Chapter 3
This whole work thing is really killing me, It's like a sponge that sucks all the creative energy right out. Alas, the third chapter has arrived, read, enjoy and review! Just remember if you have nothing constructive to say ….SHUT THE FUCK UP! No, I kid, I kid but really, corrections and suggestions are fine as long as they are ….civilized ;)
Commander Rex is a clone of a singular purpose. He is to protect and serve Jedi knight Anakin Skywalker and by association, Jedi Master Obi wan Kenobi. His inability to do so now, as he watches through the ashen air of Kadavo's mining facility his friend suffering, is infuriating. Why is it always Kenobi?
Skywalker can be … difficult and truthfully there are times when even Rex himself has considered knocking some sense into him. Force sensitive or not, General Skywalker has the capacity to be very brash and sometimes downright foolish. Anakin personally and intentionally makes to anger his captors, his opponents and is the most abrasive Jedi Rex knows, save for General Krell. Truthfully he usually deserves everything he gets and then some, most of the time he literally asks for it. Obi wan Kenobi is everything that Anakin is not. Rex can recall having first met him and wondered how a father and son could be so very opposite each other.
He is poised, calm, cultured and courteous if nothing else. Whether he is preparing a witty retort, negotiating his own surrender, cutting down droids on a blood ridden battlefield or going face to face with a Sith lord, Kenobi is always the epitome of grace and all that is good. Rex imagines that Kenobi must be the perfect Jedi, for he has never known a man with greater kindness and self-sacrifice. He has a near limitless level of patience but he was, after all, the man who raised Anakin from young childhood. The fact that the younger Jedi has a pulse yet is alone a testament to Obi wans incredible depth in that department. No one is more undeserving of this kind of treatment than Kenobi.
Obi wan is not compliant, nor is he defiant in capture. Obi wan is determined where Anakin is defiant and together they make a pretty good team. Rex has been with him in many such situations and he knows very well that there is no one else he would rather be in a bad spot with. It's a two edged sword though. He is a man you can count on, count on to get himself hurt that is. Kenobi meets capture with no regard to his own personal safety and even Rex can see that Obi wan strives to protect others from suffering on his behalf. He is desperate for it and Rex thinks it may have something to do with the Jedi Qui Gon though they don't talk about him much. Even the clone can tell that Obi wan blames himself for whatever happened there and he knows also that the guilt of this war is tearing the sensitive man apart. There is no place worse than Kadavo for a man like Obi wan.
Rex's stomach flops when he sees a man, who can simultaneously deflect bolts from more blasters than he himself could count, fall to his knees and beg to be punished. The man who fought hordes of Geonosians with fractured ribs and the only Jedi to kill a Sith in 100's of years subjects himself to a gratuitous whipping to spare a slave.
Rex doesn't think he will ever understand Jedi. As a clone one is taught to have a firm grasp of the big picture. As an Arc commander it is his responsibility to survive in order to best command his troops. Jedi, or at least Kenobi, recklessly throw themselves after the cause of every life form. It's not a lack of responsibility to his troops, Rex thinks of it as an amplification of it.
Obi wan screams and every muscle in the clone's body recoils at the lack of action. The General has told him to stand down and so he does. The motion, the eye contact makes him angry, it makes him sick. Why can't you let me do what I was created for? Leave it to the Jedi to spend ungodly amounts of credits to breed the perfect warriors only to order them to pacifism. But even in the sad gaze that tells him to stand down he can see an apology. Obi wan is sorry for putting Rex through this, never mind his own troubles, which are fast approaching as the slaver raises his whip.
He wishes that he were deaf and with the level of volume projected in the foundry he thinks he soon will be. Even though a hundred cries rise around him, his mind naturally hones in on only one. The cry of a too abused General who is struggling to maintain control is all he can perceive over the cacophony of sound. In a moment it's dead quiet and in a feat which is both amazing and sickening he can hear his friend, perhaps for the first time, beg for his own sake.
Rex throws up.
STARWARSTHECLONEWARS
A ship is traveling through hyper space and there is one particularly disgruntled Togruta on board. It's not a very large vessel, in fact its rather small and it has the insignia of the Zygerian royal guard on it. The force swells in approval at the near future of the slavers on board.
Ahsoka is smart and so she knows that this time in open space with minimal guards could very well be her only chance. With that in mind she draws the force around her and slowly slips the collar from her neck and the cuffs from around her wrists. There are 3 slavers on board but they haven't paid her any mind since they chained her up. Ahsoka is the only prisoner on board and they haven't checked on her even once since they stashed her in the hangar.
"I'll show them to underestimate a Togruta" she smiles and her sharp teeth show the warrior culture of her people.
Ahsoka has to feel along the wall that she was previously chained to in order to find any semblance of a door. When she opens it to a hallway she is greeted with a sneering zygerian at the far end who is promptly sent sailing into the wall at her back formed by the closing of the metal blast door. A resounding crack in the air and the force inform the young Jedi that he won't be getting back up.
"Stupid slavers" Ahsoka thinks to herself as she makes to secure the cockpit. This journey is over, for them anyways. Soon she will contact the Jedi temple and have reinforcements ready to strike.
STARWARSTHECLONEWARS
Obi wan doesn't eat. Not really and though he knows it's not in his own best interest he would sooner receive twice the whippings then to have scarf down the meager, moldy meal provided. So to keep from drawing attention to himself as best he can he makes it a point to find a way to clean his plate and despite his plague status amongst the slaves there is a Togrutan boy a little younger than Anakin who wordlessly obliges to eat Obi wans share.
The only colonist who isn't terrified of sharing in the Jedi's scorn, the boy works as close to him as he can and it didn't take obi wan long to figure out why. Ben, who shared his name in a rare moment of privacy, is somewhat force sensitive. They have only verbally spoken twice, but in the force they communicate with each other without even intending to. Obi wan can sense the boy's fear, his concern for his older brother whose name remains unknown and his various thoughts of escape. Ben can sense Obi wans strength, caring and determination, anything else is staunchly shielded by the seasoned force user. The boy feels safer around him though he really shouldn't; Obi wan knows that he is probably the biggest health risk in the whole kriff'n camp. An affinity in the force has made Ben nearly inseparable from him and yet so far it has gone unnoticed. By the guards anyways, Kenobi can feel rage rising up from the boy's brother and other colonists who see him as a threat to Ben's safety. What is he to do? Tell the boy to go away and risk punishment? Shield against him in the force and leave him suffering alone? Make him feel like a freak for his unusual capabilities?
Obi wan is helpless and he hates it, but he settles for never saying a word, or at least never in a way the simple guards could detect. The force is his only means of communication and it is one of many languages that he is astoundingly fluent in. It's simple amongst users and unbelievably complex to the less gifted. When Obi wan is sorry he projects that and he has taken to opening his mind up to the curious boy who gingerly pushes with the force. Teaching is a great distraction from the constant scorn and general pain that plagues the Jedi master. Once, to show Ben the true capability of the force, Obi wan commands it from the air in it's entirety and it snaps to his will. The sudden shift nearly brings the boy to his knees, and truthfully Obi wan hadn't intended on taking all of it. It's like not being able to breath, there is no force remaining for Ben and it's an incredibly odd sensation which fades as Obi wan immediately releases his hold on the flow. The Togruta smiles, lesson learned, the force is to be commanded with control and precision, not fondled with nervous gesture. At 17 he has just completed the lesson that most Jedi learn as younglings. Anakin was the opposite, Obi wan thinks ruefully. He could very easily levitate the whole temple but ask him to complete a delicate task and he would spend days trying to focus on just one thing. Building his lightsaber took nearly a year. He smiles, for the first time since his arrival on Kadavo.
Obi wan has been given a work quota and it simply cannot be met. Even healthy it would be incredibly unlikely but in his current state making 30 loads a day is laughable. His back is torn and repeatedly, continually abused, his ribs are in a similar state and his stomach is perpetually empty. He eats only ration bars which were supplied complements of Rex who can, for whatever ungodly reason, stomach the food. Point being, he has generally resigned himself to a nightly smack down for not being able to haul like a Kriffing bantha.
"Jedi!" He hears the fat one bellow above the hustle and bustle of slaves lining up for the night count before the mining facility locks and shuts down until morning. He starts slowly building his mental shields now, not wanting to slam them into place and draw attention to Ben who would, without doubt be very disturbed by the sudden change. Even though he knows the shields will be uncomfortable for him, Ben will not suffer because a Jedi master cannot keep his pain to himself, a padawans mistake.
"Get up here" Agruss snaps.
Obi wan walks to Agruss' hover chair and wonders briefly if the "hutt" is even capable of walking before submitting himself to his knees.
"Tell me slave, how is it that you have not once met your work quota?" The Zygerian rubs his chin in mock confusion and smiles coyly before reverting to mock anger.
Obi wan wants to suggest that he try it himself, General Kenobi wants to run him through but the Jedi master replies simply.
"I have done my best master" The resulting slap is hard, cold and the sting of it is not nearly as irritating as the meaning it carries. It is a deliberately demeaning strike and obi wan feels an itch in his mind, Ben is prying at his shields in concern.
All the colonists are watching and the fear that rolls off of them is nauseating in the force. The slavers are usually inclined and very much content to lay into the Jedi but Agruss, Agruss likes to use the colonists.
"Your best? Are you trying to tell me that we have made a mistake? Are you calling me stupid?" The fat one demands, leaning forward so far that Obi wan can imagine him falling and rolling out of his chair.
"Yes, I absolutely am, I've been acquainted with Gundarks with more intelligence" Obi wan bites his tongue, literally to keep from spilling out his irritated retort.
"No master" He slips the vaguest hint of suggestion in the comment but knows that it will only roll off of a man as singular minded as Keeper Agruss.
"So you are capable of completing the task I have given you?" The slaver is playing with him and obi wan doesn't know what he wants him to say so he opts for silence.
"Are you?" He questions and Obi wan indulges him.
"Yes master" He prepares for the warning he receives in the force. This is not going to end well and Obi wan is already raw, tired, angry and stressed to try and control himself. The force does not take kindly to lying dormant and it builds pressure in him, threatening to lash out at the next recipient of ill will.
"you lazy scug" Agruss roars and suddenly Obi wan can't breathe because there's a fat knee where his diaphragm used to be. So he can walk, Obi thinks dryly as he finds a familiar spot on the baking floor and something between a groan and a scream slips out with the lance of white hot pain that sears down his side from his rebellious rib.
"Did I not warn you that others would suffer?" A slave is brought up, he can hear the movement of it but Obi wan doesn't look up. He cannot bear to look into the slaves eyes even though he should have to as penance for his own stupidity. Agruss did indeed warn him and obi wan baited him regardless. The wave of resentment is staggering and obi wan chokes on the bitter taste of it, knowing that the colonists are directing it at him. He hears the electro-whip activate and when the first blow strikes he nearly comes off the floor with equal parts anger and surprise when he feels constriction and pain himself. Ben screams and Obi wan is immediately filled with self-loathing. He tries to take away the pain with the force but the boy can't shield and the pain from his injuries keeps Obi wans focus too divided. The pain itself is mild, filtered but Obi wan can feel his despair, his hurt and his anger. The feeling of his emotional distress is far more disconcerting and its dark touch keeps the light side just out of his effective command. The Jedi is nearly sick with desperation and the force informs him that he rightly suffers while the innocent boy screams in agony.
"I noticed that you were making a friend Kenobi, couldn't have that" The slaver scorns and Obi wan goes cold inside. Ben wasn't picked randomly out of the crowd; he was targeted because Obi wan showed him kindness. At that line, the force quakes with the anger of the crowd and with the self-criticism of a Jedi master.
"Master please" Obi wan attempts the only thing that appears to gain any ground at all with the slavers, his own humiliation.
"Would you see his suffering end?" Agruss snorts as the next blow falls and Ben falls to his knees with it. "No doubt at the cost of your own skin"
"Yes master please, anything you would have me-" The Jedi falters in shock.
It strangely quiet for the longest moment in the galaxy since that fateful day on Naboo. Blaster fire, the seasoned General would recognize it in a moment and then the sound of cold, dead flesh on duracrete, another sound that Kenobi knows all too well. When his mind catches up to his eyes, something slips in him. Ben is dead.
Paying no heed to the guards Obi wan runs to the boys side. He's sick, he's digusted, he's furious, he's scared, he's sorry. The General has long since shielded against the crowd but he knows they hate him. The boy's body moves slightly as obi wan attempts to pour out apologies to a near corpse.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry" It's a mantra that keeps him grounded in the present. This is real, the blood that seeps onto his tunic is real and the child is really dying in his arms. The boy as it happens is not quite dead yet and even so much that he speaks. Obi wan feels hot tears in his eyes but refuses to let them fall, the slavers won't get that satisfaction and neither will he show Ben such weakness. The Trogrutan deserves to die with faith.
"Please, please, please forgive me" But even as he begs he knows he doesn't deserve it. And he knows that he won't receive it. The force tells him that the bitter resentment comes also from his young friend, whose life was cut far too short to pay Obi wans debt.
"The Jedi only make things worse" Ben croaks out and the life seeps out of him, withholding just enough strength to speak his final opinion. When he does die Obi wan does nothing to protect himself from the backlash he knows will come through the force. Though they hadn't a padawans bond, Ben and he were connected through mutual understanding of a second realm. The pain of separation spikes in his skull, tears through his heart and blackness ebbs on his vision. Guilt finds the familiar spot on his soul and digs it's claws in to stay.
"Well then, Kenobi even for a young boy, he was quite perceptive." Agruss laughs and the dark side threatens to leap upon him. Obi wan nearly swears vengeance but even for his innocent friend, he will not delve into oblivion, no matter the justness of the cause. Even so he can feel a hot anger rise up in him and he really, truly struggles not to give in.
Obi wan is initially inclined to sink into unconsciousness without quarrel but as he is on the edge of the world he senses a dark disturbance in the force. The wounds on his shoulder and thigh tingle with fear and he renews the fight for consciousness. The count of Serreno is close. Obi wan shields up and rearms his Jedi resolve and as the Sith closes in on the facility, Obi wan can only attempt to embrace the tenants of the light. A sweet, innocent, naivety that can be proved true only by the discipline of a Jedi master, There is no pain, there is only the force and he attempts release. But the dark mar of slavery holds on his soul and the agony of his loss here is like a rock in the river of the force. Only after great time and effort will it be eroded away by the rushing water.
STARWARSTHECLONEWARS
The force sends out a beacon of agony as a solar sailor lands on Kadavo and Count Dooku smiles. The great Master Kenobi reduced to a pathetic slave, he sees the appeal. Obi wan has the kind of perfection as a Jedi that begs to be tested. Criminals, Sith and other Jedi alike are always looking to see how deep that Jedi resolve goes and Dooku is quite certain he will find out.
"Ignorant fool" He thinks and the dark side coils around him, feeding his anger "I'll soon him break him off his Jedi habits" There is a ripple of the past and he can see his own Padawan on the blade of Darth Maul, rage threatens to break his calm veneer but he composes himself. Kenobi will pay in time for his short comings, and he will serve his master, if not Dooku will be forced to employ most uncivilized methods.
In the Next Chapter…
-Obi wan versus Ben's brother
-Dooku makes his intentions known
-Anakin gets caught trying to leave the palace and does finally get to see Kadavo. ;)
-Ahsoka contacts Plo Koon
Poor Obi wan. By the way, Yes Ben is a terrible name for a Togruta but I was trying to find a way to connect the name he takes in exile to some form of previous suffering, so deal with it. :) J.K I love you guys. Count Dooku for the win, I honestly believe that he blames Obi wan a lot a bit for Qui Gons death.
