New A/N (2010): This chapter now contains the previously-missing proposal scene. I'm quite pleased with it for its simplicity : )
Chapter Thirty-Two – Jedi and Clones and Droids, Oh My.
After a few hours of quiet rotation in the stasis field, Obi-Wan was busily fighting off motion sickness with his restricted Force ability, when several Geonosian guards came to escort him…somewhere. He found himself marched swiftly to a large chamber where Dooku, Nute Gunray and their associates had gathered on a balcony high up on the wall. Obi-Wan, hands bound by cuffs, stood in the centre of the room, facing them. His Geonosian escorts stood nearby, in case he should start trouble. He wouldn't, of course. There were too many innocent beings around.
Presently, Sabé was ushered in, also bound at the wrists. She too was made to stand in the middle of the room and she glared daggers at the guard who had roughly pulled her in place.
"Obi-Wan Kenobi, Sabé Naberrie," Dooku began, his voice resonating around the chamber. "You have both been found guilty of espionage and are therefore to face the punishment seen fit for you by the Geonosian leader, Archduke Poggle the Lesser."
The Archduke spoke briefly, announcing their fate, but Sabé and Obi-Wan had no idea what punishment they were being submitted to. They only knew that it caused great mirth throughout the gathered assembly.
"It has been decided," Dooku explained to them, "that the charges against you are punishable by death."
"Wonderful," Sabé muttered.
"But hardly surprising," Obi-Wan murmured back.
"You are to be taken to the execution arena immediately. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a pressing matter to attend to."
He left the balcony and Obi-Wan caught sight of Jango Fett standing in the passage beyond. So the Count had lied about the bounty hunter being on Geonosis. He wasn't really surprised. Jedi who had left the Order weren't renowned for telling the truth.
He and Sabé were taken to a small cart pulled by some kind of lizard-like creature. Their respective guards bound their wrist-binders to opposite sides. Then all the Geonosians save one disappeared to see what was going on in the arena outside.
"Are we going to die, Obi-Wan?" Sabé asked quietly.
"Not if I can help it."
"And if you can't?"
He twisted awkwardly to face her. "Then I will have the pleasure of dying with the one I love."
"I love you," she said, straining towards him.
"I love you too." He kissed her slowly. "And I will live to say it another day."
"In that case I will live to hear it," Sabé said with determination.
"Good. I'd look silly saying it if you weren't there."
She managed a small smile. "Well, looking on the bright side, at least if we died we'd get some peace and quiet."
Obi-Wan chuckled. "True."
Sabé craned her neck, trying to look out to the arena. "What are they waiting for?"
"An audience I think."
"Ah."
Soon, a Geonosian hopped up into the front of the cart and they were pulled out into the bright sunlight of a huge arena.
Obi-Wan leaned towards Sabé once again and said in a hushed tone, "Marry me."
Her head whipped round to regard him, eyes widening. "What?"
"Will you marry me?"
"You're asking me now?"
"What better time?"
"You can't be serious."
"I've never been more serious in my life," Obi-Wan said truthfully.
The cart rumbled towards four large stone pillars, where several more of the insect-like creatures were waiting for them. Sabé was tugged from the cart first and roughly pulled over to the pillar furthest away. Her wrist-binders were attached to a chain, which was then nailed to the top of the pillar, keeping her hands in place above her head. Looking over, she saw that Obi-Wan was fastened likewise to the pillar at the opposite end.
"Obi-Wan," she called.
He turned to look at her, a questioning expression on his face.
"I will."
He smiled broadly. Sabé smiled too, then turned her attention back to the matter at hand. They waited there for several minutes while the gathered crowd grew steadily bigger. Dooku and his followers came out into their viewing box but made no move to get things rolling.
"What are they waiting for now?" Sabé called.
"I'm not sure," Obi-Wan yelled back, looking almost casual as he rested his wrists on the binders.
Presently, they found out what they were all waiting for. A second cart rolled out of the tunnel, and aboard…
"Oh no," she muttered.
Obi-Wan looked incredulous as Anakin and Padmé were pulled out of the cart. "I was beginning to wonder if you'd got my message," he growled to his Padawan.
"I re-transmitted it, just as you had requested, Master," Anakin explained. "Then we decided to come and rescue you."
Obi-Wan glanced up at his bound wrists. "Good job," he said, with more than a hint of sarcasm.
As Padmé approached the pillar nearest Sabé's, she noticed her cousin stealthily slip a wire into her mouth before allowing herself to be chained up. The two exchanged a look, sealing their plan without words.
The four prisoners watched as the means of their execution, three highly dangerous beasts, entered the arena. Padmé glanced up at them quickly, then set about picking the lock of her binders. Luckily all attention was upon the beasts. Sabé identified a nexu, an acklay and a reek. All creatures that she had been warned to stay well away from in her zoology classes.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Anakin said dryly.
Padmé finished unlocking one shackle and quickly strained to reach over and pick Sabé's before using the chain as a means of climbing the pillar.
Anakin was eyeing the approaching creatures with concern and Obi-Wan said, "Just relax. Concentrate."
"What about Padmé?"
Obi-Wan glanced over at the Senator and her assistant. Both were close to reaching the top of their pillars. "She seems to be on top of things."
Anakin looked, but only quickly. The reek took most of his attention and he leapt up onto its back, breaking his chain by wrapping it around the horn atop the beast's head, thus using its strength to tug the chain from its fixture.
Obi-Wan had caught the eye of the acklay, a large spindly creature with piercingly sharp claws and teeth. He wasted no time in taking advantage of its wild stabbing motions by making sure that the chain suffered one of the blows. Hands still bound, but free of the pillar, he settled for swift dodging movements, keeping one eye on what was happening to the others.
Padmé and Sabé worked together to keep off the nexu, but that didn't stop the vicious feline creature from climbing the column and claiming a strike on the Senator. She cried out as the needle-sharp claws raked across her back, ripping her white jumpsuit. Gritting her teeth she turned and exchanged a glance with Sabé before swinging awkwardly down on her chain, kicking the nexu hard with both feet. The blow knocked the beast off the pillar, where it lay stunned while Padmé began to climb back up. Sabé took a flying leap from her pillar to land on Padmé's before jumping to Anakin's and then Obi-Wan's.
She wasn't there long. The acklay, in its attempts to get to Obi-Wan, nudged into it, causing it to wobble violently.
"It's going to fall," the Jedi yelled, "hold on!"
She did, managing to ride it down for half the way and falling the rest, ending up painfully on her back on the sand. She stayed there long enough to wince before getting quickly to her feet and relieving a Geonosian of his spear, knocking him out with a brusque blow. Obi-Wan took it from her and threw it at the acklay, striking a hit on its scaly shoulder. Unfortunately it simply pulled the weapon out of its hide and bit it in two. The Jedi's eyes widened and he grabbed Sabé's arm with his bound hands, running towards Anakin, who had gained control of the reek and was riding it like a steed. Padmé sat behind him and the nexu lay dead by the pillars. Obi-Wan leapt for the creature's back, extending his jump with the Force, pulling Sabé with him. She held onto him, not wishing to fall off and Padmé turned to see if they had made it on all right.
Their actions had caused a minor commotion among the audience, but now they faced a bigger danger. Seven destroyer droids rolled out into the arena, quickly surrounding them in a tight circle that left the four on the reek wondering how they would manage to get out of this one.
"Not good," Sabé muttered, somewhat understating.
Suddenly, hundreds of lightsabres ignited around the arena and the Jedi appeared from the shadows, all of them poised elegantly for battle.
"Better," Obi-Wan said wryly.
"Much better."
"If you could try and stay near me you stand a better chance of defence," he added, not-so-subtly hinting at his concern for her welfare.
Sabé squeezed his hand. "I'll try. I promised I would live, remember?"
"How could I forget?"
Luckily Padmé's curious expression vanished when their attention was drawn to the sight of Mace Windu leaping down from the dignitaries' balcony, discarding a flaming robe. It was only then that they noticed the countless number of battle droids making their way out to the arena.
"Hmm, that's less good," Obi-Wan remarked.
The Geonosian audience wisely decided that this would be a good time to disappear and took to the skies, their insect wings fluttering in a furious attempt to leave as quickly as possible. Sabé half wished that she could join them. Instead she watched the horde of firing battle droids run towards the horde of bolt-deflecting Jedi, meeting them with a dramatic clash of bright lightsabres and dull armour plating. Two Jedi nearby tossed Obi-Wan and Anakin sabres and they quickly put them to good use in freeing themselves from the wrist binders.
The Separatist armies did not just consist of droids. The Geonosian army also had the added firepower of various types of cannons, one of which fired large bolts of energy to devastating effect. One of these bolts struck a Jedi Master in the chest, knocking him into one of the pillars. The shockwave caused the reek to fall sideways, sending its four passengers flying. Obi-Wan was the only one who managed to land on his feet. Anakin picked himself up quickly to join his Master in deflecting blaster bolts.
Sabé and Padmé wasted no time in picking up discarded weapons to participate in the fight. Both were good shots, although Sabé's extensive training made her the better fighter. Padmé had a natural skill with a blaster that she used effectively to her advantage. Obi-Wan remembered the young, nervous Sabé who had been afraid to go into battle. The woman fighting beside him now showed no sign of that girl. She fought with fierce determination that he found sad in a way. She would never have that innocence again. Obi-Wan made sure that she stayed behind him. He blocked any shots that came towards them and Sabé fired at the droids. It was an effective technique that he observed Padmé and Anakin also adopting from atop one of the Geonosian carts. Presently Mace Windu approached him and the two Jedi and Sabé worked back to back, taking down droid after droid.
The reek had been momentarily stunned from its tumble to the sand, but now was back on its feet and galloping with a fury towards Mace, Sabé and Obi-Wan. Sabé found herself violently shoved backwards out of the way while Obi-Wan was knocked down by the creature's vicious onslaught. Mace ran, scoring a hit on the reek's thick-skinned face before he too was knocked over, lightsabre flying across the sand. Obi-Wan got straight back up onto his feet and offered one hand to Sabé while the other deflected more blaster bolts. Their blocking-shooting partnership was interrupted only by a heavy round object that rolled past, startling the Nabooian woman. She was shocked to discover that it was the severed head of Jango Fett. A quick glance up confirmed that it was Mace Windu who had brought about the death of the able bounty hunter. She turned her attention back to the battle with a grimace, focusing on destroying as many droids as possible.
Soon her interest was caught by the odd behaviour of two droids standing in front of them. One minute they were aiming their blasters, clearly ready to shoot to kill, and the next they were backing away with an uncharacteristic, "Uh oh."
"Roger, roger."
A feeling of trepidation seeped into her bones as she slowly turned to see what she had already suspected was behind her. The acklay was back with a vengeance. Sabé found herself withdrawing along with the droids as Obi-Wan moved in to take care of it. It wasn't so much of a threat when its adversary had a lightsabre. He swiftly cut off several of its legs before making a killing stab through the head. Sabé, meanwhile, spun on her heel and shot the two droids.
The battle continued progressively until Sabé noticed a critical detail. The battle droids were pushing the Jedi backwards until they were forced to form a small circle. There were now considerably more droids than Jedi, she noted with regret, and the numbers were steadily decreasing. Suddenly all weapons pointed at them were lowered and the battlefield grew silent. The Jedi and the two women from Naboo cautiously let their own weapons drop to their sides and they stood waiting, wondering what was going on. Obi-Wan stood from where he'd been kneeling over a fallen friend, a truly heartbreaking expression on his gentle face.
Count Dooku's voice echoed out across the arena. "Master Windu. You have fought gallantly. Worthy of recognition in the Archives of the Jedi Order. Now, it is finished. Surrender and your lives will be spared."
"We will not be hostages to be bartered, Dooku," Mace replied firmly, speaking truthfully for them all.
"Then I'm sorry old friend," the Count said with convincing regret.
The droids raised their blasters and the small band of survivors brought their own weapons to bear once more. Before any shooting could begin, however, a low humming noise drew Padmé's attention upwards.
"Look!" she cried.
All eyes turned to stare as several ships, all bearing a battalion of Kaminoan clone troopers, came down upon the arena, firing at the droids and finally coming in to land around the circle of Jedi. Anakin leapt up into one of them, reaching out a hand to help Padmé and Sabé. Obi-Wan paused to ricochet more bolts off his lightsabre blade before following them closely into the ship's open side. The vehicles all took off together and carried the survivors out of the arena and into the second half of their first battle against the Separatists. All of them knew only too well that this would certainly not be the last.