Where Skies Burn
They were battling on a gaseous planet. It wasn't inhabitable by the vast majority of the galaxy aside from the creatures that evolution created and flew about the noxious gases. What made the planet so important, however, were the high quantities of minerals that flitted about in its clouds, particularly the minerals necessary for powering ion engines.
Which of course was why the Separatists were trying to take over the mineral mines floating over the atmosphere.
Obi-Wan was flying around in his Delta, engaging in many a dogfight with vulture droids as they swerved left, right, and center trying to demolish his squadron. The battle was spread out across an entire hemisphere, in upper atmosphere and in orbit around the planet itself. Anakin was at the other end of the planet, having his own problems if the occasional static swearing was any indication.
"Arfour, are they still jamming our communications?" he asked, barrel rolling to one side as a vulture droid fired some kind of missile at his small craft. The series of whistles and beeps belched into his ears and he saw the translated affirmative on his screen. He pulled up into a tight loop before aiming and firing at the droid that had just shot at him.
"Anakin, have you had any luck contacting Cody?" he asked. A clone flew in front of his field of vision, one wing smoking as three vulture droids followed in tight pursuit. Obi-Wan broke off to help.
There was a garble of static along the line that couldn't be interpreted, but somehow Obi-Wan knew that the answer was a resounding, "Corellian hells, no!" He could also feel, without any focus, that Anakin was locked deep in the Force and running on pure adrenaline, performing astonishing feats in his Azure Angel. Obi-Wan didn't need a bond to know that his Padawan was feeling that, but he was more than surprised that he could sense it in the bond. They were both so focused on their respective fights that neither of them should feel anything of the other, and yet since Obi-Wan's return from... medical leave (was it really a scant four months ago?) he could sense Anakin on a level and with an accuracy that he had never felt before - even with Qui-Gon. He could hear Anakin's thoughts more often than not, as he was certain Anakin could hear his. His understanding of Anakin's emotions was now ridiculously acute, subtle nuances suddenly perfectly clear. Neither had talked about it as yet, and both knew it was because neither knew how to broach the subject.
The Force sang in his head, and Obi-Wan was suddenly pitching his craft down into a cloud bank, effectively disappearing from scanners before coming up again well behind the droids that were nipping at the clone's tail; lining them up in his sights and firing direct hits. They exploded and fell harmlessly towards the terrain of the planet, several dozen miles below.
Once he realigned his fighter to something resembling upright, he scanned the immediate battlefield. The vulture droids were swarming around the smaller numbers of the clones, but numbers meant little when dealing with intelligence. The clones were excellent pilots, as Jango Fett was, and there seemed to be a consistent stacking of droid wrecks to trooper wrecks. What caught his eyes, though, was one of the Federation Cruisers swooping down from space to the thermosphere where Obi-Wan's battle was being engaged. Most of the cruisers were in orbit around the planet firing at each other while the smaller shuttles and one-man craft were down where Obi-Wan was to protect the floating mining sites. Why would one swoop down like this?
And... why were they firing some kind of gas into the air?
"I have a bad feeling about this..." Obi-Wan muttered as he quickly jerked his steering yolk up to gain as much altitude as possible, he wanted to get a closer look at what the cruiser was doing. Though it was futile, he tried to hail the Republic cruisers again.
"Admiral Block, if you can hear me, one of the Separatist cruisers is down here spraying some kind of chemical into the atmosphere. Can your scanners identify what they're doing? Arfour, can't you do anything about the communications jam?"
Obi-Wan suddenly felt Anakin's presence in his mind. What's happening? Obi-Wan frowned that his Padawan had picked up on his discontent. Just what was happening to the bond? He ignored it in favor of his bad feeling, explaining what he was seeing.
What color is it? Anakin asked.
Mostly green, but its dissolving very quickly, Obi-Wan thought back, again wondering how they were able to have such a detailed mental conversation in the Force when they were literally half a world away. At best they should only get feelings, impressions, but this abundance of detail was somehow the new standard. On a lark, Obi-Wan sent a picture of what he was seeing across the bond, curious if Anakin could see it as he dodged the fire of more vulture droids.
He could feel Anakin's curiosity, something analyzing on a level that was too deep for Obi-Wan to sense (and at this point that actually surprised him) before he felt adrenaline jolt through Anakin. Up, up! Everybody up! The static across the channel was too garbled to understand, but Obi-Wan knew urgency when he felt it.
"Up! All squadrons into orbit! No exceptions!" He fired his thrusters and arced his Delta almost straight up; having already been rising in altitude he had a fair start over the clones. The dog fighting quickly dissipated, fighters breaking off in their rush to get to higher altitudes, some taking potshots as they went.
One fighter hit its mark, and the vulture droid exploded in a giant fireball, that turned into another, and another...
Obi-Wan gasped as he realized what was happening: the green chemical, in combination with the natural gases of the planet that were harvested, created an atmospheric fuel tank. One explosion was all that was needed to trigger an ion reaction and suddenly the entire atmosphere was on fire, triggering other explosions. Over half his troops were still trying to evacuate, and soon Obi-Wan was assaulted with the giant wrench of many people dying.
He fought to accept the losses as quickly as he could - mass murder like this was always hard to swallow for him - but he managed it and rose to the exosphere. Other Deltas and Y-wings were doing the same; the chatter on the line was loud and garbled as troopers tried to contact one another only to find staunch arrays of static because of the jamming. Obi-Wan risked a glance down to see the sky on fire, the chain reactions spreading out several miles in every direction.
Master, you okay?
Obi-Wan blinked, looking around, but Anakin was still nowhere in sight.
Fine. Where are you?
Still on the dark side of the planet, no casualties over here.
Obi-Wan couldn't say the same, and either Anakin interpreted the silence or he felt the grim acceptance of loss. I'm coming, he said in grim determination.
Obi-Wan shook his head. "No, Anakin, stay where you are; you won't do any more good here than there."
Spinning his head around, he saw that he'd lost about half his troops, but others were coming in from other divisions around the planet. He would be fine; they would be fine. He spied another Separatist ship lowering into the atmosphere, and saw that many squads were still in the atmosphere because they hadn't heard the warning through the communications jam. He opened up a channel and hoped that someone could make sense of the orders he was about to give.
"If anyone can hear me, that cruiser is about to spray more gas into the atmosphere. Form up on me and we'll try to distract it. Anakin, go back up to orbit and tell Admiral Block or Cody of someone what they're doing so they can send someone down here for help."
The sudden eruption of static implied that several clones heard him, and the explosion of irritation in his head told him that Anakin most certainly heard him. Half a planet away and the Jedi could still feel the discontent. He focused on the bond. Anakin it's a mess over here. You aren't as engaged so you should have better luck, especially without the sun to draw attention to you. Just follow orders.
Obi-Wan received a picture of a rude gesture and a faint sense of acquiescence. He allowed himself to roll his eyes at the first, but frown at the second. He shouldn't have felt that tiny feeling. A vulture droid fired on him from behind and he was left once again putting it off until a later date; say, perhaps when droids weren't shooting at him.
This was why he hated flying.
A haphazard squad formed up behind him and he flew towards the cruiser, trying to gauge how long it would take before they were noticed and they would open fire. The Federation ship didn't have the Republic cruisers bearing down on it, though, like it would have had it stayed in orbit, and so it wasn't long before its lasers and tubrolasers started aiming on Obi-Wan and his squad. Just because Obi-Wan didn't like flying didn't mean he wasn't good at it, he'd spent most of his preteens with planes hanging from his ceiling and many hours in flight simulators.
He sank into the Force so deeply that only a tiny corner of his mind was left to identify himself as Obi-Wan Kenobi. A brief nudge here or a sharp jolt there were all he needed to guide his craft, his arm almost having a mind of its own as he swung around the laser blasts and proton torpedoes that followed him. His voice gave out orders that he hardly heard himself, and it wasn't long before he and most of his fighters were skimming the surface of the giant cruiser. Looking at his scanners, he found he'd only lost three troopers. He closed his eyes and thanked them for their sacrifice.
Taking a deep breath, he started looking around. "Arfour, see if you can isolate where those gas emitters are so we can take them out."
A petulant series of whistles squawked into his ears.
"What do you mean it could be anywhere?" he asked.
This time the beeps seemed downright impatient.
"No, I'd rather not wait for the enemy to do this again so you can trace it," Obi-Wan replied to his droid, "With the communications being jammed we can't warn the other fighters in the atmosphere. Can't your scanners pick up anything?"
The resounding beep sounded almost vulgar.
Sighing, Obi-Wan contacted his squad. "Does anyone see where the gas may have come from?"
One clone was able to garble across the static. "Sir, -t's lik-ly tha- it -ame from th- ex-aust por-s."
"Right," Obi-Wan replied, rubbing his beard and glad that short-range communications seemed to work. Sort of. "Keep your eyes open. Let's try to find the source before they fire that green gas again. While we're at it, let's see if we can't distract them from firing again."
"Yes, s-r!"
The squad broke up and fanned out against the hull of the giant ship. R4 was technically right, the gas could have been expelled from anywhere: exhaust ports, ventilation ducts, or even the main hangar through pressurized hoses of some sort. They may really have to wait for another firing, but Obi-Wan didn't particularly want that to happen. So he swung his small Delta around and started banking towards a line of turbolasers, taking deliberate aim before firing. It exploded in one great fireball, the shockwave shaking Obi-Wan's Delta and rattling his cage.
It also made him a priority target, and Arfour was squawking in his ear as he performed a series of Force-guided barrel rolls and a staunch ninety degree turn on his y-axis, suddenly diving towards the planet and away from the lasers that were bound and determined to roast him. Eyes still scanning the area, he hugged the surface of the cruiser, eyeing any new structure or protrusion as he curved around the body of the Federation ship. He also noted that the Federation ship was much lower, deep into the thermosphere. He could make out individual ships in the dogfight beyond him. That meant they were nearly ready for release.
"Contact!" a trooper shouted over the comm.
"Where are you?" Obi-Wan called out, turning now on his x-axis and flying parallel to the cruiser.
"Und-er belly of th- ship! Looks -ike-" But the transmission was cut off with a sharp staccato of static.
"Form back up!" Obi-Wan ordered to the other fighters. "Form up and join me under the ship. While you're at it transmit on all frequencies; we need to let the troops down there know what's going to happen!"
"Mast-r, why don'- you j-st stop t-em?"
No. He didn't just hear that. He did not just hear his Padawan disobey orders again and come and join him in the skirmish.
Then, clear as crystal: You know, if you're so curious about this bond then maybe we should just experiment on it sometime.
Obi-Wan never before had such a desire to borrow from Anakin's vocabulary.
"Anakin, what are you doing here?" he demanded even as he finally crested the bottom of the Federation cruiser and started surveying the structure for what the recently departed clone had discovered. Lasers were firing at him from all sides, now; the added security clearly indicating he was at the right place. He ducked into a natural alley of the hull, temporarily safe from fire, before coming up again and launching his own assault, firing at a laser station and bursting through the resulting explosion.
I'm here to help, Master, was Anakin's glib reply. Obi-Wan very nearly put his head in his hands - would have, if he wasn't so busy trying to stay alive. He could see the pressurized mounts now, just at the edge of his sensors. He banked left looking for a roundabout way to get in close.
To his Padawan, he sent: If you want to help, then FOLLOW ORDERS! And now isn't the time to talk about whatever is happening to the training bond.
Then maybe you should stop marveling at it whenever you have a free second to think, Anakin sent back. It's awfully distracting when you're managing a hemisphere-wide battle in your head!
Obi-Wan quietly - very quietly - admitted defeat. Anakin was here, and he wasn't going to just go away, no matter his objections and wishes. Sighing, he tried to figure out what to do with him now that he was here.
I already have a plan, Master, Anakin responded to his thoughts. Once I win this battle for you we can go back to the ship and meditate together and see just how deep this bond goes. I kind of like the extended range we have; it's really reassuring to know you're not getting into trouble when I'm not around to look after you by all the background noise you send my way, so I'm really curious to see what else we can do.
"That wasn't what I meant, Anakin," Obi-Wan said, trying and failing not to sound frustrated at his Padawan's smug tone.
Oh, you mean taking down this ship? I'm already on it.
... And what did that mean?
It means I have the bridge in my sights and am about to blow it up. Anakin even sent a mental picture of what he was seeing to Obi-Wan.
In the span of an eye blink, Obi-Wan realized what would happen if Anakin's bold plan came to fruition. Without the bridge, without the command center, the droids on the ship would carry out orders without thought of consequence. That meant they would release the gas regardless of the fact that the bridge was one giant fireball, and the resulting chain reaction would not only blow up the entire ship but also completely level the entire quartersphere of the planet - clone and droid alike - to Force knew what level of expansion.
In the next eye blink, he reached out into the bond with everything that he was, reaching on a level he'd never dared think possible, and yanked at the mind on the other end.
"Anakin, stop!"
He saw and felt Anakin jerk to one side, his shots going wild, lasers and turbolasers chasing after him, a swarm of vulture droids emerging from somewhere and giving chase, and then Obi-Wan was back in his own Delta, watching as the green chemical was being released into the air and dissipating, waiting for only one shot to be true and to set the sky on fire. The Jedi couldn't fire now, it would be a dread repeat of what Anakin had just been attempting, and he sighed deeply, feeling hollow as he watched the clouds a dozen miles below him erupt in a burgeoning fireball, death pounding on his mind.
Then, he was assaulted with fury. Master! Why did you STOP me?
Anakin's anger crackled through Obi-Wan's nerves, and he put a hand up to his forehead to stall the headache. Suddenly acutely tired, he sent his predictions to Anakin through the bond. The bond now felt narrow, constricted, because of all the pulsing anger had insulated it, and Obi-Wan wondered if his thoughts even penetrated his Padawan's mind. Anakin's feelings didn't dissipate, though, and he knew that he was going to get yelled at when they got back.
He tried to tune out the yelling he was already receiving in his own mind, sinking himself into the Force and trying to go back to directing the battle, leaving only one corner of himself as Obi-Wan Kenobi.
They still had a battle to fight, after all.
Author's Note: And thus, Ani and Obi start figuring out that their bond isn't quite normal anymore. For those still a little lost, allow us a moment to backtrack. Waaaay back near the beginning of this arc, Obi-Wan and Anakin shared a bizarre meditation where they sank into the Force together as equals instead of as Master/Padawan. Indeed, they've kept doing so repeatedly and stray thoughts started filtering between both of their shields to the other's mind. Then this little think called Jabiim and Rattatak happened where Anakin, desperate to help his master, reached through the bond to grab Obi-Wan's pain and let it dissipate to the Force. Since the bond wasn't big enough, Anakin deliberately gouged at it to make the work easier. Then, Obi-Wan in a haze wakes up feeling Anakin's own pain after such worry and grief and imitates Anakin in reaching through the bond to release Anakin's pain to the Force.
And now, the bond, which has been the strongest in the Order's history and is shown in any EU book to be incredibly strong, has been taken to exponential potential. One can't help but wonder when the bond will stop growing.
And we haven't even gotten to Episode 3 yet. *omniscient laughter*
As for the chapter itself. This was one of the last chapters written and was very out of sequence with everything else we'd been doing. (This whole fic is out of sequence. It's a wonder any of it makes sense.) What needed to be done for this chapter (ie, how the bond looks) was known. HOW wasn't and was very difficult to do. Since almost all of our fights were based on the ground, when the idea of a dogfight came up, things finally clicked.
That said, dogfights are hard to visualize in words since there are three axis of rotation and how do you keep track of it? And so there were constant points of reference to points in space. The hemisphere, the stratospheres, the Federation ship, and still we're not sure it all comes out right.
Next week: Best summed up by the following image: http :/ mirrorandimage . deviantart . com / gallery / ?offset = 24 #/ d34x2eo