Trieze: Wildfire

Zeta-01 switched off the comm. "Backup's on the way. We've got two battalions of stormtroopers." Twenty-six looked up from the shuddering tech. "Who's the commanding officer, sir?" Zero-one shrugged as he cocked the bolt on his DC-15 rifle. "Dunno. But we've got new orders."

Twelve visibly perked up, straightening his armored figure. "Great."

Zero-one punched the door controls. "Let's go kill some Jedi."

Anakin's glare seemed permanently fixed to his face. Obi-Wan stood, frozen in the passage, unable to look away from those burning eyes - the eyes of his Padawan, his friend, his brother in arms…

…his nemesis.

And his mind traveled back even as his body recoiled into a standoff.

A wiggly little ten year old boy, awkward and naïve, springing out of bed in the early morning, when dawn hazed the courts of the Temple with mist, the expected miracle of all children, the hope that the bitter galaxy had not yet stolen from him. His master was decidedly not a morning person, but Ani had always been so. The Padawan did have scars upon his tender heart, but he was still the squirming little lad who begged his master to take him to see the speeder races in the mid-levels. And Obi-Wan would always respond, 'Let your Master meditate for fifteen more minutes…'

And at night, when Ani would return to their chamber after long hours of study, and Obi-Wan was already there, reading a holobook. The boy would crawl up into Obi-Wan's lap, half-asleep already; the little Padawan's sleepy eyes would say: "I was hoping I would find you here." And Obi-Wan's eyes would reply in various ways, despite what his teachings demanded, "There are no words to tell how much I love you, my child..."

Where had it gone?

The eyes now said, You are my enemy - your destruction will come at my hand.

Obi-Wan realized that he had never come to terms with this. All this, crawled through his mind as he straightened, and his voice spoke automatically: "It seems we've reached an impasse." The sick feeling in his gut tightened.

Anakin nodded, smiled. That scar crinkled on his brow. "Indeed. The situation is a simple one. I will let Yoda live, if you will return my wife and child to me."

Obi-Wan knew that that had been coming, but he felt as if he'd been gut punched. The Jedi Master lying on the floor, eyes half-lidded, was Obi-Wan's only friend left in the galaxy. Behind him, the only hope left in the galaxy lay hidden behind a giant steel barricade, decorated with unconscious and dismembered bodies.

Anakin was offering him a choice.

Choose hope, or choose friendship.

He could not have both - thus, he could not decide.

So, Zeta-26 decided for him.

Two DC-15 bolts lashed out of nowhere, out of apparent nothingness. A clone commando suddenly appeared, decloaking, ninety yards down the hallway as Anakin spun with supernatural speed, deflected both blasts with sharp precision. At the same instant, Yoda was scrambling away as quickly as his damaged body would allow him. Obi-Wan was the only one unready for it, his grip on the Force still tentative and uncertain.

He rushed forward to drag his friend out of the way as three more clones appeared and opened fire with ruthlessly accurate shots. Anakin, however, was in supreme control, batting away blasts with eminent skill. Then - click - the sharp electronic scream of a thermal detonator.

Anakin growled a profanity and rolled left, into the alcove, behind cover. Obi-Wan interposed himself between Yoda and the small, glowing grenade that clattered to the floor less than three feet in front of him - Death in a package the size of his fist.

Mere seconds to react.

The Force inspired him, and Obi-Wan acted as it spoke. His hand shot out, the Force shouted, and the orb spun back down the hallway and wedged itself in a grate.

Explosives detonated; a gout of fire split the hall. The grate was blown open like a banana peel, and ferrocrete burst into thick chunks, filling the hall with smoke and dust. A shout of disgust from one of the clones rang in the sudden stillness, then blaster fire cascaded down the hall again as the smoke cleared. Zeta-26 popped up over the pile of rubble, let loose a spray of charged ion bolts. The one Jedi that they could still see batted them back - right at him. The clone spun, dodging, but one blast clipped his shield, and he staggered. Zeta-01 swore. "Dammit! Twelve - flashbang!"

Obi-Wan heard this as he moved back toward the blast door, Yoda cradled in one of his arms. The Jedi Master had lapsed into unconsciousness again, eyes rolling behind closed eyelids. Obi-Wan lunged forward with everything he had, a few bolts shooting past him to sizzle on the steel blast door. He searched for the keypad for the door behind all the bodies and rubble that had been piled against the thick durasteel - then, the realization struck him.

He was trapped.

The blast door was completely sealed, and it would take some time for it to open. Not only that, he didn't even have the right door codes to override the lockdown. He turned, Yoda still draped across one arm - just as the flashbang went off.

Obi-Wan was blind and deaf.

Everything went white, and a high squeal filled his ears. Nausea slammed him, churned hard, mind broke, spin - down, twist, lost his grip on himself. He stumbled back, almost dropping Yoda, his extremities tingling, expecting to die at any second - for the second time in ten minutes. This thought was not lost on him.

Just then, he heard an odd sound, like nails on a chalkboard. It cut right through the ringing in his ears that still disoriented him, even as his vision slowly returned. He jerked his head back and forth, frustrated, trying to see what was happening…

Suddenly, he sensed a presence very close to him. Anakin. He fought the urge to vomit. Any second now: blade in his throat.

Then he realized that more importantly, Anakin's back was to him.

His hearing had now returned somewhat, but not his sight, or his mental faculties. He could hear blaster fire, the sound of someone screaming in agony. He experienced a mild bit of surprise that it wasn't him. How very odd, he thought, that despite the fact that I can't see a single thing going on in front of me, and the fact that everyone here seems fully intent upon killing me in one way or another, I am still completely composed.

He wondered if he was going insane.

Then, he heard a familiar voice: Anakin's. "Obi-Wan! If you want to live through this, open that damned door!"

"I can't see," Obi-Wan calmly replied.

"Idiot," Anakin muttered. Something sizzled in the air - Obi-Wan felt it on his skin - followed by another explosion, a harsh cry, cut off into silence.

He felt Yoda slide down off of his arm, then heard that gravelly voice: "Doing what are you, young Skywalker?" Yoda sounded slightly alarmed. Anakin made some kind of rumbling sound. "Saving all of us. Though why I'm saving you two, I'll never know." Then, the sound of metal buckling, Yoda actually shouting with surprise. Obi-Wan had a feeling he knew what was going on.

Then, his sight and his mind slowly returned, and his suspicions were confirmed.

Anakin, through the sheer power of the Force, had ripped open the blast doors. He was sitting on a corpse, sweating, grimacing as if in pain. Behind, far down the hallway, three clone bodies lay draped across the rubble, dead or unconcious.Obi-Wan resisted a shudder. The sheer power just displayed was... numbing. What have you been doing all this time, Anakin? Yoda limped to the chamber doors that had once been protected by the supposedly impregnable blast doors, and quickly punched in a code. Turning to Anakin, he allowed a scowl to cross his burned, blacked features, and said, "Regret this, I am sure I will."

The doors slid open to reveal a small, compact chamber, well-lit and well furnished. In the background, a bedchamber could be seen. Rich red rugs covered the floor, accenting the simply decorated walls. Glowpanels bathed the room in golden light.

And in the center of it all stood Padme Amidala Skywalker.

"Anakin!"