Hello munchkins, sorry this took a while. Real life and what not, you know? Anywho I'm on spring break now which means you can expect many chapters very soon so heads up and enjoy! :)
Of all the places Xanatos wanted to be after his and Obi-Wan's wild goose chase of a mission in Mandalore, standing in front of the Gungan leaders trying to persuade them to help out the very civilization they hid away from was not one of them. Yes, diplomacy had always been a strong point of Xanatos' as he was good with words but he also had a thorough love of action and the speed of day. Two things he could never hope to achieve in his current situation.
"Yousa cannot bees here. Thees army of mechneecs up there is you problemsss" Boss Nass spoke with the utmost confidence in himself.
Xanatos resisted the urge to sigh in an attempt to look stubborn and resilient himself and instead spoke firmly, "Once those droids take control of the surface, they will take control of you. Your people and the Naboo form a co-dependent circle; what happens to one of you will affect the other, you must understand this."
Much to Xanatos' frustration though, logic and reasoning seemed to have no effect on the Gungan ruler. So deciding he didn't have the time to waste on trying to push a mountain with his bare hands, he opted for a new solution.
"So you must want to send us on our way," he relayed with a slight force suggestion. That seemed to have done the trick as Boss Nass dumbly repeated, "Weesa gonna send yousa on yousa way."
"We could use some sort of transport" Xanatos continued, this time with a stronger suggestion and a flicker of his hand.
"Weesa give yousa a bongo. Yousa goos through the planet core! Now go!" Despite the malicious look that came onto Boss Nass' face upon the mention of the planet core, the Jedi decided it would be best to take the Gungan's suggestion and leave. As they began walking to the exit, Obi-Wan shot Xanatos a look of disapproval.
"What? Desperate times call for desperate measures" the older Jedi shrugged, instantly assuming that his apprentice was unhappy about his use of the force to manipulate others.
But the younger was quick to set him straight. "Master, Jar Jar" Obi-Wan said firmly, nodding in the captive Gungan's direction.
Xanatos groaned. He knew he shouldn't have let Obi-Wan spend so much time with Qui-Gon in his youth. Over the years the young man had taken on his grandmaster's unusual habit of picking up pathetic life forms wherever they went. Xanatos simply could not catch a break on missions with those two. Sensing his apprentice's compassion for the creature that he was sure was going to meet a terrible fate, Xanatos turned back to Boss Nass and cleared his throat. The Gungan had brought them one step closer to Theed after all, Xanatos reasoned with himself. The least he could do was free the fellow.
"One more thing your highness" Xanatos said, exhaling deeply, "Jar Jar Binks here owes me what you call a life debt. Your Gods demand that he belongs to me now."
Boss Nass didn't look very pleased but then again that was quite likely his default facial expression as far as either of the Jedi were concerned. "Binks?" Boss Nass hissed, "Yousa have a life play with thisn hisn?"
Jar Jar nodded enthusiastically and afterward looked as though he'd never been happier to be told to be gone before in his life.
"Thanks you for your help, we leave in peace" Xanatos rushed through the formalities as soon as Jar Jar was released by the guard that'd been holding him captive. The Jedi bowed and were off in a heartbeat, not eager to stay in the scrutinizing presence of the Gungans any longer than they had to.
As they mounted their transport Obi-Wan took the chance to thank his master for the rescuing of their third passenger (who was having some rather extreme difficulties getting strapped in to the back seat.) Despite his reluctant behavior about the whole thing, Xanatos offered the younger a smile; seeing his padwan pleased made him pleased in turn and he was sure Obi-Wan knew that very well.
They took off to Theed with Xanatos driving as Obi-Wan had always been more of a rider than driver, Jar Jar blithering on about his worries and concerns and their improvised course of action falling into place.
Walking straight up to the pack of battle droids acting as escorts to the queen and other captives would be considered reckless by some but to Obi-Wan it was nothing he wasn't used to seeing his master do. He knew the older Jedi had a craving for the rush and a thirst for adventure and so he had adapted himself to these ways years ago. Sometimes Obi-Wan thought Xanatos went out of his way to make their situation more difficult solely so he could find a solution to it and give himself a challenge.
Once the droids spotted them they immediately began firing. Glancing back once to make sure Jar Jar was out of the line of the cross fire, Obi-Wan and Xanatos tagged teamed to easily wipe them out. While Obi-Wan called to the force to sweep the droids away, Xanatos wielded his lightsaber to slice through them. This was how it usually went with them. With Obi-Wan using a defensive Soresu style of combat and Xanatos using an offensive Niman they balanced each other nearly perfectly. Once the droids were taken care of, Xanatos twirled his saber contently before deactivating it. As he glowed in their victory, Obi-Wan turned to the queen and her men to announce, "We are ambassadors from the supreme chancellor."
"Your negotiations seem to have failed ambassador" one of the rescued replied. Obi-Wan was caught just a bit off guard by the icy words. Seeing this Xanatos took over, "The negotiations never took place."
His tone was equally as grating, as he didn't take very kindly to having his apprentice spoken to that way. He turned to a man he identified as a captain by his attire before speaking again, "It's urgent that we make contact with the republic."
"They have knocked out all our communications" the man replied.
"You have transport then, I assume?" Xanatos asked.
"Yes, but in the main hangar. Our pilots are being held there by those blasted droids," the captain sounded troubled. Obi-Wan and Xanatos exchanged eager glances before the knight replied, "Trust me, that won't be a problem at all."
Once the runaway Nubians and Jedi reached the main hangar Xanatos stopped to speak to the queen.
"Considering the circumstances I would recommend that you return to Coruscant with us. No doubt these Federation scum will take your life without hesitation if they find you and with all due respect your highness, the chancellor cannot help you free your planet if you are no longer with us."
The queen only took a moment to think before nodding, "Then I will plead our case to the senate."
"Good." And with that word Xanatos strode right into the hangar, lightsaber blazing. At first the queen hesitated to follow the Jedi who behaved as only a mad man would, but when Obi-Wan urged her along, she complied.
"Get to a ship," Obi-Wan ordered before leaving the queen's side to instruct the pilots that Xanatos had drawn the battle droids away from.
He then returned to his master's side and the two worked together as they usually did, overcoming every obstacle they were faced with without exerting very much energy. Their reliance on each other kept them from tiring easily and when they were finished with the last of the droids, they joined the others in the starship that had been chosen to prepare for the long ride home.
Mere minutes after taking off from Naboo, Xanatos thought himself foolish to have been under the impression that the Force would have allowed them a simple and uneventful journey back to Coruscant. The almighty forces had never made things easy for him and Obi-Wan and he should have known better than to think it would have then.
The knight stood over one of the pilot's shoulders, staring at a screen that showed the droids working to repair the damage done to the ship as they tried to surpass the blockade. Xanatos' lips were set into a deep frown as he watched the droids get knocked out one by one. The look vanished into that of surprise however when the one little astromech droid did his thing and returned the power to them. Instantly the cockpit was bustling again as people rushed to do get them out of the Federation's reach as fast as possible.
"There's not enough power to get us to Coroscant! The hyperdrive is leaking" the pilot pointed out, looking over the scanners.
Xanatos took a look himself to double check and frowned once again as he pondered their dilemma, "We'll have to land somewhere to refuel and repair the ship then."
He looked over to his apprentice who already knew what was being asked of him and slipped over to a radar of the nearby systems.
"Tattoine" Obi-Wan said tapping the screen to show the stats of the planet. Xanatos looked over his shoulder to the readings and nodded, "The Trade Federation has no presence in Tattoine and while Hutts aren't the best company, they're not looking for the Queen so we'd have an advantage there."
He looked around the cockpit to see if anyone disproved of his plan and when everyone remained silent Xanatos moved back over to the pilot, "Alright then, buddy, we are now officially Tattoine bound."
Well, that was that. Things start to take off a bit more after the boys land on Tattoine, trust me. I'll be focusing a bit more on Obi-Wan and Xanatos' relationship in the near future because after all they are the main characters and I was you all to see the closeness of their relationship the way I do :) As usual, suggestions, courteous criticism and comments are welcome. Till next time lovelies.