Chapter 17
Ahsoka hammered on her controls, frustrated. Her metal detectors were absolutely no help on this metallic planet. She had now switched to detecting air-filled hollows, but she only advanced slowly. Too slow. She had scanned just about the twentieth part of the surface, and Master Plo would soon come and anticipate more. Not to mention that her two maybe best friends were held captive somewhere down there and the longer she needed, the more likely it was that they were hurt or worse.
She was still brooding over the thought when she heard another warning signal. This time, it wasn't another detected hollow, but a starfighter that approached rapidly. Sithspit! She hadn't anticipated that they would recognize her ship in orbit. She quickly set the coordinates for a quick and short hyperspace jump when her comm unit chimed. Why would one of the Sith want to contact her? That made no sense, except... she hit the receive button. Could it really be? The tension between hope and readiness to flee was nearly too big, when the familiar voice finally relieved her.
"Ahsoka? Is that you?"
She couldn't suppress the noise, something between a sigh and a sob. It was just too relieving to finally hear her Master again.
"Yes, it's me, are you all right? What about Obi-Wan?"
"I'm OK, but Obi-Wan is still down there. Are you alone?"
Alone? Ahsoka had to stifle a small grin. That was something Anakin would do, go on a rescue mission without anyone knowing. But in that respect, she favored other approaches.
"No, Master Plo is on his way, he has clones with him and will be here in about an hour."
It took Anakin a long time to finally answer, and it sounded a bit irritable.
"We have to wait, I guess. We two alone might not be able to best Maul and Opress."
Ahsoka wanted to disagree, but she knew that Anakin had to have a major reason to not run to Obi-Wan's aid at once. She just hoped that he wasn't injured too bad.
"Do you need a medical kit? I have one on the ship?", she asked, hoping to find out something. But Anakin just blocked:
"I told you that I'm fine, I don't need anything. Just contact master Koon and tell him to hurry up."
Ahsoka let out a sigh and took her com. This would be a long hour.
The high-pitched note that predominated his hearing slowly dissolved. He was not really conscious yet, but he knew that he had to be fully awake as soon as possible. The blow to his chest was, in hindsight, quite helpful with that. Sadly his body remembered all the different sorts of maltreatment it had to bear all too quick.
He was still alive...that was strange. He thought that as soon as Anakin had escaped, Maul would have finished him off for good. And when the Sith has had his fit of rage, he thought that this was how the Force would finally claim him. But maybe the Sith just wanted to see him suffer a bit longer. It didn't really matter, he could bear it. Since Anakin was safe, he would now endure all that was to come, and afterwards embrace the Force.
At least, he was pretty sure that Anakin was safely away. Maul would have dragged Anakin or his dead body in, had he caught him. He hadn't done it and that was the biggest consolation Obi-Wan could get at the moment.
Another blow, this time to the head.
"Playing dead doesn't spare you anything," he heard his tormentor's voice.
He didn't play dead, but one could only take as many blows to one's head. Obi-Wan tried to make a pointed remark about that, but he couldn't come up with one. His mind was still mushy and he couldn't recollect what exactly occurred during the last few minutes.
He slowly opened the eye that wasn't swollen shut. Maul seemed to be over his fit of rage, now a figure of calm malice like always.
Obi-Wan tried to sit up, obey his instincts which told him to get into a less vulnerable position. He rolled himself to the side, but as soon as he tried to support himself with his hands, he was shoved on his back again. He hissed as his torn flesh hit the ground, and even more as Maul pressed him down with his artificial leg.
The nastily painted visage appeared once more much too close, and he would have drawn back were he able to.
"Don't worry," he said, in a tone that couldn't contradict the meaning of the statement more, "Your suffering will soon be over. Do you see theses slits?" He grabbed Obi-Wan around the chin and yanked his head to the side. There was really a small amount of slits where the ground met the wall. Anakin and he had found them earlier when they searched a way to escape. But their diameter was way too small to even fit a mouse in, so they condemned that discovery rather quickly.
In the meantime, Maul had continued to speak, and it concerned Obi-Wan more than he liked to admit, that he didn't hear him beginning to speak.
"...Master has some charges of it here, I guess you already heard of Tsennax?"
That sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite relate the name. Unfortunately, Maul was duplicitously helpful.
"I heard that the Separatists used it on Ard 5, didn't they? It has been quite a massacre."
That information triggered Obi-Wan's memories, yet he wished it didn't. It had been an arduous chase after General Grievous, and when the Jedi finally found him, they couldn't stop him from poisoning a quarter of Ard 5's surface, a planet that had recently decided to side with the Republic instead of the Separatists.
Pictures of dead civilians, of whole families, their chins encrusted with blood, flashed through his mind. He once had to watch helplessly as they were carried away into mass graves. The Jedi had, once again, been too late.
"Your feelings betray you. You don't want to show it, but your emotions are seeping into the Force like water. It's disgusting. And pathetic. A real Jedi should be able to control his feelings, Obi-Wan. But you didn't learn anything since Naboo. I can feel not only your grief and compassion, but also your anger."
Anger? Maul had been right with his other assumptions, but Obi-Wan didn't feel any anger.
But nonetheless, the Sith couldn't be allowed access to his thoughts. Obi-Wan erected a shield in the Force, but it was futile. Maul just needed one attempt to make it shatter and Obi-Wan decided to save his energy.
The Sith just grinned.
"Oh, you don't even know. You hide it from yourself. To maintain your abject Jedi facade. But what would you do - ", he made a dramatic pause, "if you got the chance to kill General Grievous?"
That wasn't a hard question.
"I would give him into Republic custody," Obi-Wan afforded. It was the first time that he interrupted Maul's monologue, and he felt bad because his voice was so weak, but a big part of Maul's weight was still on his chest.
"Are you sure about that? What if he was liberated? He massacred millions only with his retaliatory strike on Ard 5, and he is the most atrocious general the Separatists have. Think again."
But Obi-Wan didn't have to. He did already have a talk with Yoda and Mace about exactly that topic. They had decided that the highest priority was to stop Grievous, no matter how.
Maul squinted his eyes. Then a fake smile appeared on his face.
"So you thought about it? If you had General Grievous at saberpoint, you wouldn't risk it to let him stay alive. I think you would rather kill him, partly for retribution, partly for prevention."
Obi-Wan wanted to say something to these accusations. But he wasn't sure if he would really let someone like Grievous stay alive. He had seen countless cruelties that the General had committed, if he was honest, he didn't exactly know what he would do in said situation. He could only counter one argument.
"I wouldn't kill him for retribution. That's the Sith way."
One second after he said it, he realized that he had left a perfect opening for Maul. And, trained Sith that he was, he delivered the fatal counterattack.
"You already killed in anger once," his voice was now a hiss, "don't you remember?" He pronounced the last word with a kick of his metal leg, the all-too present evidence of said failure.
Obi-Wan couldn't say anything. He didn't find a point and he was too occupied with gasping for breath.
But for Maul, no answer was an answer, too.
"I see."
Maul looked at his wrist and shot a glance to the door. Maybe he was getting worried about Savage's failure to appear. His posture straightened and Obi-Wan thought that he'd finally make an end.
But Maul didn't hurry. He examined Obi-Wan from top to bottom, as if to appraise the damage that he'd inflicted. And needless to say, he didn't think it was enough, although the bloody heap that represented the Jedi was already dismal.
"It will soon be over, Obi-Wan," the Sith said with fake consolation in his voice.
He sat his foot on Obi-Wan's shoulder and pressed him tightly to the ground. Obi-Wan couldn't do anything other than press his eyes together and moan as his back was once again heavily strained. When he felt something on his right elbow, he opened his eye again, just to see Maul yank it up hard.
A hideous cracking sound.
The realization that it had been his arm.
And strangely, the pain didn't come until some heartbeats later.
He has had fractures before, but one couldn't accustom to such an overwhelming pain a broken limb delivered. He reflexively tried to clasp his broken arm with his left arm, but when he moved it, he only felt a new rush of pain through his right arm. Idiot. His arms were still bound together. Obi-Wan pressed his breath through his teeth, waiting for the pain to fade. It felt like hours until it was back in an endurable range. Barely endurable. His vision slowly came back, and the high note that had dominated everything inside his head went lower.
Where was Maul?
Obi-Wan lifted his head with gritted teeth and a tremendous amount of will power. There was no sign of his enemy.
His head sank back. Why would Maul leave him alone? And alive? There was something important that he missed, he felt it in the Force, too. But it was such a weak breeze that he couldn't figure it out. Not yet. He would find out later. In the moment, all that his body wanted was to rest. And Obi-Wan couldn't resist any longer. He didn't want to either. He needed a resting period from the pain. Just a small one. And he slipped into merciful unconsciousness.
AN: I'm sorry, this Chapter took me a lot longer that I expected. And somehow, I'm afraid that there are lots of mistakes in it...or maybe I'm just getting paranoid. So if you see some mistakes, please let me know, otherwise, it won't get better :)
