Pascal () : Wow! Thanks for your kind remarks, they have inspired me to get back on this. I now know where this is finally going, so I hope you continue to enjoy the ride!
Michelle Erika: Thanks for all the chapter reviews. I hope you can forgive me the huge canon story change, but I will be explaining that more in later chapters as well as a little in this one. Don't count old Dooku out yet, even after everything that has happened since your comment on the Count. I can understand you not seeing Anakin giggling, but they've just been through something extraordinary and that can leave even the most controlled and sedate person feeling giddy and child-like, so I was trying to put out that completely out of character move to emphasize that, but I can see why that isn't necessarily working! As for the conversation with Qui-Gonn, I hope you like the way this will play out in later chapters. And where is the real Boba? Well, I think that's going to depend on your 'point of view'!
The vision had shaken Anakin tremendously. He couldn't tell when this would happen, but a deepening pull in the pit of his stomach told him it was rapidly becoming the true future and things needed to be done to save as many lives as possible. He quickly got up from his seated position and dashed to the tent flap, only to have it opened into his face as Padme rushed into him, hugging him close. He noticed that it was very dark outside, he must have been meditating over the two prone forms for several hours without realizing it.
"What happened?" she asked stepping back and looking up into his worried looking face.
"We have to contact Master Yoda immediately, I think the Jedi are in serious danger and I'm not sure what we can do to stop it. But I do know the younglings need to be taken out of that building as soon as possible."
"The younglings? What did you see?"
"The temple was in flames and the senate building was collapsing in on itself."
"Well, then the senate should be warned also, shouldn't it?"
"No, Padme, we can't let them know, there are too many voices that could easily spill our concerns to the dark lord."
"You still feel the senate is the key to finding the sith master, don't you?" she said, gravely.
"I know you still have friends there, Padme, but ever since leaving the order, the darkness I have sensed whenever reaching for answers within the force always leads me back to the senate. The dark lord has a strangle hold over the surface of Corescant and the temple is choking under the pressure consuming the planet. I wish we could do more to convince the council, and I'm relieved we have Masters Yoda and Windu on our side, but we are going to have to be subtle about this if we are going to save those younglings' lives."
"How much time do we have?" she asked, gripping onto him, feeling his very force presence strengthening her.
"I don't know, but I'm not taking any chances. We'll contact Master Yoda immediately and see what he can start arranging. This war has reduced the number of Masters at the temple and they are relying on their senior padawans to step up into those positions and this will make them all increasingly vulnerable. It's early days in this war, but imagine the demoralizing cascade throughout the order if the temple were attacked and any of those young lives lost. We have to act now, before the sith lord can take advantage of those young ones."
"Chief Jrk'Orr'Ark is talking of moving the tribe tomorrow evening. He won't be happy if we intend bringing more outsiders here. Remember how he felt about introducing Obi-Wan and Ventress. We'll need a new hide-hole."
"I know, Padme, I know," he said rubbing her arms affectionately and drawing her into a hug, "and we won't abandon those younglings. So we're going to have to think of something fast."
He looked back at the two occupants of the tent, their fates intrinsically linked to his vision. He had witnessed firsthand the power within these two force wielders, one a raging chaos, the other ready to explode given the right circumstances. He suddenly had no time left to be there for them both, so he took the only decision he could under the circumstances.
"I'm going to need you to handle Obi-Wan. Do you think you can do that?" he asked, brushing Padme's cheek. "I have to get Assaj stabilized. We're going to need all the help we can get."
"You think she'll help us, really?" said Padme, looking into his deep blue eyes with concern and she reached up to hold his face, feeling the warmth against her skin. "Your continued mind reconstruction is amazing, but it's just so risky for you if she slips back into her old sith ways."
He smiled down at her and she immediately felt better, even if her question went unanswered. The last couple of weeks had been a whirlwind for her and although this new experience of knowing the force was exhilarating, it was also extremely disconcerting and she was coping as best she could, thanks to Anakin's guidance, but she couldn't help feeling everything was going just too fast for everyone involved. And Anakin looked so tired these days. It felt to her that his abandonment of the order had placed an enormous new weight on his shoulders that was threatening to pull him down and she wasn't sure she knew how to help him with it. The new deep connection she had formed with him allowed her to literally give him her own strength and she was grateful she could offer him that much. He positively gleamed within her and warmed her from the inside with a controlled power that often left her feeling small when in his presence, but he would always manage to elevate her in his eyes to his level such that she was never overwhelmed by his presence.
His vision had been powerful enough to flush through her system and bring her running to his side, deeply concerned for his wellbeing. She had not seen any of it, but hearing him reveal it to her was in no way comforting.
"I understand the risks, but we have to try, we can't leave her in the state she's in and I have established a connection through her mind to her time with Ky Narec, the Jedi I told you about from her past. It won't be difficult to build on that, she trusted me enough to release that much of herself to me and I intend to repay that trust. We have already learned so much from her about our foes, and more about sith techniques than the Jedi order has ever known compared to what Dooku could glean using his crude techniques. "
Padme nodded sadly. She knew Anakin was the best person for the job. He astonished her every day with his expanding abilities, but he still had the stoic control of a Jedi, and her faith in him was complete.
"I know you are right, of course, and I can handle Obi-Wan, you don't have to worry about that."
He smiled warmly at her, holding her tight. How complete he felt with her presence within his soul. She was his strength, he was sure she knew that and felt that. Her innocence to the ways of the force were, quite frankly, refreshing to him, and the more he taught her, the more she had questioned his teachings and together they had found better ways of doing so many things. He had never been very adept at healing techniques, but Padme had taken an immediate shine to it and found interesting and exciting new ways to channel the force around the injured party to more efficiently stimulate healing within them. When questioned why it had never been tried this way before, he had honestly admitted that it had probably never been thought of, because of the indoctrinated training within the Order. Her response had been a simple "oh" and then she had gone back to treating her patient.
"I doubt that in your care he'll be too difficult. Now, I must contact Master Yoda and let him know about these developments. Then we will have to see to our two guests."
"Can't that wait until morning? After your call you should rest, and they won't be harmed by a few more hours of sleep either." He shook his head to protest, but she was having none of it, the man needed some sleep. "Don't give me that, I'm the healing expert here these days. Send the message and then rest, healers orders."
He rolled his eyes and she slapped him playfully on his backside. "Don't be cheeky."
He leaned down to her and brushed her lips with his. "How could I possibly be cheeky to you, my lady," and he sank into her embrace, taking her into a deep kiss, feeling immediately radiated with her warmth once again.
Obi woke up feeling much cooler this time, his lungs not feeling as though the fires of Mustafar were raging through them. He had had no further dreams with Qui-Gon and quite frankly he was rather relieved by that, they had left him feeling completely out of control and helpless, which was never a pleasant feeling.
He vaguely remembered waking to see Padme, but had that been a dream too? She had used the force to a Jedi Knight standard of skill, that couldn't be right, could it? Hadn't he been suffering a high fever? That would explain the hallucination of her Bant impression. Probably just the after effects of that run in with the Krayt* dragon. Boba was right, he really did get himself into a heck of a lot of trouble!
(*Yep, I messed up, I meant Krayt dragon, but was convinced it was Krace dragon for some reason! And I claim I'm a geek worthy fan, really, quite shameful!)
Boba! The lad was probably going crazy waiting for word from him. He would have to contact him once he figured out exactly where he was and if that was even possible. He looked around the tent to find the cot next to him empty. Where was Ventress? Had she even been there? Nothing was very clear, but he did recognize the décor. It was Tatooine, most definitely, this was a Sand person tent, not the mud huts their people were usually associated with, this must be one of the wondering tribes that he had read about in his old studies way back when he was still a padawan. He was surprised he even remembered it.
He sat up and placed his feet on the floor, the floor rug feeling warm and comforting under his toes. He stood up and walked to the tent entrance, pulling it open to reveal a rather bustling village of sand people. A couple looked up from their work to look at him, but for the most part he was ignored. He was about to go exploring, when he heard a familiar voice coming from his left.
"Ah, nice to see you, sleepy head!"
He turned to see Padme dressed in the robes of the villagers, but her head was uncovered, unlike the other people present, and he looked back around just to check they were all OK with that.
"Let's talk back inside, it will be getting too warm out here soon," and she swept to his side and guided him back in.
"Padme, I .." he didn't really know where to begin, he was so confused by the situation he found himself in and being confronted with his former charge brought up his recent past and treatment of those who had trusted him most. "I'm so .." he cleared his throat for the third time, "I'm so sorry I couldn't reveal who I was, I-"
She held up her hand to stop him and pulled him down to sit on the cot he had just risen from. He couldn't bring himself to look at her, so he stared at the floor rug, now feeling cold beneath his toes.
"You were hurting, confused, alone and I dare say afraid. You took extraordinary action to protect me, Obi-Wan, and for that you will always have my gratitude."
He looked up into her face and saw her affection for him there, affection that puzzled him, but he was not about to lose that image from his mind so he held her gaze.
"When Anakin and I left Naboo we had to keep so much secret from the ones we love back there and it tore me up inside for a while until I was able to come to terms with the fact that without that deception they were all in great danger and I couldn't allow that to happen. You kept your secret to keep us as safe as you could, to get as close as you could to help me and look at the price you paid," and with that she stroked his face close to his eye patch. He found himself pressing into the soft touch, unable to remember the last time anyone had touched him merely to show how much they cared about him. Yoda had been able to comfort him briefly on their re-acquaintance in the healers after his encounter with Maul, but that had seemed so fleeting. A ghostly feeling of Qui-Gonn's hand on his shoulder, rubbing it soothingly came to him and he no longer felt so alone.
Padme continued, "I can't say I agree with all of your choices, but know that I do understand them." She smiled warmly at him and removed her hand. She couldn't help noticing how he leaned in ever so slightly as she withdrew it. Had anyone ever just held him to comfort him, she wondered. He had been there to comfort the people under his command and those he protected, but in his long service to her she had never seen that comfort being returned. He was the strong one, the tower which held and protected the others, no wonder they had all taken his departure so hard. It had never occurred to them how much they had relied in their dear Latterie until he was gone from them. How human he seemed to her here and now, and yet she could sense that tower of strength still very much rooted inside of him, her force presence invigorated to be so close to his contained power.
For him, it was like sitting next to a beacon of light within the force, she glowed within its flow. The light rolled off her in waves of warmth. "What happened to you? How did this happen? How did you get here?" he suddenly found himself blurting out.
She chuckled to herself at his questions.
"Well, here's the quick version, as we don't have much time." She cleared her throat and sighed heavily, still smiling at him, excited to be able to reveal this to someone finally.
"So, I believe the last time we saw each other was on Geonisis, correct?"
Obi-Wan hung his head, remembering the reason she was on that planet in the first place. She placed her hand under his chin and raised his face up to face her own.
"Obi-Wan, you are going to have to forgive yourself for some things, you know. I went there of my own free will. What happened there was a result of my choices. You can't keep punishing yourself for what you can't control. Now, do you want the story or not?"
He nodded gently, feeling as helpless as he ever had in his dreams with Qui-Gonn. He knew what she was saying was right, that didn't make it any easier to bare at this moment, however, but he did want to hear the story.
"OK, then," she continued, "Masters Yoda and Windu found Anakin, Jango and I and took us to Naboo to recover, where Anakin got a new synthetic arm and I, well,.." she paused and looked sadly into his face, "I healed." Then her face bloomed with joy that rippled through the force around them. "But Obi-Wan, something wonderful happened. Anakin and I formed a new force bond as a result of that healing and somehow, I don't really know how, I was able to access the force and I've been learning since then to manipulate it and use its flow. My control is rather rudimentary at present, but it's incredible, Obi-Wan, to feel its flow around you and through you." As she spoke of her connection to the force, her presence began to glow even brighter within the force and Obi-Wan marveled at it. He was awe struck at the strength she now possessed and could understand why she and Anakin were in hiding.
"That's why we came here," she brought her attention back to him and her signature became more subdued again, "Anakin has a way with people, and together we were able to convince the tribe chief and his people to take us in. It was tricky convincing them to allow you and Assaj to join us, but we've been able to do a lot around here to help the tribe, so you are both honorary members of the tribe. Especially after Assaj managed to tame the Krayt. Now it keeps following her around, the two are almost inseparable!"
"Assaj tamed the Krayt dragon? The woman has a mind as sliced as thin Waneeka meat! How did she manage that?"
"Well, it was actually partly your fault, you know."
"How could it be my fault? The thing tried to rip my arm off!"
"Exactly, and that rather vexed our dark tattooed friend, so she tried to kill it at first, but you helped to convince her to stop. Don't you remember?"
"I remember flying through the air at one point, but that's about it."
"Ah, yes, sorry you didn't have a softer landing, but Anakin didn't catch you in time. He's very sorry about that."
"I'll have to remember to admonish him appropriately the next time I see him!" he said returning her smile. How she had missed that devilishly cheeky grin.
"How is she, really?" he asked, a little surprised at his own concern for the sith acolyte.
"Doing well, under Anakin's guidance. Did you know she was Jedi trained for many years?"
"No, I had no idea about her past. It was all such a jumble in there, I really didn't have much luck getting anything clearly."
"His name was Ky Narec, does that mean anything to you?"
"Ky, yes, I remember her grasping for memories associated with that name."
"It seems he trained her after her parents were killed. He and Assaj became very close and she was extremely fast at picking things up. He had been banished from the order, apparently. That probably explains why neither you nor Anakin had ever heard of him." Padme chuckled, remembering when Assaj woke up that morning. "For an instant, she thought you were Ky, this morning. It was rather, well, exciting, shall we say, to see her spring to your defense. But Anakin calmed her down. He was really impressed with your work to help her get here."
"Oh, that was mostly her, she kept repeating this phrase-"
"Yes, 'Tatooine, bring him here' she was saying that when we found you, we're still not sure why."
"After hearing what you said about your growing power, I thought it was you and Anakin who called for her."
Padme shook her head. "No Obi-Wan, we had nothing to do with that. Anakin felt your presences enter the atmosphere and we came as quickly as we could to the crash site and found you falling and Assaj standing next to the Krayt, but we didn't call her here."
"Once again the mystery deepens, seems the story of my life recently."
"Oh, it's going to get better."
"Of course it is. Do tell!"
"Anakin had a vision while he meditated here over you both. He saw the Jedi temple in flames and heard a voice call for him to save the younglings."
The news pierced Obi-Wan's heart at the thought of those young lives in danger.
"What must we do?" he asked, immediately wanting to get involved.
"Well, first, you need to reassure that young lad of yours."
"Boba, my goodness, of course! Poor lad, I rather abandoned him with, well, with an old friend. Oh, they're going to gloat over this one," said Obi-Wan, testing his previously broken arm.
"We'll need his and Dex's help with this, do you think you can get them to help?"
"Oh, I think I can – wait how did you know it was Dex?"
"I may be a force sensitive these days, but I'm not entirely without my own perceptions. Lattierie trusts few people outside of his crew, and the only own he'd trust enough to take care of one of his own would be Dexter Jetster."
"Nice to know you remember something I taught you!" They stood up together and headed out of the tent. It was obvious now that the villagers were starting to pack up.
"We're moving?" he asked.
"They'll be heading out this evening, it's better to travel with all of them together at dusk. We'll get this call put through and then you can help me pack up our stuff."
"Oh, lucky me! Where is Assaj during all this, I feel she shouldn't miss out on such an exciting exercise!"
"Still healing with Anakin," she said and he nodded.
"Ah," he replied, "that's what they want you to think, when really they're off sunning themselves on the cliff top over there, or something. We could just follow the Krayt droppings and find out!"
"I have missed, you," she said, suddenly turning and hugging her old friend. It felt rather uncomfortable at first for him, but that quickly dissolved as he felt consumed by her warm force presence and he held on to her.
"I missed you, too, dear Padme," his voice suddenly quiet and deep, needing the reassurance her touch now gave him. They stood like that for a moment, the villagers looking on while continuing their preparations for the move. Suddenly feeling very self conscious, Obi-Wan released his old friend and cleared his throat.
"That call," he muttered.
She smiled warmly at him and led the way to the comm.
"Boba, Dex, this is Obi-Wan, can you read me?" came the crackling voice and jittering image over the comm. and holoprojector in Dex's workshop. "Oh.." Obi-Wan could be seem reaching for the controls, "..oh..darn!..it's..Oh, is that better?..Boba, Dex? Are you there?"
Boba's left hand flipped the comm., but switched it so that the holo didn't transmit out.
"Uh, everything's under control. Situation normal."
"Boba? Is that you? Are you alright?"
"Er, we had a …an engine leak here…now..but everything's perfectly all right..now..We're fine..," his right hand still held the blaster trained on Dex as the Baselisk stood across the workshop, all four arms raised, eyes dark sparkling orbs. "We're all fine here…now..thank you…How are you?"
"Well, that's the reason I called," said Ben, looking rather sheepish in the badly swirling image.
"Assaj and I, well, we crashed on - "
"You crashed!" exclaimed Boba, his attention suddenly drawn to the image of his friend. The man was incorrigible, it was like he was a walking disaster magnet or something! He suddenly remembered his previous focus of attention and immediately looked back to Dex's position, but the Baselisk was nowhere to be seen. Boba's eyes darted around the room and he held the blaster up and spun around, trying to fathom where the wily guy had gone.
"Yes, you see Assaj decided to take over the ship and take us to Tatooine."
"Aha," said Boba, rather distracted from the conversation.
"But we're both OK, or as OK as a mind warped force sensitive and an incredibly ex-Jedi can be these days. The holo isn't working here, are you seeing anything?"
Boba looked around again for Dex.
"Not at this moment, no," he said cautiously.
"I just wanted you to know that we're OK and, well, we're with friends, but that's about all I can say right now, but it does mean we have some more allies we can count on. I'm sure of that, Boba."
"That's good, that's good," said Boba slowly, still not sure where Dex was, but feeling that the Baselisk was close now.
Obi-Wan's expression turned to one of concern, sensing something was obviously wrong.
"Boba, are you and Dex getting on OK?"
Boba was suddenly drawn back to the holo, his mind racing. Dex knew, he had found out some how about order 66 and he knew what it meant. Boba's clone trooper training had kicked in immediately once he had found out moments ago and he had Dex in his sights and ready to fire the blaster, but he just couldn't do it, the boy had frozen, caught between the two personas that raged inside his mind, struggling for supremecy. Just when he had thought the sickening automaton world of the clone trooper had taken over, there had been Ben, calling for him and Ben's friend, Dex; Boba's friend, Dex. And Dex had turned to see the struggling conscience of Boba written all over his face. In his panic, Boba had answered the call from Ben, of course he had answered, the clone trooper voice in his head returning the clipped first response, but now the struggle was back on, Boba was fighting hard to get control back and focusing on Ben was the only way to do it.
"We've had some problems," he began and he saw Ben tense immediately, "but we're about to sort them out. Can I call you back?"
"Boba, I-"
"Please, Ben, just call back in a few moments, we're in the middle of something."
The hot breath of Dex was suddenly just behind his left ear and he spun around to face the gleaming orbs of the Baselisk. The blaster was swatted from his hand as his arms were pulled to his sides.
"Boba, you're worrying me," said Ben, openly concerned.
"The boy and I have some issues over the hover bike we need to clear up, Obi-Wan. Won't take a moment."
Dex never took his eyes off Boba as he spoke and with one of his free arms he brushed over the comm. controls.
Eased a little by hearing Dex's voice, Obi-Wan too moved to his comm. controls.
"Alright, I'll call again later, if you're sure there's nothing wrong."
"Oh, we're sure, aren't we, Boba, everything will be much better after our chat, won't it."
Boba nodded at Dex, who used his head to point to the fact he should vocalize his consent.
"Oh, yes, Ben. It will be. Yes."
Still not totally convinced by their words, but certain he couldn't get involved any further, Ben acquiesced and signed off the comm. Dex turned back to Boba and smiled, showing his large mouth of sharp teeth.
"Now, young Boba, we will discuss that clone programming of yours, starting at order … Oh, I don't know, why don't you tell me?"
"Please, don't tell Ben. He'll never help me now."
"What makes you say that? Did you give the order?"
Boba looked confused. "No, of course not."
"Did you program the order into your brothers?"
"Dex, what are you driving at?"
"What I'm saying is, this order has nothing to do with who you are, 'Old Man'," he said using the nickname Obi called the boy, "and your man, Ben, will figure that out pretty quickly."
"But what if he doesn't?"
"Give the man some credit, Boba. He knows you, not this clone alter ego floating around in there," with one of his hands he poked Boba's head.
"But I'm having trouble keeping that buried. What if it takes over, what if someone or something issues me this order? What about my brothers? Anyone could trigger them to become mass murderers in a heartbeat."
Dex shook his head.
"Not if I'm interpreting this order correctly. It has to come from high in the chain of command. It would have to come from someone higher in command than the Jedi themselves and from my intelligence, that means someone in the republic senate, again, pretty high up in the senate."
"Why have such an order in the first place? I mean, I don't trust Jedi as far as I could kick one, but to think of them as traitors to the republic seems crazy?"
"I know how you feel, Boba, there's few among them I trust, but to think of them as enemies to the republic is crazy. This is the work of someone threatened by them, someone very powerful indeed, and we need to tell Obi-Wan about what I've learned and what you know. Now tell me, Boba, if I say the phrase:
'Tuhera te wakapuaki ki'
Does that mean anything to you?"
Boba's eyes widened as the phrase sent his mind to a hidden memory of him and Jango standing on Kamino watching the waves crash into the pylons below them.
"My dear Boba," said his father, "how do I …?" he felt himself held close to Jango for a moment, then Jango knelt down to his height and stared into his eyes.
"My son," he began, "only by now you must know that you are not the first Boba. The phrase I'm using to hide this from you only works if you know who you truly are. Oh, I am so sorry you had to find that out, but in so many ways that's good because now you can use the training indoctrinated into you here," he indicated the island station around them, "against the ones who would use your brothers as disposable weapons in their ridiculous clawing for power. As you know, there is an order created to become the single command that must be followed no matter what the cost. That order is number 66. Ever since the first Boba's death, I have been seeking a way to countermand this order, whether it has been issued or not. This is where you come in, Boba. You will become my key in all this. With these words that I give you now, you will have the power to countermand order 66, whether issued or not. But you and only you must utter these words to every clone you meet. Are you ready?"
Boba remembered nodding at this point, transfixed by his father.
"OK, this is what you'll need to say:
'Boba says 'mana whiriwhiri''
Now, you repeat that."
He heard himself repeat the phrase.
"Again!" his father demanded, so he did.
"Again!" and he did once more.
"That's my good boy," said his father with all the love his broken heart could muster, "that's my Boba," and he held his son tightly in his arms.
Boba opened his eyes and looked into Dex's worried face. He found he was lying down in his bed.
"I'm sorry, Boba, old man. I had no idea that would affect you so much! Here, have some water."
One of his great hands carefully gave Boba a glass of water, which Boba drank down completely once he had sat up.
"Oh, Dex," he said breathlessly, "I know how to free them, how to cancel the order should it be issued. Dad showed me!"
His eyes were gleaming with excitement and Dex rested his hand on Boba's shoulder.
"I thought it had something to do with you. I caught the phrase hidden in a couple of transmissions from Kamino recently. Not every signal, but enough of them to realize someone was trying to send something out. If I hadn't been looking closely at the transmissions I never would have found it. You can thank Ben for that one."
Boba looked shocked as Dex continued.
" He's the reason I was even looking into this mess, so I think that should tell you something about him. Kamino is where Jango was sent, you know, after he was picked up. Apparently the Kaminoans insisted he return to them and help with the clones' training once they found out he was alive and in Republic custody, and although he's effectively under Republic arrest, he's been continuing his work there with your brothers. As the original source for the clones, he's invaluable to them and the Republic right now, so they're keeping him secured there."
"Then that's where we should go, now, and free them all!" Boba practically leapt off the bed.
"Now, hold on there, Boba, lad," said Dex, has hand firmly holding the boy in place, "let's not go rushing off into this. How exactly are you supposed to free them?"
Boba looked suspiciously at Dex.
"It's a phrase only I would know. Why?"
"Don't you think you should test it?"
"No, this is it, this is what we've been waiting for! I can free them all!"
"Boba, you do realize they are fighting a war, right? And defending thousands of worlds across the galaxy."
"And no doubt dying in their thousands too! Don't you see, that's why it's time now to save them."
"At what cost, Boba? If all the clones suddenly start acting independently, what hope does the Republic have, or the Jedi , for that matter?"
"What do I care about that? My brothers deserve to be free, just like everyone else, let the Republic worlds fight their own battles."
"Boba, you know that wouldn't work. The separatist regime would over run world after world with their droid army and the Jedi would be as dead as if order 66 had been issued anyway. Is that what you want?"
Boba hadn't thought about that.
"Besides, I still say it's worth testing this phrase of yours out. Don't you? We have some idea of the clone programming, but who's to say what their experience in the field would have done. I think it's worth seeing for yourself what happens when you speak your words to some of them?"
Boba was torn, his desire to save his brothers conflicting with the truth Dex was saying.
"Let's at least call Obi-Wan back. He's sure to be concerned about you after our last call."
Boba was still having a hard time feeling good about telling Ben about the whole thing and Dex made sense, it would be worth testing it, then at least Boba would have proof for Ben that the phrase would work.
He nodded his consent and Dex laid a comforting hand on Boba's shoulder.
"It's just," Boba began and looked up at Dex who loomed large over him.
"I understand, Boba, the longer we wait, the more of your brothers are sacrificed to this war. But you are right about one thing. We have the key," and he ruffled the boy's hair, "and we'll get the chance to use it soon."