Leia approached the slab, now that it was propped up, she could see the differences between the slab of carbonite Han had been trapped in so long ago and this piece. The slab was no longer smooth, but had begun to crack around the edges
"Can we tell how old this is?" asked Leia fingers ghosting over the cold stone. Even with her undeveloped Force abilities she could just barely feel the hum of life underneath her fingertips.
"No ma'am, but this technology is an antique. I believe that this man is pre-Empire" said Lucas, the head engineer. "It is a wonder that it hasn't failed. Living things encased in carbonite are not meant to last long. A few years at most."
"The Force must really love him then," murmured Leia.
"The Force General," Poe said with a raised eyebrow.
"The Force, I find Mr. Dameron can explain many unexplainable things in life," said Leia evenly. "Wake him up."
Lucas approached the slab and fiddled with the controls as everyone else backed up as a precaution.
The carbonite turned red hot, like Leia remembered with Han, before it slowly began to drip down. Revealing the man underneath, the carbonite drippings pulled the hood down revealing the face.
A young man's face was revealed. Not young, young, but perhaps in his middle thirties. He had short ginger looking hair with a half beard. As his face was fully uncovered he took a deep breath, the first one in fifty years.
His eyes opened wide, unseeing. The rest of the carbonite melted off revealing his light tan robes, with a dark brown undershirt, and tall brown boots.
The man fell forward, crumbling to the ground, where he breathed heavily.
Leia watched the man, but made no move to approach. Though she made a silent signal for everyone present to have their blastors at the ready.
Obi-Wan struggled to breath, his lungs aching and spasming in his chest as he tried to fill them with oxegyen. Everything hurt, and shook. The Force was dancing crazily around him, and he hadn't the focus to concentrate. All he could do was lay where he had fallen and breath.
Minutes passed and finally the shaking decreased and his lungs began to work properly. Obi-Wan finally raised his head from the crook of his am and blinked several times trying to clear the blackness. Obi-Wan frantically called the force and stretched out, feeling numerous life signatures surrounding him. They felt wary but not a threat.
"Where am I, why can't I see?" demanded Obi-Wan.
He was not restrained and no Force suppressor had been used on him. He hesitantly assumed that he was not a prisoner and was among friendlies.
"You have been stuck in carbonite for a long time, it caused you to have hibernation sickness. It might take a few hours for your sight to return," soothed Leia, speaking for the first time.
Instead of calming Obi-wan like she hoped, it seemed to worry him more. Simply because she had called him Sir, instead of Master Jedi. The memory of so many lights going out before he was imprisoned in the carbonite came rushing back. Obi-Wan reached for the two Force signatures that were the most familiar with. He searched for the oldest light in the Force, Yoda, and the Force signature that was the most dearest to him, Anakin.
No matter how far he stretched nothing but crushing silence echoed back to him. The bright lights that signified his fellow Jedi around the galaxy were gone, not a single one was left.
The Clones had killed them all it would seem, Obi-Wan though mournfully. What could have happened to the vod that they would turn on their Jedi Allies. The Clones had been practically family to the Jedi, there must have been a reason. It was the only explanation Obi-Wan would accept.
All Obi-Wan found was the presence of the dark side that rushed through his mind.
He softly cried out a hand flying to his head as he struggled to put up his tattered shields against the power of the dark side. It was this more than anything else that confirmed to Obi-Wan the Sith had won.
"Are you alright?" asked the female voice again and the sounds of her stepping towards him reached his ears.
Obi-Wan reached out a hand and called for his lightsaber, thanking the Force that it flew into his hands. He ignited it and held it in front of him.
"Just stay back!" he called.
Leia had moved when the man had cried in pain and clutched at his head, concerned. Han had not acted like this when he was unfrozen. She had only made it a few steps when the man threw out a hand and a small cylinder object burst from the leftover carbonite.
Leia recognized it as the weapon it was. This was a Force user, and a powerful one at that. The guards around her lifted their blastors, but waited for her signal.
Leia was surprised when the blade sprung forth it wasn't red, instead a deep blue that reminded her so much of her brother's first blade that it hurt.
"Sir, please put the lightsaber away. We are not here to hurt you," Leia soothed, keeping back.
"Who are you?" demanded the man, his unseeing eyes flicking from side to side, though they managed to land on every person that was standing near. Leia could feel him reaching through the Force, using the mystical power to compensate for his sight. Leia knew she had to tread carefully, if the man managed to run then they would lose him.
"My name is Leia Organa, you are currently on a Resistance base. We recently recovered the crate that you were being stored in."
Obi-Wan tilted his head, Organa, maybe related to Bail? The woman had the right accent to be from Alderaan. Maybe the Resistance was the fighting force that filled the space the Jedi left. "Any relation to Senator Bail Organa?" he asked. Maybe Bail was nearby, his old friend would explain to him what happened.
The familiar old ache of any mention of her Father rose in Leia, but she ignored it for the moment. "He was my Father."
Obi-Wan's eyes narrowed as he gazed in the direction of the woman's voice. "Breha couldn't have children."
Leia paused, it wasn't common knowledge that it was her Mother that couldn't bear children. But it also told her when this man was from since he did not know about her adoption. He was from the Clone War period, and judging by his lightsaber and use of the Force, he was a Jedi. An actual Jedi. "I'm his adopted daughter, he took me in as a baby after the end of the Clone Wars."
The man jerked at the mention of the end of the Clone Wars.
"What year is it?" Obi-Wan demanded the lightsaber trembling in his hands despite trying to keep them still. The woman in front of him was no child, he could hear the experience in her voice. He had been encased in the carbonite for longer than he could ever hope, a suspicion backed by the fact that he was not immediately recognized. He had been part of the poster campaign throughout the war, he was one of the best known Jedi much to his annoyance.
Obi-Wan was suddenly afraid to find out the answers he sought.
Leia felt sorry for the man, she could feel his fear and could see the trembling in his limbs. However that was not enough to mover her, for the sake of the people relying on her she had to find out who this man was and how much he knew about what happened when the Republic fell.
We will get to that in a moment, but first what is the last thing that you remember?" she asked soothingly.
"I was shot down on Utapau trying to bring down the remnants of General Grevious's droids, betrayed by my own troops," Obi-Wan summarized, his voice hitching at the mention of the clones betrayal. "Then the natives telling me that they would keep me safe" admitted Obi-Wan towards the woman's voice. The woman had a strong Force signature but feral, a strong untrained Force sensitive. It somehow felt familiar, but he was certain he had never met her.
This did not help Leia figure out who was in front of her. Grevious's death had never been written down in the history books. It had been a mystery that lay forgotten by the rising of the Empire and their goal of wiping the last thousand years from history.
"What is your name Sir?" asked Leia deciding to stop beating around the bush and get a straight answer.
"Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi," Obi-Wan said, standing straighter. "High General of the Grand Army of the Republic and High Council Member of the Jedi Order. And I demand that you tell me what year it is." Obi-Wan laced his voice full of authority and a slight Force compulsion. This was the voice that ordered thousands of men into battle and had faced multiple Sith Lords.
"It has been fifty years since the end of the Clone Wars. The day you fought General Grevious was the day the Empire rose. "
The lightsaber in his hand deactivated as his arm fell to his side. Fifty years, he had been trapped in his stone prison for fifty years.
"How, how did the Jedi die?" he whispered. Surely this woman would be able to tell him that.
"There was a young Jedi named Anakin Skywalker, my birth Father. Betrayed the Republic and became a figure called Darth Vader."
"Anakin Skywalker, he was your father? He betrayed the Republic," Obi-Wan whispered, Leia had to strain to hear him.
"Yes, I am afraid my knowledge of the birth of the Empire is spotty but I will tell you what is known," Leia said. She waited for General Kenobi to nod before she began to speak.
Obi-Wan reached out to the Force as Leia began her tale. Images that matched her words flashed in his mind like a vision, Anakin falling to the dark side, the slaughter of the Temple, the death of Padme. Soon he wasn't even listening to Leia as the Force showed him what had happened.
How Ahsoka confronted her Master on Mustafar and her leaving Anakin believing she had killed him. Ahsoka agreeing the separate the Twins and taking Luke to Tatooine while Bail took Leia. Years flashed by showing Rebels fighting against the Empire and his new apprentice Darth Vader. A monster in black armor.
He saw Ahsoka being cut down by Vader on the Death Star and Anakin's son Luke destroying it.
Obi-Wan couldn't bear to watch anymore and tore himself out of the memories and crumbled to his knees with his hands coving his face.
"I failed them," he whispered. "I failed you Anakin, Padme, Ahsoka. Failed them all" he whispered, tears leaking down his face. "I am so sorry Qui-Gon, I failed him.
He didn't care at that moment that he wasn't acting like a Jedi. His whole world was lost and nothing would ever bring it back.
Hoped you enjoyed, please review!