Obi-Wan sat in the cockpit, meditating lightly as he waited for the two hours he had told Yoda that he would wait to pass. The currents of the Force that normally carried warnings, or hints of danger, to him were silent, which at least gave him a fair certainty that Yoda wasn't planning on killing him, whatever else he might decide to do about the request that Obi-Wan had made. He surfaced slowly as the alert he had set to monitor the time sounded, sighing as he silenced the alarm with a wave of his hand, before pushing out of his seat and heading aft to seal the hatch. He froze with his hand over the control, looking down at the small, hunched green figure standing at the foot of the ramp.
"Yoda; have you come to say a final farewell, or to accept my request?" he asked in a neutral tone.
Yoda sighed deeply, leaning heavily on his stick, and Obi-Wan realized that the old Jedi had still not quite come to a decision yet.
"Trust in the Force Yoda, what does it tell you?"
"That do as you ask, I should. Trust in the Force we did before, and misplaced it was, suspect Palpatine we did not, suspect you and your Padawan we did not," Yoda said, bitterness tainting his tone.
"So you've lost faith in the Force? Or is it yourself, and your own ability to follow the guidance the Force offers you that you doubt?"
"My ability to sense darkness, I doubt," Yoda answered sharply.
"As did Qui-Gon Jinn, after Xanatos, and you wouldn't let him drown in that doubt, you pushed him to trust in the Force and take another apprentice."
"And another Dark apprentice he got."
"Yes, yes he did, but as we have already established, he knew where my potential lay. Having encountered that tainted Darkness once, he was more sensitive to it, not less, and he trusted the voice of the Force that told him to trust in me. What about you, Yoda, you've had centuries more practice in feeling the flow of the Force than he did, will you practice what you preach, or will you practice hypocrisy instead?"
There was another long moment of silent contemplation, and then Yoda sighed once more, his ears drooping slightly.
"The boy I will teach," he agreed slowly.
"Thank you," Obi-Wan replied with genuine relief, stepping back to allow Yoda to stump up the ramp and into the passenger compartment of the ship.
"So, young Skywalker knows a new teacher you have found for him?" Yoda asked as Obi-Wan retracted the ramp and sealed the hatch.
Obi-Wan couldn't stop a slight flinch at the question; he and Anakin were still rather uncertain how Luke would react to the knowledge that neither of them was in fact dead.
"Young Skywalker thinks I am dead, killed by his father's killer. Anakin and I would prefer it remain that way, until we decide for ourselves how to tell him otherwise, and I would appreciate you respecting that preference."
Yoda harrumphed noncommittally and got himself into one of the passenger seats, strapping the crash webbing around himself without a word. Obi-Wan sighed, either he would respect their wish that Luke not know yet, or he wouldn't, there wasn't much he could really do about it. Right now, he needed to focus more of his attention on how he was going to get Yoda to Luke, and therefore the rebels, without getting himself into a situation that Anakin would end up having to rescue him from, or worse.
/x/
Anakin stood on the bridge of the Vengeance, his hands clasped behind his back under his cloak, his face expressionless as he stared out of the massive ports at the streaking flashes of hyperspace. He had dispensed with his Vader guise for the moment, the hated suit was in his quarters, but everyone on this ship had sworn their loyalty to the new Emperor, and his second in command, so it wasn't needed.
"My lord, we have intercepted a message from the Revenant, to the Iron Fist, they believe they have located the main body of the rebellion, and are calling the Iron Fist to assist them in an attack."
"Kriff, drop us out of hyperspace, order the Revenant to stand down immediately, and see if you can raise the Dark Moon, we must warn the Emperor that he is potentially heading straight into a battle zone."
Anakin clenched his fists under his cloak, keeping his face impassive by sheer force of will, he should be there, he should be with his Master to keep him safe. He wished he could convince Obi-Wan to stay safe and secure on Coruscant, with enough guards to keep an army from getting near him, but that just wasn't the way his Master's mind worked, staying safe while others risked themselves, but he should know by now that he always got in the worst trouble without Anakin there to watch his six.
The star lines melted into static points of white light as they dropped out of hyperspace, and a moment later, the comm. tech glanced up at the Captain, who stood a few feet from the tense Sith lord.
"No response from the Revenant, they're either ignoring us, or in hyperspace. We have picked up a message from the Dark Moon, but I can't get a live connection to them."
"We've just missed our window for the Dark Moon by a minute or two, I can feel that he has entered hyperspace," Anakin said quietly, grimly centring himself and reaching for the illusive channels of the Force that his Master read so easily, searching for any hint of danger.
"There is no immediate threat to the Dark Moon, they're ahead of the Revenant, barely, so they will not come out into a warzone, but there is still a vague feeling of threat hanging over our Emperor," he said, his tone tight with anxiety.
"We have their course, if we jump now, we should exit hyperspace less than two minutes after the Dark Moon," the pilot said looking up over his shoulder.
Anakin closed his eyes, blocking his personal fear for his Master and focussing on the gentle murmur of the Force.
"No, drop us a three second hyper-jump off their exit coordinates, there's still a chance that he can get in and out without our intervention. "
"Yes sir," the pilot acknowledged, and a moment later, they leapt back into hyperspace.
/x/
Obi-Wan dropped the Dark Moon out of hyperspace at the co-ordinates of the rebel fleet, and instantly felt a warning of impending danger.
"A threat there is," Yoda said, coming up from the rear section, indicating that he had felt the warning too.
"Not yet, but close. Call the Alliance fleet, get permission for me to dock and drop you off, I need to get back out of here fast," Obi-Wan said, gesturing to the co-pilot seat and twisting the holocam toward it.
He could feel that Anakin was somewhere nearby, which couldn't be a good thing, considering he had told him to remain on Coruscant, and he didn't think he would disobey for no good reason.
"Dark Moon courier ship, calling Alliance fleet, Alliance fleet respond please."
"Identify yourselves Dark Moon, and tell us how you got these co-ordinates," a voice came back over the channel, as sensors pinged a targeting lock on them.
"Yoda this is, sent I have been to young Skywalker a Jedi make," he said, activating the camera.
"Master Yoda?" the voice that came back this time was vaguely familiar to them both, and the screen flared to life to show a red-haired woman that they both definitely knew.
"Glad to see you alive I am, Senator Mothma."
"And I you, but how did you come to be here?" she asked.
"Visited I was by two faces from days long gone, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon bade me train Skywalker's son," he said, letting her come to her own conclusions, many remembered Qui-Gon's death at the re-emergence of the Sith, and he had no doubt that the princess had reported the death of General Kenobi on the Death Star.
The sound cut for a moment, and they saw Mothma conferring quietly a man Obi-Wan recognized as a much aged Dodonna, another he didn't know, and the princess, the Alliance leaders, all here in one place, with a large portion of the fleet, all it would take would be one strike and they would be gone, good job he was after peace with them, not destruction, really.
"You can dock with the Waverider," Mothma said a moment later when the channel was re-opened, the Mon Calamari ship on the screen ran its running lights to indicate where they could dock.
"My thanks, Lady Mothma," Yoda nodded, ending the transmission and looking over at Obi-Wan, who was already heading into the bay.
"I'm not going to be able to jump out again before whatever trouble is coming hits," Obi-Wan muttered, setting the auto-pilot for a moment, he slipped out of the chair, opened an overhead panel, and pulled out a bounty hunters mask and a dark cloak, pulling them on before retaking his seat, his whole bearing seeming to change in that instant.
Suddenly he seemed like every other bounty hunter Yoda had ever encountered, radiating arrogance and a hint of danger, a feeling that he was a predator to the core, his force presence was pulled in and shielded until it was barely discernable even to Yoda, young Skywalker would never pick it up.
"Disturbing, that is," Yoda muttered.
"It will be considerably more disturbing if I have to fight my way out, or if Anakin has to come and retrieve me, if they press for my name, I am bounty hunter Corrin Quinn," he said in a clipped tone that sounded nothing like his own, and Yoda recognized in surprise a very old undercover name once used by Qui-Gon Jinn, long before he had apprenticed Obi-Wan.
"Very well," Yoda nodded.
The ship set down smoothly on the deck of the Waverider's landing bay, landing between the rows of x and y wings that populated the space, many of them undergoing repairs or maintenance of some kind. Obi-Wan hoped that the snub fighter capacity of the other fleet ships was in better condition that this lot, because he was feeling that a fight was now inevitable.
Yoda hopped down from the co-pilot chair, looking back as 'Corrin' followed him to the hatch, keying it open to reveal Mothma and the others waiting.
"Master Yoda," Mothma greeted him with a genuinely pleased smile.
"Lady Mothma," he greeted, stumping down the ramp.
"Your pilot is not joining you?"
"I've done the job I was hired to do lady, I ain't signing up for no war," he snipped, stepping back and shutting the hatch the moment Yoda was off the ramp.
"Let him leave," Mothma said to the deck officer as the courier's engines fired up again.
"We should at least make him stay until we're ready to jump out, if he tells the Empire where we are, we're sitting ducks," Leia protested.
"We can't force him to stay princess, that would make us no better than the Empire.
Yoda watched the Dark Moon rise from the deck again, and slipped back out into the cold of space.
"Something's coming, something dangerous," a slender blond boy said, his eyes vague, and even without the Force that swirled around him, Yoda would have recognized him as Anakin's child.
"Don't get twitchy Luke," another man warned, confirming it. Yoda blinked, recognizing the Wookiee that towered behind this man's shoulder.
"Correct, the boy is, danger is upon us," Yoda confirmed, nodding a greeting to Chewbacca.
"Great, at least the old man was easy to understand, even if he did talk a load of hocus pocus," the man snorted, ducking around Chewbacca and stomping up the ramp of a battered looking ship.
"Don't mind him Master Yoda, he doesn't really believe in the Force. My father, Bail Organa, told me a lot about you. I'm Leia Organa, you already know Mon Mothma, this is General Dodonna, and Carlist Riekeen, Luke Skywalker and this is Chewbacca, first mate to that ill mannered nerf herder."
"Pleased I am to meet you all, but for now, you must prepare to fight, or to run, short is time."
"Tell the fleet to raise shields, prepare emergency jumps to hyperspace, have the fighters prepped for launch," Mon Mothma said decisively, trusting Yoda's warning, even if she hadn't trusted Luke's.
Luke ran for one of the x-wings jumping up into the cockpit, and starting pre-flight checks as R2-D2 was loaded up.
"Let's get to the bridge," Dodonna said.
Yoda followed behind them, standing out of the way on the bridge, watching the view screen as they prepared to jump from their current location, he could see the Dark Moon, almost far enough away from them to jump to hyperspace, but in the next instant, the huge, menacing form of an Imperial destroyer dropped out of hyperspace almost on top of them.
/x/
Obi-Wan swore viciously as the destroyer appeared directly in his path, changing course rather more rapidly than the courier had been designed for, and hearing the hull groan in complaint.
"I hate flying," he muttered through gritted teeth, steering away from both the destroyer, and the rebel fleet before slamming his hand down on the shielding button an instant before the destroyer took a pot-shot at him.
"Come on Anakin, I know you're watching," he growled, dodging a second shot, his shields were somewhat better than this class of courier usually carried, but not enough to stand up to a pounding by a destroyer. If Anakin didn't show up quickly, he was going to have to take his chances with the rebels; he couldn't jump while he was powering his shields.
/x/
"Sir, Revenant is launching TIE fighters; they're also taking pot-shots at that courier ship. Should we tell the pilot to get behind our defensive positioning?" Waverider's tactical officer asked, but whatever Dodonna's answer would have been, he didn't get to give it, the tactical officer jumped as if electrified.
"Another Imperial ship, coming in over the top of us. Stars help us, it's the Vengeance, its Vader's ship," he squeaked in fear.
"Settle down, you're of no use if you panic, tell anyone who can jump to jump now. Is Vengeance launching fighters?" Dodonna demanded.
"Yes, but…"
"But what?"
"They're targeting Revenant's TIEs, Vengeance is also signalling them to stand down or face destruction, by the command of the new Imperial Emperor."
"General, we've had a message burst from the Vengeance, Lord Vader instructs us to get our fleet the hell out of here, that this is between them and the traitors on the Revenant," another officer reported, sounding confused.
"Tell all ships to pull back, and jump as soon as they can, micro jumps until we can be sure we're not being followed by either Imp ship," Dodonna ordered.
"What about the courier ship?" Leia asked.
"He jumped out just after the Vengeance came in," the tactical officer told her.
"Good, get us out of here."
/x/
Obi-Wan sat on the edge of sensor range, watching the rebel fleet vanish into hyperspace in dribs and drabs as Anakin pounded the hell out of the Revenant. It would be a shame to destroy a good ship, but if a lesson was required for other hold-outs, then that was the way it would be. He did notice a large number of the TIE fighters breaking engagement, and wondered if Vengeance's clone troopers were communicating with their brethren from the Revenant, if so, there was a possibility the clones could take the ship with0ut needing to destroy it.
"Dark Moon to Vengeance, are the clone troopers in communication with the Revenant's troopers? If so, authorize them to take the ship, tell them to kill anyone who refuses to surrender to them."
In less than an hour, it was over, the Revenant had fallen to the clone troopers, and Anakin was in the process of organizing a skeleton command crew from the Vengeance to take command of the ship when the Dark Moon landed in the Vengeance's bay.
"Master, you're safe," Anakin breathed, resisting the urge to pull him into his arms and not let go, as they were surrounded by troopers and the crew who would be headed to the Revenant.
"Yes, it was a close run thing, but I know you would have come to the rescue if I was in real trouble, just like old times," he said with a wry smirk.
"Always. You were successful then?"
"Yes, Yoda is going to train Luke. Did we lose many?"
"A dozen of our TIE pilots, about double that from the Revenant before Commander Clipper managed to make them stand down, and the entire command structure of the Revenant, but the crew was happy enough to stand down and surrender."
"How many other ships refused to stand down?"
"Six, one, the Iron Fist, we already managed to subdue, we're in the process of trying to track the others."
"Right, well they've had their chance, track them, give them one last chance to stand down, and then have the clones take the ships, or as a last resort, destroy them, we don't want to lose the ships or the clones, but I don't care about the traitorous command crews. We need the fleet under control before we contact the Alliance with the cease-fire offer."
"Understood, my Emperor."
"Good, then I will leave you to your hunting; the Revenant can take me back to Coruscant before they head to join the rest of the fleet."
"As you command. Commander Clipper, you will accompany the Emperor, and assure his safety personally."
"Yes, my Lord," Clipper said, moving to Obi-Wan's side as Obi-Wan himself rolled his eyes at Anakin's over protectiveness.
"See you when you get back to Coruscant, Anakin, be careful."
"You too."
Anakin watched as his Master once more boarded the Dark Moon, taking Commander Clipper with him. He was determined to bring the other traitors to heel quickly, and get back to his Master's side, where he belonged.
TBC…