Chapter 20
Savage fiddled with the controls and grumbled angrily.
His brother was really not the brightest when it came to working with numbers and vectors, but even he should be able to prepare the ship for the hyperspace-jump.
Still exhausted from the fight, Maul was vexed that he had to do all the work himself. He took Savage's chair and gave him a stern disappointed look. He would get his punishment later. Now he had to flee before the clones or the Jedi could reach their ship. Maul entered a save route with seven jumps, but irritatingly the only thing he got was an error message.
How could that be? He quickly went for a thorough check of the engines and found a defect with the hyperdrive generator. A thermal and line-shaped defect. Surely from a lightsaber. The Jedi must somehow have dealt a blow to the hyperdrive just when they had taken off. This annoying Jedi filth!
They now had to change their plan again. Quickly.
Anakin would never get this picture out of his head. His master and friend laid lifelessly on the floor, his head in a small puddle of blood that had dripped from his slack mouth. His hands were still bound together. It was a picture of undignified death. Not worthy of a Jedi.
It needed some time until he was aware enough to extended his hand to Obi-Wan's throat. He was shivering, for what he would find could easily break his heart. But it was also his last spark of hope and so he felt for a pulse.
Nothing.
Cold desperation engulfed him, tried to suffocate him on the spot.
Then, a hint of a beat, and a nearly invisible mist of a presence in the Force. Barely alive, but there was hope.
Anakin came to his senses. He should have brought Obi-Wan out of the deadly gas right away, but it was not too late yet... he wouldn't let it be. Obi-Wan had to hang on a little longer and he could be saved, Anakin was sure of that. His master had always beaten the odds, and he would do so now.
In a second, the chains were severed by his lightsaber and he shouldered Obi-Wan over his back. He heard something between a whimper and a wet cough behind his back and was tempted to lay Obi-Wan back down by the extraordinary display of pain, but he had to hurry up. He was still holding his breath, and the effort of carrying Obi-Wan was not helpful for saving air.
The toxic gas had now surely invaded the beginning of the hallway, and Anakin cursed himself silently because he hadn't brought a rebreather.
He traversed several corridors, fear his greatest motivation. Obi-Wan sounded as if he was about to suffocate and Anakin couldn't do anything than bring him to the ship as fast as possible.
At least he was out of reach of the gas by now and he could resume his normal breathing.
He nearly tripped over Ahsoka when she suddenly appeared around a corner.
"Master! You said I shouldn't help fighting Maul so I followed you after I made slack of the…Is that Obi-Wan?!"
Anakin didn't consider her first sentences, but he was glad that she could help.
"Ahsoka, run to the ship as fast as possible, contact a healer and prepare all bacta that we have. Now!"
Ahsoka looked aghast, trying to comprehend what she saw and heard, then nodded and ran back towards the ships.
"It's probably some agent that affects the lung!" He shouted behind her, doing everything he could to get the right treatment for Obi-Wan as fast as possible.
Ahsoka ran fast, but she was not making as much distance between them as he would have liked. Still, she wasn't burdened with a deadweight body as heavy as himself, and she would be a lot faster than him. Finally, he could see the exit, decorated with the round hole he burned in earlier.
Such a long way was still left. He adjusted the weight of his master, as gently as possible, for his breathing was still not more than a gargling rasp now and then.
"Obi-Wan", he addressed him, "Master, you have to hang on. The ship is not far, you are safe now. Stay with me, please."
His pleading evoked no reaction, Anakin had neither anticipated an answer, Obi-Wan could barely breathe, how should he speak? But it calmed him down and so he kept talking, all the way, defying strain and ache, until he realized that the Sith's ship was missing. He cursed something in huttese, but his priority was to save Obi-Wan, not seeking revenge, at least for now.
He ran along the deserted landing space, the torn and sharp metal cliffs emphasizing his disturbance. It must be unbearable for Obi-Wan, being shaken while injured all the way, but bringing a shuttle would have taken longer, and Anakin had to bring Obi-Wan help as fast as possible. He took in the remains of a battle as he continued, and finally, he arrived at the first clone ship. Ahsoka was already waiting with a stretcher and a hologram of one of the temple healers. He deposited Obi-Wan, who still hadn't opened his eyes and took the holoprojector.
"Master Jufo, Obi-Wan has been exposed to an agent that affects the lungs pretty badly, I think. What can we do?"
"Peace, Master Skywalker", the healer tried to calm him down, but looked slightly anxious himself, "it seems like he has to get to a healer as fast as possible. There is a med-station not far from your position, I recommend that you take care of the transport now, there is not much that can be done right now with only emergency equipment… You can treat his outer injuries with bacta to prevent blood loss", he added as he took in all the other obvious injuries apart from the main problem.
"And his breathing?", Anakin asked badly tempered. He thought that the healer should concentrate more on solving the main problem than giving him obvious instructions.
"There is no solution to that in the moment. You can take a sample of the secretion to confirm my presumption that he has inhaled Tsennax, but if that's right, he has to undergo an arduous therapy, if he survives the next hours. Tsennax attacks the lungs, and the longer it stays, the more it destroys. I'm sorry."
Anakin took that revelation calmly. He had to, otherwise nothing on the ship would be save from being ripped apart by the Force.
He nodded his thanks to the healer and went to the cockpit to make the arrangements, his inner turmoil still growing. His fist hurt from his digging nails, but it was a slightly distracting feeling, and he left his hand clutched.
Tsennax. He had heard of it, of its civil casualties on Ard 5, but it had been a harsh mission for Obi-Wan and he hadn't wanted to talk about it, so Anakin had left him alone. He should have been with his master, but the council had sent him to chase a minor criminal and left Obi-Wan alone with the hunt for Grievous. He ground his teeth together and made his way back to Obi-Wan.
The worst thing was that he couldn't do anything other than waiting. Still, he would stay with Obi-Wan, for maybe both their comfort, and he wouldn't let him give up. They would stand this through like they had so many times before. It couldn't be different this time. He wouldn't let it be.
AN: Sorry, I'm really sorry that I haven't updated for that long. I guess I have been too busy learning, but it shouldn't have taken that long to write a new chapter. Now I'm on vacation and I really hope that I can give you the last chapter pretty soon (at least faster than the last one). Thank you to everyone who still reads this story, you are great and your reviews help me to work with the story, and although there ist not very much left, let me know what you think of it, every opinion is appreciated! Thank you for reading!
