Automatic Weapon
By Rob Morris
20 BBY, Planet Utapau, somewhere inside a wish…
"General – I'm afraid a warrant has been issued for your arrest."
The bearded man eyed his subordinate/equal, and nodded.
"And I take it you have no discretion in carrying it out?"
This was going to be painful, even if not a single shot was fired.
"None at all, sir. We have been ordered to take you into custody. Word is, your fellow Jedi attempted a coup against Chancellor Palpatine. Four or five of them, all masters, now dead."
Rather than being grief or shock stricken, the warrior looked to be doing some hard math behind his eyes.
"I find that account wanting, so I suppose the only way to clear anything up…is to surrender myself to your custody. But I will ask you one question, my friend – and you are and will always be my friend, please understand that – and so that question is, if four or five masters had made some attempt against the Chancellor, what would be the likely outcome? Because I don't think it would be failure. I would judge them harshly for such a thing, barring other evidence. Yet, I feel I would be judging a success, even if the moral underpinnings were in question. Is that your judgment as well?"
Without being told to, Obi-Wan Kenobi turned over his recovered lightsaber, giving it a look that regretted giving it up so soon after getting it back. With another look that made it clear shackles would not be needed, he proceeded to lock-up with Cody's subordinates. He did take a moment to amuse and unnerve his captors.
"So tell me – is the food any good?"
A trooper took the lightsaber.
"I'll secure his weapon, sir."
Cody looked at the ramp Kenobi had just walked on.
"You'll secure his tool, anyway."
19 BBY, Coruscant, not in a wish at all…
Cody let the cold water hit his head without entering the shower. The water use might get noticed, but it would be moot. His thoughts were oddly calm.
*At least in this one, he didn't turn into a giant and climb up out of the ravine. Could Jedi even do that?*
Maybe not, but his general could have, were it needed, or so Cody liked to believe.
*Yes, I am a soldier, and good soldiers follow orders. But why was I so set on killing that man? If all my goal was to kill him, couldn't I have gotten him to come back up, pretending there was something urgent? My upset could have hid things from his senses, till he was within better range. That day made no sense, morally or logistically.*
He had little doubt but that his most recent dream was the most logical outcome – Kenobi would have wanted to know what was going on, and Coruscant was his path to do so. Maybe he would have tried to escape, but just as likely he would keep that as an option till he was planetside.
*But that last question the dream brought up – about Palpatine. How in blazes did he survive five masters? His guards would have been a joke to them, and no clones were so close to the big man's office suite. I'm not wishing him death or success to traitors, but it doesn't add up.*
Cody knew by now that he could not speak or write such words. Too many sudden transfers of others voicing like sentiments or recording them, even in supposed private.
*Could he be another Jedi, or one of those acolytes of Dooku, like Ventress? Nah! Force-users can sniff each other out like Clones pick up on a clanker ambush. A whole temple of them, always meditating? Be like a scented candle in a closet space – unless he were just that powerful…okay, stop.*
But he was long past stopping. Kashyyyk had been automatic, as horrific as the results were. His mind still reeling from the rapid turn against Kenobi, he had just done what he was ordered. But as one fog faded, another moved in, this one dimmer but able to be seen through as well, and what he saw he did not like.
*Desix stunk from the word go, and hooking up with the only stickler in CF-99 was no comfort. He just had to kill that woman, and at the prompting of a petty bureaucrat anxious to add a title to his name? Yet I almost understood Crosshair. He seemed to hiding from hard truths by doing his worst, ethics-wise. He's keeping the questions at bay with the blood on his hands. I have to wonder how long he can keep doing that.*
Yet the absolute worst was on the way back. The message from Rampart.
**I've seen right through you, CC-2224. Wonderful work, really. I was furious at your refusal to obey orders, till I realized how skillfully you set up CT-9904's killshot by calming the terrorist leader. Likely saved the Empire many useful assets that way. Commendable work.**
He wondered if Rampart was already on to him, and had done that deliberately to make him do something stupid, like walk into a trap or snare to aid his vanishing. But it no longer mattered, because Cody now did something stupid and spoke simple words out loud, and these were not: Good Soldiers Follow Orders.
"I Cannot Do This Anymore."
Commander Cody strode out of his quarters, prepared for destiny.