Innocents of Ryloth
Scene 4
Inside the outer wall of Nabat
Commander Cody found the General at their pre-arranged rendezvous. He slowed down just a tad, making a private assessment first. He liked Kenobi well enough, and grew more comfortable with him the longer they were in the field- but in the final analysis, there was no figuring a Jedi master.
The General seemed to be back to normal. He was standing with both arms crossed over his chest, a posture Cody had come to interpret as either relaxed thoughtfulness or ironic disapprobation. The trick was guessing which one it meant at the moment – but either way it was a distinct improvement. The lightsaber was back in place on the belt, and the air wasn't charged with unbearable tension.
The thing was, Cody admitted to himself, a Jedi could be just a little creepy. He glanced over his shoulder at the plume of dark smoke billowing up into the cold, clear sky from the citadel's main gates. The massive durasteel-reinforced stone panels were lying in ruinous disarray atop the crushed and burning remnants of a Sep assault tank.
Take that particular scene of devastation, for instance. One minute, Ghost Company had been cautiously approaching the main gates, ready for a prolonged skirmish. Forty-five seconds later, before Cody could fully register what was happening or issue any useful commands, the gates were destroyed and the ground tank posted outside them a heap of smoking scrap. One moment, Kenobi had been right beside him, a fellow soldier, face streaked with dust and sweat, cracking some bad joke about the Seppie "welcoming committee," very much warm and approachable – human. The next instant, the Jedi disappeared. Not literally, of course. He was still physically present. It was just this weird thing he did sometimes. Cody had observed the same phenomenon when he caught the General in a meditative state: eyes closed, body relaxed, apparently no longer present in time. That was odd enough. But in the middle of a battle it was downright unnerving. The General would just disappear- there was no other word for it – and suddenly this invisible power would replace him, this maelstrom of primordial energy, like a force of nature unleashed.
He had done just that before the gates. And then he had pounced – flown toward the tank, magically evading the heavy cannon blasts aimed at him. He flew onto the machine's upper deck, saber screaming and blazing, sending droids and droid appendages flying in every direction. A severed head had landed right at Cody's feet. The General cut open the top hatch and dropped inside the assault vehicle like a colwar dropping onto prey in the jungle. The next thing Cody knew, the tank had pivoted 180 degrees and was blasting the heck out of the monumental gates. They cracked and crumbled, sending an avalanche of stone and twisted metal down on the tank. The Jedi had jumped clear at the last second, rolling onto his feet just in time to see the assault vehicle burst into toxic flames and smoke as its fuel reservoirs were punctured.
Cody had got a glimpse of Kenobi's face, right then, and what he had seen was that eerie trace of a smile, that wild untamed battle glory still seething beneath the controlled surface. He decided to give the General some room… to unwind. He divided the men into several taskforces: some to secure the perimeter, some to establish lookout posts, the medics sent to find and tend to their casualties, a group to locate a suitable command base. Cody liked the nitty-gritty, housekeeping side of war. It just felt right.
Now, half an hour later, he was relieved to see that the General had reappeared- the humanity was back. The Jedi just looked tired and dirty and a little bemused. Cody stepped forward and saluted.
"The wall is secure, sir. Are we moving on to the guns?" That was their objective, after all. They could make a beeline for the goal and then throw everything they had at it; or they might resort to subterfuge. You never knew with the Jedi in command.
"We need to know what those droids have in store for us," Kenobi replied, smoothing his beard down. "Send your best men to scout ahead."
"Will do sir. "Cody decided to go himself. He was one of the best men for a recon assignment. "Waxer. Boil," he ordered. "Come with me."
"I guess we're the best," Boil quipped.
You'd better be, Cody thought. Even the General's a little worried about what we might find up ahead. He loosened his blaster in its holster and pressed onward into the center of the city, with his brothers at his back.