So this chapters a little longer and things are starting to heat up!


Seeing Anakin bleeding took Obi wan back to a memory he would honestly rather quite like to forget, it was of a day where his padawan had given him his first brush with how a heart attack must feel, Obi wan had made a vow to himself that day and still intended on keeping it.

Obi wan was looking for his padawan again. He had snuck out of the temple over and over, in the time that Obi wan had been his master. That boy was infuriating, he never listened to rules and always thought he could sweet talk his way out of trouble.

Obi wan suspected Anakin was located on the lower levels of Coruscant searching for parts for the blasted droids he insisted on cluttering up their apartment with. Usually Obi wan simply waited until Anakin tried to sneak back in and reprimand him then, but tonight was different. The force had screamed a warning at him loud enough to break through his sleep. He was certain it was to do with Anakin and was currently searching along their training bond trying to ascertain the boy's location.

Definitely the lower levels, Obi wan concluded rushing out the door sensing his padawan's anxiety and heartbeat rising, something was definitely happening Anakin was in trouble. Obi wan made it to a transport in record time and headed straight down towards his apprentice's location below, putting his foot down as more and more feelings drifted along their bond. fear, panic, pain Anakin was fighting something. Obi wan prayed he wouldn't be too late by the time he got there.

Parking the transport just off from an alley, Obi wan vaulted after his padawan's force signature, it was so strong he had sensed it as soon as he had started to descend towards the bottom of the city. 'Arghhhh' Intense pain shot across the bond as he felt a fierce feeling from Anakin. Obi wan doubled his efforts, panic flowing through his very being, he was so close now 'just hold on, Ani'.

When he rounded the last corner what he saw shocked him, the ground was littered with the fallen bodies of what looked like bounty hunters and there was his padawan, a smoking hole through his shoulder falling to his knees as if in slow motion. Obi wan raced forward grimacing as Anakin hit the ground hard, reaching his fallen apprentice he glanced around to make sure the threat was over. Anakin had dealt with all of the assailants and got away with just one blaster wound, 'force he was lucky'. As Anakin passed out, most likely from the pain of the blaster wound which Obi wan could still feel through their bond, he picked him up and headed back to the transport with haste.

Obi wan sent healing energies through their bond, hoping to lighten some of the pain in Ani's shoulder. He glanced down at the boy as he jogged along, his padawan's young face was scrunched up in pain even in unconsciousness. 'How could he be so reckless?, I am going to kill him myself for nearly giving me a heart attack' Obi wan exasperated, loading Anakin into the back of the transport.

Obi wan stayed by Anakin's side in the healers ward until he woke. His anger at his padawan for jumping into a situation had eased slightly, a very beaten man had come forward to thank a Jedi boy who had helped him. Obi was sure from the beings story if Anakin had not jumped in he would be dead now. Pride welled up in Obi wan as the man relayed that Anakin had bounded in without a second thought, he always wanted to help everyone. The boy has a good heart.

Obi wan sighed, even though it was a good thing Anakin did, jumping in without thinking is not the Jedi way. His padawan was very lucky those criminals weren't more experienced, he had only been training for just over a year even with his advanced learning rate it was very risky. Obi wan knew it was in Anakin's nature to do just what he did, his thoughts for others always came first, he would have to take it upon himself to be there when Anakin's heart led him into danger and do everything in his power to keep him safe.

As he stared down at the sleeping injured boy, Obi wan vowed to himself he would protect his padawan with his life. Anakin wasn't just his apprentice, he was like a son to Obi wan. He exasperated him and nearly drove him crazy half the time, but Obi wan loved him like a son and he couldn't help it, be damned to what the council might say about it.

Obi wan's mind returned to the present as he regarded the scene in front of him. Anakin had made exactly the same mistake this time as he had all those years ago, he had let his heart lead him. His desire to get to the family and save them had meant he overlooked the very real danger right in front of him. Now it was Obi wan's responsibility to get them out of this, he chided himself again for not warning Anakin in time.

Intense hatred engulfed Obi wan's mind, he had not taken his eyes off of Anakin the moment he had locked eyes on him. His padawan did not seem to be very aware of his surroundings and couldn't meet Obi wan's worried eyes, probably the fault of the large wound on his head and the concussion that was probably starting to affect him now. He grimaced inwardly as he saw the hutt-spawn that held Anakin tighten his arm round his padawan's neck effectively cutting off his airway.

Obi wan knew they were in trouble he was vastly outnumbered his padawan injured, there was no backup no help left on the ship. None of these feelings reached the features on his face however, no his face was a picture of utter control and serenity, years and years of experience was the only thing stopping Obi wan from showing all of the emotions and fears he could feel swelling up inside him.

Keeping his light saber gripped tightly in his hand in the perfect defence posture, Obi wan glanced around the room for a second. Trying to identify any weakness in the situation that he and Anakin had quite spectacularly fallen in to. In the fleeting moment Obi wan's worst fears were realised, there was no chance he could get himself and Anakin out of this alive, he could probably last for a while against the men in usual circumstances. But these were not usual circumstances, before he even started Anakin would be dead, and he would most likely be right after him in his current state. He didn't like to admit it but the events of the last hour had really taken its toll on his battered body and everything seemed to be catching up on Obi wan at once.

The slight smirk on the traitor's face revealed that he had noticed Obi wan's quick recon of the room and he seemed to have picked up on the slight dejected look on Obi wan's face. Even though it had only been there for a split second it weakened his negotiation power considerably. Both sides of the party knew how futile a rescue attempt from Obi wan would be at this moment.

Obi wan's eyes fell back on his Padawan, who seemed to be a bit more alert now he was slowly being starved of oxygen.

'Ani! Look at me. Don't panic, we're going to get out of this.' Obi wan tried to reach Anakin desperately along the bond, the last thing they needed was his padawan freaking out and lashing out.

The tension in the room was palpable, any sudden movements and Obi wan had no doubt that everyone in the room would begin firing in his direction and Anakin would be dead within a matter of seconds. He willed for his padawan to respond!


Anakin's head hurt a lot. Everything was fuzzy and nothing seemed to be making much sense to him at the moment. He had run into the room trailing the security officer, kriffing sith, that had turned out to be a bad plan running blindly without Obi wan. He only just heard Obi wan's cry of warning before BAM!

That was the last clear memory Anakin had, he had dropped his light saber in the process and heard it roll off towards the side of the room. He had tried to open his eyes but the blinding light just made everything greatly worse, he saw a faint outline of the security officer before being pulled unceremoniously to his feet. A hefty weight snaked itself around Anakin's neck and he noted a prodding in his head, which felt unmistakably like a blaster. Obi wan's gonna kill me!

Anakin had scrunched his eyes up, wishing that his head would stop feeling as though it was splitting apart. It wasn't helping so he pried his eyes open slightly to see what mess he had gotten himself in and more importantly how he was going to get out of this!

There was an odd smell in the air, like metal burning. That was when Anakin spotted what was most definitely Obi wan's light saber cutting through the bulkhead in front of them. Anakin looked around, too many bad guys to count, with Anakin out of the picture at the moment things were not looking good for them.

That was when Obi wan burst into the room, blue light saber held out in front of him ready to cut down anyone that got between him and his padawan. Anakin tried to focus on his master and what he saw in those brief seconds worried him immensely. He had caught the flash of emotions crossing his masters face as he assessed the situation. Anger, pain, immense hatred and lastly most painfully defeat.

He had observed Obi wan make a visual inspection of the room and had watched as his master realised they were vastly outnumbered and he couldn't save Anakin. All of these emotions flicked across his master's face in less than a second before his face became a perfectly guarded mask again. Anakin could sense the fury emanating from his master in waves though as he felt the arm holding him squeeze tighter, making it almost impossible to breathe.

The lack of oxygen helped to bring Anakin's senses back to him, the blood from his forehead continued to drip down his face as he heard his master's voice across their bond. Dont panic! Was he mad can't he see what's going on?

Anakin met his master's warier gaze, he saw that Obi wan was desperately trying to reassure him. That was when Anakin realised why, his master was worried Anakin was going to do something stupid and act out. Which with the current mood in the room would not be good for Anakin or Obi wan. The amount of blasters pointed at Obi wan were immense, each with an accompanying itching trigger finger, all waiting for the Jedi to make a move that would result in a fatal outcome.

'I'm not strong enough to get out of this hold, I don't know where my light saber is,' Anakin quickly spluttered.

Anakin tried to slow down his thinking, trying to convey to Obi wan that he didn't know what to do whilst showing that he was taking on his words of caution about not panicking. The last thing Anakin was going to do was be the cause of the death of his master. The thought alone was enough to raise his heart again.

'You're not going to cause my death Ani, these pirates want us alive that's why they went to all this trouble. Even if you did manage to get out from him I don't know if even I could take on this amount of assailants.'

Anakin noticed his master leaning slightly to one side, he must have been injured in battle, Anakin was also exhausted. They had been fighting for so long and the effects had finally crept up on them.

'What do they want with us?!' Anakin exclaimed, he knew pirates dealt in slave trading. That was one road he never wanted to walk again, the memories and feelings from those days were buried deep down in his core. It scared him how much anger was there and how he couldn't control it when it reared its ugly head.

'I don't know, padawan, they wouldn't go through all of this for slave trading trust me. I'm going to try and get you out of this." Obi wan had picked up on his apprentice's apprehension when he realised what pirate's were involved in.

Before Anakin could ask what his master meant at that he heard Obi wan address his captor in the coldest voice he had ever heard, if he hadn't have seen his master's lips moving at the same time he wouldn't have believed that was the voice of Obi wan right now. It dripped with venom, threatening every man in the room with the tone, with just three little words, Anakin had never seen his master speak with such ferocity or authority.

"Let him go."

Obi wan noticed nearly everyone in the room stiffen, their hands clutching their weapons even tighter if that was possible. Everyone knew there was nothing more dangerous than an angry Jedi and Obi wan was quite positively livid.

"And why would I do that when we hold all the cards" Drifted a silky voice from the door as a new figure stalked in. The man in charge, Obi wan mused as he noticed the alpha male qualities and every man in the room tense as they heard his voice roll into the room.

The newly entered alien was humanoid, however he obviously wasn't of human descent. Where his nose should have been there were just two slits, and his eyes, large and unforgiving, glowed an eerie red colour. His skin had a slight tinge of blue to it, and his hands only had four fingers on each. He was a beast of a being though, towering over Obi wan easily, looking solid as a rock. Obi wan wasn't the tallest of Jedi but he hadn't been towered over in such a way since Qui gon. I could really use him here…

'You will handle this far better than I ever could.' drifted a voice from somewhere.

Obi wan's attention snapped to Anakin, no that wasn't his voice yet it sounded like it had come from the force. If I didn't know any better I would have said that was Qui gon's voice. Shaking himself out of it mentally Obi wan's attention came back to the current grave situation.

"Not all the cards," Obi wan replied indicating to his light saber still ignited in his sweating hands.

"The only one that matters." The alien inclined his head knowingly before answering in a chilling tone, glancing sparingly at Anakin's very still form.

The way Obi wan looked at Anakin confirmed it for the alien, he had spotted the protective stare Obi wan had given his apprentice. Obi wan's breathing stilled as the alien smiled knowing he was right, Obi wan was in his control by proxy. His only option was to try and negotiate Anakin out of this, maybe they would be satisfied with a Jedi knight, if ransom was the reason they were doing this. Obi wan really hadn't given much thought as to why they were targeted, everything was just going too fast. Anakin and he hadn't been out on any mission's to make enemies yet which led Obi wan to conclude this was most likely about him.

"I am Skepaf, pleased to meet your acquaintance." Bowed the alien mockingly, clearly enjoying the predicament Obi wan was in. Lovely a psychopath then, thought Obi wan grimly.

"If I surrender myself to you and offer no resistance, will you let my padawan go?" Obi wan put on his best diplomatic voice not letting any hatred seep in, this was going to be tricky the alien was right they held the only card that mattered.

Skepaf seemed to consider the offer for a second, he saw the determination in the Jedi's eyes and knew he could do some damage if he really wanted to. He could even kill Skepaf if he deflected a bolt in his direction which Skepaf was sure was no problem for a Jedi with Obi wan's experience.

"You know we would win in a firefight, Jedi maybe good but you're not infallible," chided the alien.

"But how many men would I take down before you manage to cut me down, I may even get to you." Obi wan finished saying the last word in the most chilling voice he could conjure. That hit the mark Skepaf visibly shifted, Obi wan had found Skepaf's weakness, he would not risk his own life.

Skepaf seemed to consider his options for a while, glancing around the room and finally laying his eyes back on Obi wan.

"Touché. If you surrender yourself WITHOUT resisting then I give you my word that I will let the boy go". Skepaf replied, his eyes glinting mischievously.

Obi wan knew the word of a pirate meant next to nothing, but what choice did he have? There was no way he could attack without resulting in the death of Anakin. That was an outcome he couldn't except even if he came out of this mess alive himself which he highly doubted. Obi wan saw Anakin's pleading eyes obviously not wanting Obi wan to listen to the pirate, he was probably picking up on the deception from the alien as well. Looking at Anakin's small frame crushed against the officer made up his mind for him, he acknowledged he had already known what he was going to do the first time he realised Anakin would be collateral damage in any fight. He made a vow once to protect this boy with his life and he intended to keep that promise, this was the only way Obi wan could see to keep Anakin coming from deadly harm.

"I am going to make this simple for you Jedi Knight Kenobi, drop your light saber and surrender yourself or I will order my man here to blow you padawan's head clean off" Skepaf's tone had lowered to menacing the further he got along the sentence, narrowing his eyes at Obi wan obviously impatient to Obi wan's inaction.

'You can't master! He won't let me go if you surrender you know that.' The rest of what Anakin was going to say got lost as the arm covering his neck tightened even further.

Obi wan glared at Skepaf, it was clear he was done with Obi wan's stalling. The message was clear, give up now or lose Anakin. That is something I cannot accept.

'Stay still, let them think you're too weak to do anything they might get complacent. No matter what they do to me Anakin, if you have a chance to get out take it.'

At sensing Anakin's upcoming rebuke Obi wan interrupted before his padawan started to rant.

'That is an order Anakin. Someone needs to get a message to the council, we can't get out of this ourselves at the moment. Someone has intricately planned every detail of this trap and we've fallen right into it.'

Preparing himself for the next events, Obi wan took a deep breath and deactivated his light saber. His only defence fell away from his finger tips and hit the ground with a resounding clang. The pirate's immediately pounced, one going straight for his light saber, a few keeping him covered with blasters and the rest wrestling his arms behind his back with haste as if he would just swat them all away like flies any moment.

He didn't resist through any of it, keeping his eyes locked on Anakin throughout the whole ordeal. He felt the snap of electro cuffs close tightly around his wrists, biting into his skin. Wincing slightly he noticed a pirate approaching with a syringe, the thought to struggle was quickly quashed by the raised eyebrow of the officer and the tapping of the blaster against Anakin's head.

A swift kick to the back of his legs sent Obi wan crashing to his knees hard on the steel floor. Nothing more than a grunt escaped his lips, he didn't want to give these criminals the satisfaction or to make his padawan anymore worried. Obi wan noted Anakin already looked like he wanted to vault at every single one of these animals and rip their throats out.

Someone yanked his head painfully to the side exposing his neck, he had no idea what was about to be injected into his system but he was almost certain it would be nothing pleasant.

Obi wan couldn't help but scrunch up his face a little when the needle was thrust into the major vein in his neck carelessly. He sensed the substance start to circulate through his blood, he tried to reach out to the force and lessen the effects of whatever it was. Alarmingly he couldn't focus on the force, shaking his head he tried again and this time his connection was even weaker. He couldn't even hear Anakin anymore, their once strong bond which was usually a beacon of light was no more than a few grey tendrils now. And it was getting fainter by the second.

Obi wan's heart raced as the possibilities ran through his mind, Am I dying? Is that why I'm losing connection to Anakin, from the appalled look on Anakin's face he could tell the loss of their connection wasn't going unnoticed to him. He thought he heard someone that sounded like Anakin faintly shouting in his mind but then it was gone, everything around him was so empty. It was like nothing he had ever felt in his life, that one sure connection that had been there since birth, to the force, was just gone.

With that conclusion Obi wan looked up at Skepaf and the officer to see them both smirking down at their captive, they were gleefully enjoying his predicament.

"Something wrong, Jedi? That precious force of yours being elusive is it?" sneered Skepaf.

"What did you give me?" Obi wan all but shouted.

Without the soothing presence of the force there with him it was very hard to calm his temper. He had relied on it since birth and having it ripped away from his very soul was making him feel empty, drained and all his slight wounds from earlier flared to an immense pain. He had always had the force to call upon to lessen wounds and heal injuries, now all his damaged nerves screamed out at him at once, alerting Obi wan to all of the injuries he had been successfully ignoring before with the help of the force. Everything burned, Oh force why does everything hurt so much?

Skepaf nodded to a pirate off of Obi wan's right shoulder. He turned just in time to see the butt of rifle heading straight for his face, he heard the crunch as his nose crumpled under the blow and howled out in pain as he crashed towards the floor. Obi wan had never felt pain like it before, so raw, so unchecked. The cool steel of the floor gave some comfort to his burning face, it didn't last for long as he felt his arms being grabbed before he was jerked back up onto his feet.

Skepaf sauntered towards the freshly bleeding Jedi, a look of pure satisfaction plastered on his face. Without a warning from the force Obi wan didn't see the blow coming, didn't have a chance to prepare himself for it. Skepaf's balled up fist when straight for his ribs, winded Obi wan fell forward, too shocked and breathless to cry out. He just wanted to curl up into a ball until the pain went away, he could feel blood pouring down his face from his nose which felt like it was being hit over and over again. He was jerked up again only for Skepaf to repeat his motion only harder this time. Obi wan grunted as he again struggled to stay upright but once again fell painfully on his already bruised knees.

Then Skepaf's hard coated boot struck him in his midsection with such force that it launched Obi wan over onto his back. That time he did scream, he couldn't help it the force of that kick had shattered at least two ribs he could feel them loose in his chest now.

Breathing heavily Obi wan tried to concentrate on anything in the room other than the agonising pain he was in, it didn't work all he could think about was breathing as he tried desperately to alleviate the pain, on instinct reaching out for the force and grunting as he sensed there was nothing there.


Anakin watched in horror as his master was beaten. He grimaced himself for each blow that had hit Obi wan. The only thing stopping him from rushing forward was the blaster pushed deeper against his head and his master's last instructions not to do anything stupid whatever they do to Obi wan. That's easier to say than do! Anakin thought as the sith spit slammed his boot viciously into Obi wan's midsection. There was a resounding crack that echoed off of the metal walls, Anakin despaired at the pain his master was so clearly in, rasping breaths came from his broken fallen body.

He had tried desperately to contact him, give him some reassurance anything just to talk to him. But Anakin had recoiled from the force in horror as he didn't sense Obi wan, not in the force or along their training bond. That constant part of his mind was now horribly silent, it was like having a limb cut off. That was when the horrible thought crossed Anakin's mind as he felt Obi wan's side of the bond drift away, What if he's dying? Anakin couldn't handle that, what else could effectively cut off Obi wan from their bond and the force itself!

Anakin shot daggers as Skepaf turned round to face him, a glint in his eye clearly ecstatic with what was happening to Obi wan. Anakin felt his hatred build up in side of him, without Obi wan as an anchor it continued to rise for once Anakin didn't want to release it into the force. He wanted to use it to rip each and every one of these cowards apart with his bare hands.

His attention focused back to his master as he heard him grunt in pain, if they had found a way to cut off Obi wan from the force Anakin couldn't even begin to imagine the complete misery his master must be in. Without the force to call on to help alleviate the injuries Obi wan's body must be in complete torment.

Anakin grimaced as he observed his master being hauled barbarously to his knees, there was now a steady flow of blood dripping down his face, his nose definitely looked broken. Skepaf kneeled down in front of his master and Anakin wanted nothing more in that moment than to separate Skepaf's head from his shoulders.


Obi wan's view of the ceiling was obstructed by two burly pirates who viciously dragged him to his knees in front of Skepaf, with no consideration to his newly broken ribs. Obi wan cried out again as they intentionally jostled his shattered bones. He let his head hang low, blood dripping all over the spot in front of him. I have to control the pain.

His thoughts were interrupted as a rough hand grabbed his jaw lifting his face up to meet Skepaf's gaze. That's when Obi wan shivered, he saw the delight at his pain in those eyes, this being was completely sociopathic. With a satisfied grin he rose away from Obi wan and went and stood back by Anakin, who looked well completely horrified I don't blame him, I must look a mess. He could sense even without the force hatred and anger rolling off of his apprentice's being in waves.

"I'm sure by now you've noticed the purpose of the drug." He waited staring down at the Jedi master, making sure he had his complete attention. When Obi wan glowered back at him he chuckled and continued.

"It's new, I must admit when I was handed the serum I did not expect such excellent results!"

He was interrupted by Anakin, Obi wan couldn't warn him through the bond to stay silent although he still tried out of habit and was once again dismayed at the lack of anything to connect to.

"You're sick! What kind of …" Anakin was abruptly cut off by a blaster hit to the face. He sagged in the arms of the officer who still held him, barely conscious. His wound on the side of his face had almost closed up but now dark crimson blood ran freely down his face again.

Obi wan was about to start forward and say something when a blaster was levelled at Anakin's head. He stopped, losing his temper at this monster would result in Anakin's death. Skepaf continued as Anakin was silenced and Obi wan leant back again.

"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted…" Sending Anakin a glare that conveyed if he interrupted again he'd be sorry. Obi wan hoped he would get the hint and stay silent he didn't want to see his padawan in anymore pain.

"This is called a force suppressor, it has been synthesised from the blood of the Ysalamiri. There's also a few chemical substances in there which are supposed to enhance the pain felt by the subject. And by that little display I'd say it works very well wouldn't you?"

Obi wan knew that was a rhetorical question, everyone in the room had witnessed the immense pain he had felt at each blow. Suddenly the great Jedi knight was just a man and everyone sensed it, the fear he had noticed from the men had reduced dramatically as they had witness him cry out in pain and had bones broken. He had heard tales of the Ysalamiri, they were a lizard like creature with the ability to repel force users, Jedi feared to be around them and now Obi wan could understand why.

Satisfied with the result of the situation Skepaf signalled to the men to move out, the officer hefted Anakin over his shoulder and started to trudge out of the room.

"You gave me your word, you'd release him." Obi wan was desperate now, he knew his voice must have dripped with it but there were no more cards to play. If he had to beg to get his padawan out of here then he would.

"I'm afraid my employer wants the both of you, I can't help you Jedi," Skepaf replied paying no more attention to Obi wan's declaration as he instructed more men.

"Please… I'm begging you he's just a boy." Obi wan couldn't believe the words that were falling out of his own mouth, without the force his centre of balance was all over the place and he was acting on pure instinct.

That made Skepaf spin round, surprise etched on all his features. Surprisingly there wasn't the malice there that Obi wan had expected, for a brief second he thought he saw pity, but that couldn't be this man was a heartless criminal.

Skepaf started towards Obi wan, he prepared himself for the upcoming blow closing his eyes. When no attack came he opened them again, thinking he was being played with.

"You care for the boy more than you should, I thought Jedi weren't allowed attachments." He had a questioning tone to his voice.

Obi wan realised Skepaf must have seen something in him as he had pleaded for Anakin's life, was he generally interested or just playing with the Jedi. Without the force Obi wan had trouble assessing his captor's intent.

"I care about him more than anyone in the universe, he is more than an apprentice to me, he has become like a son and I can't stand to see him hurt." Obi wan's instincts told him to stick with the truth so that's exactly what he did, his voice breaking slightly at the end.

Skepaf studied him and sighed, what had changed to this merciless monster. Why would my attachment to Anakin make him think twice, He must have a son Obi wan deduced.

"I can't release him my employer was very specific, I can promise you this though. Whilst he is in my care no more harm will come to him, you must make him understand though if he tries anything you will be the one who will be punished." By the end of the sentence the coldness was back, and Obi wan sensed all of Skepaf's reservations fall.

This was the best he was going to get, his need to do the job outweighed the father in him. Obi wan knew pushing it was treading on dangerous ground, this way Anakin would not be harmed which was something. With disgust at having to thank somebody for the position they were in, Obi wan swallowed his pride and answered.

"Thank you". He poured sincerity and gratitude into his expression and voice hoping Skepaf wouldn't sense his anger.

He didn't, or if he did he didn't show it, with a nod of his head he stalked off out of the room. Not before giving a signal to someone behind Obi wan.

Obi wan knew what was coming before it even hit, he felt the whoosh of air just microseconds before a blaster slammed into the back of his head with such ferocity that he thought his brain would ping pong out of his skull. I hope Anakin's alright, was his last thought before drifting into blissful unconsciousness.


As always please let me know what you think, until next time...