting. There was no doubt about it the ship was being overrun. Obi wan hadn't anticipated this many pirates, it was unheard of! All for one Senator… he mused. He was sure there was something else there, all the clues they had thought about until the ship was attacked were leading somewhere. The problem is he didn't have the time now to think about the ramifications of where his thoughts were leading him.
With one more assessment over the area there was only one conclusion really, they had to retreat to the centre of the ship and hope that his and Anakin's combined forces could fend them off.
"Retreat!" Obi wan shouted to the 3 remaining men behind him. Stars and galaxies, this wasn't looking good.
Anakin was having a very hard time keeping the barrage of shots that were aimed at him and his companions at bay. He despaired every time he heard one of the men behind him cry out and hit the ground. He knew better than anyone how painful a blaster shot was and his was only in the arm! There's too many of them. Anakin started to panic, the waves of pirates never seemed to end. He wasn't expecting this many! The grenades even kept on coming, he was long ago blinded and had been relying on the force to deflect the blaster shots back at the assailants.
He recoiled slightly as a blaster shot whizzed past his arm, it had gotten past his defences and left a slight graze. Hissing he focused back on the task at hand. That could have been a lot worse had it been on target! He had to be more careful.
'Anakin, there are pirates all over the ship! They've broken through the rear defences. Retreat back to the centre and we'll try and regroup.' Anakin noted the slight worry in his master's voice. It must be bad then, Obi wan only ever panicked when the situation was grave.
Anakin didn't have the concentration to respond right now, all his focus and energy were being directed at the ongoing battle. After he signaled the remaining men on his team to retreat, he followed them. Swinging his light saber in large arcs, trying to deflect the shots being aimed at his companions. After getting out of sight of the pirates he responded to his master.
'Coming, Master I lost some of my team, those pirates were evil they didn't stop, everyone was screaming'. Anakin replied dejectedly. It was down to him to keep these people safe and he had failed, the truth was there were too many shots for him to stop all of them, force knows he tried, but when the grenades kept coming people got hit. Anakin knew he wouldn't forget the screams of men dying in pain for the rest of his life.
'I know, Padawan, I too saw an awful amount of unnecessary death. It's not your fault, there are just too many of them' Obi wan's voice was also full of sorrow, trying to reassure Anakin knowing the boy would take it all to heart anyway.
Anakin wanted to ask one day if it ever got easier, seeing death that is. Killing people. From the tone in his master's voice he knew the answer, no it didn't get easier and he had never got used to it.
Obi wan waited in the central corridor, one of the Senator's personal security from the rear door had made it back. It's funny the rear door had been completely over run very quickly and yet this guard had made it back with nothing more than a blaster graze to his arm. Before Obi wan could think any more on the matter Anakin came bursting into the room with what was left of his team. Only two as well. That made just five guards left as well as Obi wan and Anakin. This was looking impossible…
He looked down at his padawan, sweat poured from his face and his tunic was covered in singe marks from near misses. He noted a slight graze from a blaster, nothing serious, his padawan had done exceptionally well in difficult circumstances. Obi wan was very proud of him. However he hated the fact Anakin had seen so much death on his first mission, he had sounded so pained over the bond, taking each death personally. He would need to sit him down after all this, that is if they made it through the rest of the attack which was looking more and more unlikely by the second, and talk to him about not taking personal responsibility for every death around him. The boy was too compassionate for his own good, one of his biggest problems Obi wan knew was his belief that he could save everybody.
Obi wan felt a surge in the force warning them to the appearance of the pirate's return from one side of the room. Everyone jumped back into battle again and Obi wan fought alongside his padawan. They were a blur of movements, light sabers swinging in large arcs deflecting shot after shot.
Anakin stood side by side with his master deflecting blast after blast, feeling ready for the next onslaught of the attack. He felt a danger in the force behind him as he heard several pirates race towards the east side of the ship, the Senators location. The Senator's personal security guard raced out of the room after them. Anakin knew he would be needing his help and without another thought he charged out of the room intent on keeping those pirates away from the Senator and his family. As he left he noticed with dismay there was only one other guard standing, nearly the entire security force wiped out!
Obi wan noticed his padawan leave his side and rush out of the room following the fleeing security guard. Surprisingly the amount of pirates pouring into the room were thinning, maybe they plan on regrouping and coming in from multiple sides? Obi wan heard the last guard fall with a grunt and felt his life force leave him. He winced this was one of the worst battles he had been in in a long time. Finally the last pirate raced in and Obi wan deflected the laser blast back at him. Anakin had only charged out a few moments earlier, Obi wan turned intent on going after him.
Fool! How stupid had he been! Every answer he had been searching for hit him at once, halting Obi wan in his steps effectively. The threats, the amount of pirates piling onto this ship, far more than any Obi wan had ever seen to capture just one Senator, the traitor… Every shot that had been fired at Obi wan had been wounding only not fatal, he had assumed these pirates were poor shooters but then they hit the others just fine! How could I have been so blind? These pirates weren't after the Senator that was all a smoke screen. They want us.
With that deadly thought in mind Obi wan raced after Anakin, he was running straight into a trap! He chastised himself for not connecting all the dots earlier, the only logical reason anyone would make threats to increase security on board for their target was to get Jedi on board. Of course that in itself wasn't logical Jedi were notoriously hard to capture, hence the large number of pirates sent on board. They would have needed an inside man to ensure the ships little resistance in a firefight. The security guard that was fighting on the rear! He had probably turned on the other men. With that grim thought Obi wan sped up.
'Anakin! it's a trap they want us!' As soon as Obi wan had said that he watched with horror as a metal bulkhead door slid down between him and Anakin effectively separating them.
Panic raised in Obi wan as he felt several enemies converge on Anakin's position and felt a quite alarmingly large amount of pain seep through their bond.
Obi wan slid to a stop in front of the bulkhead and immediately started cutting through it with his light saber. He didn't care about anything else other than getting to his padawan, he was in real trouble and could be very injured.
His arms shook with the pure effort of guiding the light saber around to cut out a whole big enough for him.
'Hold on, Ani, I'm coming!'
He knew Anakin was still alive, he had felt what it was like for a bond to shatter when the recipient on the other end died and didn't want to feel that agony ever again. He was too desperate to get to the other side of the bulkhead and prevent his padawan's demise that he missed all the warnings emulating from the force.
Mercifully the metal finally gave way and Obi wan burst through the still searing hole, light saber at the ready. What greeted him the other side rocked him to his very core. He was surrounded by what must have been 25 to 30 assailants all pointing blasters in his general direction.
That wasn't the thing that stilled his heart though, the sight that had almost caused him to lose control was the body of HIS padawan in the grip of the smirking traitor with a large gash down the side of Anakin's face and a blaster pointed directly at Anakin's head.
I hoped you liked it! as always please review :)
until next time
