Chapter 79: Skywalker
The Skywalker hung lifeless in the sky over Conus, a volcanic rock of a planet in the Geonosis system which remained primarily uninhabited, save for the miners that controlled the droids boring deep into the mineral rich rock. Geonisis remained in Republic control since Anakin's assault on the droid foundries, though it was a tentative control at best. The native Geonisians, deprived of their leader Poggle the Lesser, still imprisoned on Coruscant, and the Queen that controlled their hive mind, killed during Anakin's bombing of the planet, quickly devolved into vicious infighting that left them incapable of organizing a defensive against the occupying Republic troops. The clones, for the most part, left the creatures alone, as they scurried away in fear at the sight of the invasion force, and aside from occasional skirmishes between them, the Geonosians were proving to be harmless.
When the Star Destroyer had drifted into the system, the troops had thought it odd for a capital ship to simply drift, and when they contacted the ship, they got no response at all. When they lost contact with the investigation team they sent, the clones quickly brought the matter to the highest authority the could, and they brought the matter to General Skywalker. He was hunting Obi-Wan Kenobi, and one of the Sith Lord's ships had been found.
They had ordered space around Conus to be cleared in the event that the ship was rigged to explode, as the powerful blasts from the destruction of the Class 1.0 hyperdrive and the reactor core could potentially destroy any ship that was near. Anakin had the Vigilance brought to the other side of Conus, and loaded up his team onto one of the shuttles in the bay and began a slow, cautious journey toward the Skywalker. The ship had Anakin seething in cold anger, which he knew must have been Kenobi's intent, but he couldn't help it. The Sith Lord was taunting him, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Anakin gripped the yoke tighter. Nothing he could do but put an end to the man's evil. It would happen today. It had to. He could feel it in the Force. Something was stirring, something dark and sinister and fast approaching, and if he didn't act now, it would soon be upon them, and it couldn't be stopped. He didn't know what it was, but he knew it involved Obi-Wan. The man had to end today, and could feel in the Force that such would come to pass. By days end, Obi-Wan Kenobi would be dead, so...why did he feel such fear about it?
"What is he playing at..." Tarkin mumbled beside him, and Anakin's attention snapped back to the present. Qui-Gon was always telling him to be mindful of the present, and the advice had served him well in the past.
"I don't know. Rex, are you picking up any life signs on board?"
"Yes, sir. But not many. Scans are showing less than a hundred." Anakin frowned.
"How much less?"
The clone shrugged. "It's difficult to say, sir. The reading isn't clear. Something inside is disrupting our sensors." Anakin's jaw clenched as he grinded his teeth together. It was Kenobi, it had to be. The ship was dead, no power running through it at all, so it couldn't have been an electronic jamming signal.
"General," Tarkin said swiftly, his hand to the earpiece he had lodged in his ear, "General Koon is reporting sightings of the Negotiator and the Liberator in the Atravis Sector."
"Atravis?" Anakin asked, puzzled. "What the hell's in Atravis?"
"An awful lot of Separatists worlds, and the planet Rutan, where we are currently engaged with the Separatist forces." Anakin bit his lip. Would Kenobi leave his troops to battle without him? There was no way the Skywalker wasn't a trap for the man it was named after, but if Kenobi wasn't even here, than the trap became much more dangerous. "For our purposes, that means your Sith won't be receiving support quickly."
"If he's even here..." Anakin muttered, and the Admiral shot him a stern glance.
"He's here, General. I don't need the Force to know that. A hunter wouldn't leave his trap unattended when his target is close."
Skywalker knew he was right. Closing his eyes, he reached out through the Force and felt the clever mind of his Admiral quickly devising a plan of attack, Rex's easy confidence in his commanding officers, the calm peace of Ki-Adi-Mundi as he sat deep in meditation among the thirty clones they had brought with them, the soldiers a mix of anxious and excited. Across space to the looming might of the Skywalker, he could feel the life forms that Rex reported, though not well, and something else. Something alone and bright in the Force, though the light was dimmed by the presence of the Dark Side that swirled around the ship. It was a Jedi.
"Saesee Tiin is on board," Anakin said swiftly. "I can feel his presence."
"Then we know what manner of trap this is," Tarkin said swiftly. "Can you discern his location?"
Anakin shook his head. "No, I can just sense his presence. I'll be able to find him when I'm onboard, but the Force isn't radar."
"Can you sense the Lost Legion?" Rex asked, and Anakin's eyes narrowed in concentration.
"I don't know. I can sense living things on the ship, but I can't tell what they are."
Tarkin laughed softly to himself and, in a voice tight with amusement, said, "I bet Kenobi would be able to tell us everything we need to know."
Anakin glowered, his face reddening in anger. "Shut up, Tarkin!"
"General Koon reports the Lost Legion on the ground on Rutan, Commander," the Admiral said, addressing the clone, who frowned in irritation.
"All of it?" Rex asked, and Tarkin frowned as he looked out the forward viewport at Skywalker.
"I doubt it..." he said softly, his finger tapping on the control console. "Don't forget that the crew of this vessel was lost as well. We don't know if Kenobi killed them or recruited them."
"We'll be careful," Anakin mumbled as he maneuvered the shuttle in toward the Star Destroyer and slowly brought the transport in to dock with the stolen ship. They stayed in their place, still and hardly breathing, as the shuttle latched on to one of the docking bays, a loud hiss sounding as the airlock tightened and pressurized the hallway they were about to enter. Anakin took a deep breath to center himself as Tarkin and Rex rose to outfit themselves with their weapons and the tools they brought to make the infiltration easier. As ready as he was going to be, Anakin rose and made his way to the back of the transport with the clones and the other Jedi.
"Are you ready?" Master Mundi asked, and Anakin took his lightsaber into his hand.
"As ready as I'll ever be. Master Saesee Tiin is on board."
"I sensed him as well." The Cerean took a deep breath, and Anakin could feel the calm readiness of the Master, and it soothed his nerves. The darkness was all around them, but the didn't seem to feel its touch. Ki-Adi-Mundi was a Master of great renown, and it would take more than the Dark Side and a fallen Jedi to shake him. "Do we have a plan?"
"We do," Tarkin said, stepping forward and turning to address the clones, a holodisc in his hand that displayed the image of a Star Destroyer. "This is the Skywalker, a Venator class Star Destroyer identical in design to the Star Destroyers we have all been serving on since the war began. The ship may be modified, but the layout of essential systems and structures will be a perfect match to the ones we are used to. This is our first and greatest advantage. Kenobi may have made the trap, but we know the terrain."
"What can we expect in there?" Anakin asked, and the Admiral drew up taller.
"From what we have gathered, Obi-Wan Kenobi is extremely intelligent, cunning, ruthless, and a rare talent in both fighting and flying." The clones began muttering nervously, and Tarkin rolled his eyes in irritation. "But, he is also prideful and arrogant. He is good and he knows it, and furthermore, he seems to have it out for you, General Skywalker."
"I noticed that, thanks..." the Jedi mumbled, crossing his arms and glaring at his smirking Admiral.
"Which means he is on the ship. This is personal, and Kenobi has made a point in the past to deal with any Jedi involved himself. Victory for him means the death of us all, and he will accept no less, which means one very important thing." Tarkin closed the holodisc and placed it on one of the restraining chairs. "So long as he's on the ship, he isn't going to destroy it, which is what we were all worried about. But if he leaves this ship, we are all dead. Do not allow him to leave this ship," Tarkin emphasized, hitting his palm with the edge of his other hand to punctuate each word. "If we fail to keep him aboard, we run back here as fast as we can, and we may be able to escape alive. It's safe to assume that the escape pods have been jettisoned, so we must return here."
"What about Master Tiin?" Mundi asked, and Tarkin's face hardened.
"The rescue of the Jedi is secondary. He is clearly meant to serve as bait, and we should not take it, and considering the last time, it is likely he is working with Kenobi. When your Sith is dead, we can return to rescue him."
Anakin sighed. He didn't like the idea of leaving a Jedi behind. "If we split up-"
"No." The answer was final. "We will not sacrifice group integrity. Splitting up will only make us smaller, weaker, easier targets, and we are dealing with an apex predator." He wasn't happy, but Anakin nodded. "Are there any questions?" One clone raised his hand.
"There aren't many life forms on board, but are there droids?"
Rex scoffed. "I hear Kenobi hates clankers as much as we do." The clones laughed quietly among themselves, and Tarkin rubbed his temple.
"Be that as it may, he is a Separatist. We should expect a droid presence. Once inside the ship, General Skywalker will lead and General Mundi will bring up the rear. The standard sword and shield maneuver should deal with most threats we are likely to face. Remember this. Kenobi has never been seen fighting alone. We may not see them, but he will have allies. Keep each other covered at all times. Our enemy knows no fear, and neither should we if we are to prevail." Tarkin stepped aside as the Jedi ignited their lightsabers and thrust them into the airlock of the dead ship, and swiftly cut a hole within it. Peering inside, Anakin and Mundi crept down the hall, the clones following as they cut their way into the Skywalker.
The ship wasn't just dark, it felt dead, as if it had been long abandoned and left as garbage. Anakin's lightsaber lit the corridors and rooms before them in blue light, but ot only seemed to serve to make the place seem more eerie, the unlit halls darker, the shadows seeming to move as if the ship were cursed or haunted by vengeful spirits. The Dark Side here was strong, stronger than he had ever felt, and while he and Master Mundi were unaffected, the others, despite their lack of sensitivity to the Force, seemed to suffer under the strain of it. They seemed paler, short of breath, groaning against growing headaches, and Anakin could feel them growing more nervous with each step they took. The Dark Side was too strong here. Something awful must have happened within the walls of the ship for it to be as strong as it was, and for a moment, Anakin felt as though they should turn back.
The ship groaned, a long, low creak that echoed down the empty halls and made a shiver run up Anakin's spine. He softly chided himself, stopped for a moment reach through the ship with the Force to search for nearby life forms, but found nothing. It was simply the growl of the ship, the disused metal groaning as it settled, though the more Anakin thought on it, the more he was certain that it wasn't right. It wasn't close, but there was something on the ship, and that something was big.
"Three..." Anakin whispered under his breath, but the cold, empty darkness carried the sound of his voice, making the men all stop and raise their weapons, the echo of it fading down the halls like a ghostly whisper. Tarkin looked at him curiously, and even quieter, Anakin said, "Kenobi has three rancors."
"That we know of."
Skywalker nodded. "They're here." Tarkin frowned and looked back at the thirty clones that made up their squad and the Jedi in the back, the glow of his lightsaber almost seeming to be swallowed by the oppressive dark around them.
"Thirty men and two Jedi against those beasts are not good odds," Tarkin whispered, and Anakin chuckled.
"You're underestimating the powers of the Jedi."
"I most certainly am not. You are going to be distracted by Kenobi. It isn't just three rancors, it's three rancors and Kenobi." Tarkin pointed his rifle down an adjacent hallway, the light mounted on the end of the weapon lighting up very little as the darkness swallowed it. "We will need to use the ship to separate the beasts from their Master. Can you hold Kenobi off long enough for that to be accomplished?"
They crept down the hall, slowly approaching the ship's stateroom, located under the bridge. "I'll do my best, Tarkin. Can you trap the rancors?"
"I believe so. But I haven't seen the beast he is said to keep, and if it's half as big as they say..." Tarkin ran a hand over his swept-back hair and rubbed his neck. "If it comes to that, we may have to lure it to the engines and make it fall into the reactor."
"Just don't blow up the ship," Anakin said softly, pressing his lightsaber into another sealed door and cutting a hole large enough for them all to step through, and as Anakin entered the stateroom, he gagged and nearly retched as the stench of blood hit him. There were bodies of clones everywhere, and not one in a single piece, and as they stepped through the room, the fine, wood floor was slicked with blood that had yet to dry. These deaths were recent.
"Looks like we found our missing patrol," Tarkin said, reading one of the clone's identification stamp. Anakin shivered as he looked around, grabbing hold of the Force and shielding himself from the powerful feelings that the slaughter was invoking in him. He had been at war for a long time now, and he had seen many terrible things, but for the most part, he was fighting against droids, and a couple oil spills and some spare parts was as visceral as it got. But this was uncommonly brutal.
"Why would he do this..." Anakin asked, not expecting an answer, but he got one when Rex called him over, the lights on his helmet pointed at a white wall smeared red with blood that spelled Skywalker. Despite his focus, he couldn't help but feel rage build up inside him.
"I think he's sending you a message," Rex said somberly, and Anakin nodded, his eyes narrowed in anger.
"I'm going to kill that son of a bitch," Skywalker growled, raising his lightsaber to light the room, and felt his anger spike when he could see another wall, an arrow painted upon it that pointed the way out of a room and down another dark hall.
"He's baiting us" Tarkin said quietly as he stepped beside Skywalker. "Don't let this get to you. We need you focused."
"I am focused," he growled, and Tarkin tightly grabbed his arm.
"You are not, you are getting emotional. These clones are already dead, you mustn't let it upset you. It's what he's counting on, or he wouldn't have done this." He was angry before, but now Anakin tried to take deep, calming breaths. Tarkin was right, as usual.
"What do you suggest we do?" he asked softly.
"It will take us hours to search this ship, and we would never find him. He's trying to wear on our nerves, and it's working." They looked back at the clones as the men quietly, nervously talked to one another, and both men frowned and exhaled long-held breaths that froze in the air before them. "He's winning the battle before its even begun by crippling us with fear, and the longer this goes on, the worse it gets."
Anakin groaned. "We have to take the bait. It's the only way to find him."
"I do fear you are correct." Anakin closed his eyes and reached deep into the Force for guidance and found it quickly, gently pushing him to follow the path laid out for him. He could feel it, strong and clear unlike anything he had ever felt before. Today was the day that Obi-Wan would die. He could not let this opportunity go to waste. The things he saw only confirmed the need to kill the Sith quickly, and if the Force insisted that today was the day, he needed to take it. He silently motioned for Tarkin and Rex to follow him, and they fell in right behind him as he followed Kenobi's grim directions, the rest of the clones and Master Mundi keeping close formation.
There were more bodies down that hallway, and the next and the next, but none of them were clones. There were Gungans and Twi'leks and Dugs and many, many others. Unlike the clones, these bodies had been dead for some time, preserved now by the freezing chill in the air, though Tarkin pointed out that they had not been frozen immediately, and not only that, but it seemed as though many had been subjected to experimentation. Skywalker bowed his head and continued on through hallways and up narrow stairwells, stepping over them or around them to make his way past as quickly as possible. This needed to end now.
The trail ended in the short corridor just outside the doors to the bridge, and Anakin froze as he looked before him, the Force tugging and pulling at him when another presence reached out to him in warning. "Saesee Tiin is in there," he said, his voice low but strong.
"I feel him too," Master Mundi said, his back toward the other Jedi and lightsaber raised against the darkness behind them.
"Boys, once we go in there, our fight begins," Anakin said, and the clones all saluted. "Keep your wits about you, don't break rank, and don't split up." He thrust his lightsaber into the durasteel door and cut a hole large enough for several of them to escape through at once with ease. He heard Tarkin over the hiss of the lightsaber detailing the escape plan, if necessary, which boiled down to keeping to the long corridor that ran the length of the ship's spine, and taking a sharp turn right to take them down a maintenance hatch that opened out near where they had docked. It was certainly a great deal faster than the way they had used to get here.
He used the Force to push the large cutout away, and it clattered to the ground with a heavy metallic thud that echoed through the ship long after it had fallen still. In the center of the bridge, a stasis field had been installed, and within the bindings hung Saesee Tiin, barely conscious and badly beaten, long, thick, dark lightsaber burns crossing his bare torso and deep, bleeding welts stood stark upon his skin. Anakin couldn't help but rush to the man and quickly begin looking for a way to shut the device off, and when he found none, he shoved his lightsaber through the console on the base, and the blue light flickered off in a hiss of sparks. The Iktotchi dropped, and Anakin and Rex swiftly caught him and laid him upon the ground.
"Anakin..." Master Mundi said, his voice tense with caution, but the other Jedi was busy focusing on trying to heal Tiin's wounds, the lost Master groaning as he opened his eyes.
"Hey there," Anakin said softly, smiling at the horned Jedi. "Hang on, we're going to get you home. Skywalker almost choked when the Master's hand shot out and grabbed him y the throat, and Anakin could hear thirty blasters whining as they charged.
"You can't be here!" Tiin growled, his thick, wide-palmed hand leaving Anakin's neck and instead grabbing at his robes. "This is a trap, you have to go now!"
"We can't just abandon you!"
"Yes you can. You must." Saesee growled, gripping the boy tighter and pulling him close. "Shaak Ti is alive, he has her enslaved, you must rescue her!"
"Wait, what?!" Anakin said sharply, and the Iktotchi groaned and gripped his head, and Skywalker frowned as he looked at him. Tiin's eyes were yellow, but...they had always been that way, hadn't they? He tried to reach out and sense the Dark Side in the man, but as expected, he could feel nothing.
"Anakin!" Mundi said again, but Anakin had already turned his attention back to Tiin.
"How do I know you aren't lying?" Skywalker asked quietly, and Saesee shook his head. "How do I know you aren't working for the Sith?"
"You don't, and that's the point. Go, Skywalker, before it's too late."
"Anakin!" Mundi said sharply, and this time, Skywalker stood up, leaving Rex to watch cautiously over the groaning Jedi on the ground. "This ship has no power, so where did the power from the containment field come from?"
"It must run on it's own power cells, it's-"
"Not on a device of this size and power." Anakin could feel a pit in his stomach as he heard the ship groan, not from the massive weight settling, but from the sudden jolt of life as power was slowly restored, and th soft static of the intercom crackled to life with amused laughter from a voice Anakin recognized all too well.
Kenobi.
"Well done, Master Mundi!" the Sith chirped over the ship-wide intercom, and the clones raised their weapons and fell into tight formation. "I suppose that binary brain of yours is good for something."
"Kenobi!" Anakin shouted, his lightsaber blazing in his hand. "Come out of hiding and face me!"
The Sith Lord laughed. "Oh, no, no, Skywalker, you're supposed to come find me, remember?"
"I did find you, I'm here, aren't I?" Kenobi scoffed dismissively.
"Oh, please, a blind Wookie with brain damage could have found my ship. I made it very simple for you. I wasn't sure you could manage anything more difficult. If I knew you were bringing Ki-Adi-Mundi, I would have made it a greater challenge."
This time, Anakin started laughing. "I understand. You're afraid." There was silence over the intercom, the soft hum of the engines heard over collective held breath.
"Fine," Obi-Wan said, and Anakin could feel the Force chill. "You stay there, Skywalker, I'll come to you. Oh!" The Sith began chuckling softly. "Don't think I didn't notice the Star Destroyer you brought. It hardly seems fair, I'm certainly not worth an entire battalion."
"You aren't worth a single man, but here we are anyway."
"Then let's keep this between us," Kenobi drawled, and Anakin felt sudden panic as a low, high pitched hum could be heard in the air around them. "After all, we don't want your friends to get involved..." The soft static of the intercom cut as lights on the consoles around the bridge flickered to life and the low hum began to increase in pitch as it slowly became a whine.
"He's engaging the hyperdrive!" Anakin quickly barked, and without a moment's hesitation, the clones rushed to take their seats around the bridge and began pressing buttons and flicking switches at Tarkin's command. "Rex, contact the Vigilance, get them over here and have them shoot out the engines!" With a swift nod, Rex did as he was ordered, and a moment later, Anakin could see his Star Destroyer flying out from behind volcanic Conus, it's forward cannons firing on the ship as it slowly roared to life.
"General Skywalker!" Anakin turned to see Tarkin, his face ashen and the closet to panic he had ever seen the man. "We can't cancel the jump, we have no control from up here! He must have rewired the power to another location, but the ship isn't being controlled from up here!"
"We jump in three minutes, sir!" one of the clones shouted, and a thousand thoughts ran through Anakin's head, the chaos quickly turned to order when he released himself to the Force.
"Rex, tell Vigilance to fire everything they have. I don't know if it's enough to break through the shields, but it might be. Also have them get a lock on our jump coordinates. Tarkin, find out where we're going!" Anakin clipped his lightsaber onto his belt as he rushed to one of the electrical panels underneath the central command console as everyone rushed to do as he commanded. He tore the cover off and reached is hands inside, moving wires out of the way and searching until he found the proper connectors he needed to reroute control back to the bridge. Grinning when he hd hold of the thick bundle of wires, he pulled the cord out to find that it had been cut, the frayed ends melted and burned by the touch of plasma.
Kenobi had sabotaged the bridge. There was no way to resume control. "Change our jump coordinates," he barked, and the clones didn't look away from his work.
"I'm trying, sir, but the data is scrambled! I can't read it!"
"Shields at seventy percent, sir!"
"Two minutes to jump, sir!"
Anakin growled, his mechanical fist clenching around the severed bundle of wires. Without it, the control console was simply a board of flashing lights and switches, as useless as a toy made to occupy the short attention of infants. He didn't need to look beneath the other consoles to know that he would find the same thing underneath each one. Even with the bombardment by the Vigilance, they wouldn't get through in time to take out the engines, and without control of the ship, there was no way to bring the shields down manually. There was only one option left.
"Everyone, run back for the shuttle! Quickly!"
It was a straight shot down the hallway, and despite protests from Anakin, Tarkin managed to pull him away from Saesee Tiin, leaving the Jedi behind on the bridge. It was difficult to do, but if Kenobi managed to get them to hyperspace, it was over, and they would never be able to launch a second rescue attempt, and Skywalker promised to come back for him as he dashed away. Just as they were about to bank right into the maintenance corridor that would take them directly to their shuttle, large, heavy blast doors slammed behind them, the fast, sudden activation of the security measure catching two clones within them and crushing the two men, the force of the doors severing one across the legs and the other through his chest. With a panicked yell, Anakin rushed back to the doors and pressed his lightsaber through just as Master Mundi did the same from the other side. More than half their forces were trapped beyond the blast doors, and Anakin was driven to press harder when he heard a furious rush of wind from the other side, followed by agonized screams.
Together, Skywalker and his fellow Jedi made quick work of the door, and when the cut metal was dislodged, flames poured from the opening, and Anakin had to jump back to keep from getting burned. Ki-Adi Mundi jumped out of the inferno, his elongated cranium scarred with blistering burns and the thick fibers of his robes slowly singeing, and he tore it off when he was far away enough from the superheated air by the engulfed blast doors. Several clones followed him out, their immaculate white armor scored with blackened burns, and Anakin quickly counted their total to now be under twenty. In one moment, Kenobi had claimed the lives of nearly half his forces.
"This entire ship is a death trap!" Anakin growled, and Tarkin quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him as he ran by, and the group began sprinting down the hall once again, making the sharp turn into the maintenance corridor just as another blast door slammed shut. Anakin started to turn to make sure everyone made it through, but a swift push from Tarkin turned his attention forward.
"We can't afford anymore delays, General, if they don't make it, we must leave them." Anakin winced. It was cold, yes, but Tarkin was again correct. His anger rising, he pressed forward, his legs carrying him at a faster pace down the ramp as the ship roared to life. Another slam behind him, more screams, and the Jedi pressed forward, teeth grit as the resolve to destroy this Sith Lord grew. He was so sure, so certain that it would today, that Obi-Wan, Darth Lumis, would fall, but it seemed his feeling was mistaken. Fleeing was the only option. Being trapped in hyperspace was one thing, but where they were jumping was anyone's guess, and it couldn't be good.
Just as they entered the final hallway and could see the cut airlock, Anakin was nearly knocked off his feet as the Star Destroyer lurched forward, and with a howl of fury, the Jedi increased his speed, leaving the group behind and skidding to a stop just before the airlock as a red energy field crossed the opening, an emergency protocol on every Star Destroyer to maintain hull integrity if it was compromised. Skywalker couldn't breathe as he watched the fragile connection between the shuttle and the airlock snap, metal groaning as their only escape was torn from the side of the ship, the connection not strong enough to withstand the pressure of being connected to a ship as it jumped to lightspeed. Within moments, all he could see were the blue and white lines of hyperspace, tinted red through the energy field.
"So..." Anakin said softly as Tarkin and Rex approached, the remainder of their squad following closely behind. There were only ten of them now between the Jedi, the Admiral, and the remaining clones. Ki-Adi-Mundi laid his back against the cold durasteel of the ship's hull, eyes closed as he centered in the Force to push past the painful burns that scarred his head. "Did our analysis account for this?"
"You saw the same thing as I did, General," Tarkin said tightly. "The ship was dead. There were no power readings, no sign that it could regain power."
Laughter pealed through the air and echoed through the corridors, and Anakin shivered as the sound seemed to envelop him. It came from the intercom system, but the origin was very close. "Trying to escape?" the Sith asked, a condescending reprimand to his tone. "That is terribly rude. This is your ship, after all, she's named after you!"
"You will pay for the men you've killed here today!" Anakin shouted down the hall, his lightsaber raised and ready, and he was answered with a hiss of disapproval.
"Now, now, it's your fault for bringing so many to a fight that is between you and I. I only brought four friends. You brought thirty three. That's hardly fair."
The hair on Anakin's neck stood on end as the Force filled him with warning. The Dark Side was everywhere, overwhelming and suppressive, but his own connection to the Force cut a line right through it, and he knew exactly where to go. With a deep breath to get his anger under control, he called out, "Come on, Kenobi, It's me you want. Come out and let us end this."
"Anxious, Skywalker?" the Sith drawled. "We will be in hyperspace for a few hours as we make our way to our final destination, so I'm not lacking for time." He chuckled softly. "But you are. Come and get me, Jedi. They say the Force is your ally. Let's see how true that is." There was static, than silence as the intercom cut, and Anakin exhaled a sigh of relief as the Force surrounded him. This Sith Lord was arrogant, maybe deservedly so, but Anakin had an advantage. The Force, it's soft, gentle comfort, surrounded him, drove the darkness away and filled him with a calm ease, a feeling he embraced just as Yoda had taught him to. It made him strong, and through the light, he could see the shadows as they moved and swayed, parting before him and seeming to flee toward the same point.
The darkness fled to Kenobi, just as it was meant to do in the presence of a Dark Side nexus. Darth Lumis was a vortex, bringing the Dark Side to him as he greedily brought it within him, and right away, Anakin could feel the difference between them. Anakin reached out with the Force, the energy spiraling away from him and extending to touch all around him, drawn from the infinite well that was his own vergence in the Force. He was made for this. This was what he was meant to do. Deep within him, he could feel the Force urging him toward the Sith, and slowly, he closed his eyes and allowed the Force to guide him down the hallways and corridors, his tense and nervous team following silently behind him.
Today is the day, Anakin could hear within him self, the warmth of the words of the Force filling him with peace and ease and comfort. Today is the day Obi-Wan Kenobi ends. It would be a new beginning for the Jedi. With Kenobi gone, the fracturing would stop. The Order could begin rebuilding, stronger than before, work to mend old weaknesses that have allowed the Sith to regain strength. A new Jedi Order would arise and maybe, maybe, Anakin would be the one to help lead it as a member of the Council.
"He is no doubt bringing us deep into Separatist Space," Tarkin said softly. "Our only option is to kill him and his allies before we get there. We can make it out of this if he is dead."
"General Skywalker can handle that Sith monster," Rex said, his voice brimming with confidence in his commander. "It's the allies I'm worried about. He could be lying about his allies, he could have more."
"He doesn't," Anakin said softly, slowly creeping into a large, empty room that extended so far above them that they couldn't see the ceiling. The walls curved out from the door they entered in from, and Anakin slowly entered, holding up his lightsaber to allow him to see part of the oblong shape of the room, but it extended so far back, the majority was shrouded in darkness. In here, the Force was...still. Skywalker frowned. This was a far cry from what it had been a moment before, gentle and guiding and warning, but now, even when he reached out to touch it, he found it still, the waters not even rippling when he grazed his touch across it. It was as if the light were stilling in the presence of the dark, two powerful forces negating each other.
He was here.
"How do you know?" Rex asked Anakin softly, and Skywalker opened his eyes.
"I can feel them all. Four allies, like he said." He stopped and held a hand up in the air, and the remaining men quickly grouped together, blasters facing outward of the tight circle they made. "Where are we, Tarkin?"
"This should be where the subsidiary reactor is kept," he grumbled, clearly displeased by the irregularity. "There are many branching passages from here, so if we need to make a quick escape, it should not be a problem."
Nodding, Anakin took a few cautious steps forward and stopped, standing as still as he could, and his men did the same as a low, dangerous growl echoed through the cavernous room. The blue of his lightsaber reflected off a massive shape before them, the pale surface stained blue rising and falling with deep, rhythmic movement, and standing dark against the pale backdrop was a man in armor draped with cloth. Anakin narrowed his sharp eyes, and through the dark, he could see it was of Mandalorian make, the cloth fine and seamlessly woven in with the design to form elegant robes around it, the helmet crested with horns that swept back along the curve of his head, and through the T-shaped visor, Skywalker could see points of glowing golden light through the darkness.
It was Sith. It was Kenobi.
Skywalker suddenly became keenly aware of the deep, tense breathing off to his sides, the low growls that seemed to grow more angry, more hungry by the second. How had he not sensed these creatures before? He knew they would be there, but when he was close, when he stood in the same room as the rancors, he felt nothing. Kenobi's own absent presence must have had something to do with it. And the fourth ally...
"Traitor!" Rex raised his blaster, the whine of the charge being primed sounding as Anakin looked and saw a man in clone armor jog out of the darkness to stand beside the Sith Lord, and his helmeted head snapped around to look at Anakin's captain Skywalker could feel him bubble over with anger, striding a few steps away from the Sith and raising his own blaster.
"Slave," came the hissed response, and before anyone could stop it, both Rex and his counterpart began shooting at each other, and the Sith's red lightsaber extended, effortlessly blocking the bolts as Anakin did the same, both Skywalker and Kenobi commanding their troops to stop. Obi-Wan's clone responded first, the man quickly kneeling before his Lord, and Rex reluctantly stopped firing when Anakin slapped a hand on his chest to halt him, but his blaster remained trained on the enemy.
"We need you to focus on Kenobi," Ki-Adi-Mundi said quietly behind Anakin. "The rest of us will keep the rancors busy." Anakin nodded, and slowly stepped forward. It wasn't a good plan, but it was the best they had. Master Munid was one of the best swordsmen in the Order, though, and while the rancor's tough skin kept them safe from blaster fire, he wasn't certain how effective it would be against a lightsaber.
"Rex," Anakin said softly, "kill that clone. Avoid the rancors at all costs until he is dead. After that, do exactly as Tarkin commands, he'll have a plan for dealing with the rancors by then."
"Yes sir."
It was all he could do to prepare his men. With a deep breath, he looked back to Kenobi and...
He was gone.
The enormous beast he had been standing in front of reared up to his full, truly gargantuan height and roared, a sound so loud and deafening that all in the room winced, but the Sith had vanished. A moment later, and chaos erupted as the three rancors charged forward, snarling and roaring and Anakin's force dove out of the way as three pairs of massive horns clashed, the beasts shrieking and clawing at each other for a moment before they turned their attention to Ki-Adi-Mundi as the Jedi leapt into the air and landed on top of one of the snarling beasts. He poised his lightsaber to stab down into it's thick neck, but a vicious swipe from one of the others forced the Jedi to retreat, drawing the attention of the creatures away from the clones.
Anakin was about to rush out to help his Jedi brother when he felt the Force pull at him, and he spun quickly, lightsaber raised and just barely managing to block the viciously slashing red blade as Kenobi jumped out at him from the shadows themselves. The ferocity of the attack forced Skywalker into a frantic retread away from the rancors, and despite his best efforts to lead the Sith back toward the other Jedi, Kenobi blocked his every attempt to sidestep toward them. The Sith Lord was making it very clear that Skywalker would not be controlling the path their fight would take them. Blaster fire was suddenly focused on the Sith, and with a growl, he reached behind him and grabbed another weapon, the black blade hissing to life as he spun low and slashed at Anakin's legs, forcing him to jump to avoid it as the red blade clashed with his blue. When he landed, Anakin again had to quickly flip out of the way of another flurry from the dual weapons, his blue saber meeting the black blade with a sharp hiss as the red, now in Kenobi's left hand, effortlessly blocked the blaster fire. His weapons had switched hands. When had he managed that?
The sound of yet another lightsaber being activated could be heard, and it was followed by his supporting fire suddenly stopping as the air was filled with screams. With a gasp, Anakin was forced to retreat once again as the Sith's focus returned, bringing both of his blades to bear on the young Jedi. Slipping underneath the red blade and blocking the black one as he swung around, Anakin repositioned himself to look out on the battlefield to see a blue lightsaber slashing his clones to pieces. Tarkin and Rex stood a fair distance away to take shots at the traitorous clone, but his movements were swift and unpredictable, making him nearly impossible to hit. The shots that did were glancing, and when he had an opening, Kenobi's commander made a beeline for the rancors, the remaining clones shooting after him as they gave chase.
Anakin suddenly found himself thrown hard against the wall, his momentary drift of focus allowing the Sith Lord to break past his shields and use the Force against him, and Skywalker couldn't get up fast enough to keep Kenobi away. His concentration returned, Anakin slashed up at the Sith, catching the two blades as they crossed and locking them together. It didn't seem to phase Kenobi, who simply planted his feet and pressed his weight behind his blades, Anakin's teeth clenching as the lightsabers drew closer to him.
"Do you truly believe you can win?" Kenobi asked, his voice filtered through the helmet's speakers, those golden eyes glowing behind the helmet.
"I was made for this," Anakin growled. "The Jedi have destroyed the Sith before, and we shall do it again!" Cold, chilling laughter was his response, and Skywalker felt the man shift the position of his weapons above him, and he deactivated his blue saber, the Sith's weight suddenly pressing on nothing at all sending him nearly falling to the floor as Anakin rolled out of the way. He reignited his weapon, and lashed out with it as he spun to his feet, but the Sith had quickly recovered and blocked the strike, countering with his own that Anakin barely avoided.
"It's a fallacy that you honestly believe that it was the Jedi that killed the Sith," Kenobi growled, the red blade leaving a bleeding trail in the air as it whipped around toward the Jedi. "We killed each other, and the Jedi failed to exterminate the two that remained."
"A failure I will soon be rectifying..." Anakin said, his voice tense with focus, but his body was calm, fluid, graceful, just like the Sith's. Anakin wasn't thinking about his movements, simply allowing the Force to guide his motions, as he knew the Sith was doing as well.
Kenobi laughed. "You may try, Skywalker, but the Force is with me. You weren't made to deal with me, I was made in response to you." Anakin barely managed to block and dodge the next flurry of attacks as his centered position within the Force wavered. There was a quiet truth to what Obi-Wan was saying, Skywalker could feel it, and it chilled him, the warm comfort of the Force fading as smooth, cool threads gripped him. Circling his blade around, Anakin managed to catch Obi-Wan's red blade and pin it to the ground, and he swiftly dragged his lightsaber up the length of the red blade, only to have it stopped by the eerie darksaber.
"The Force," Kenobi said softly, "wants you out of the equation. I came to be to rectify the mistake of your birth." A loud, sharp screech echoed through the room, and both Anakin and Obi-Wan's attention was torn away from each other, Skywalker dipping his blade down to swiftly disengage the Sith as he watched Ki-Adi-Mundi slash one of the rancor's along its flank, athletically jump on to the arm of another as it swiped at him, and flipped off the claw toward the one he had injured, lightsaber extended as he fell head first toward the beast. The glowing blue blade dug through the thick skin of its neck just below the line of its helmet, and the Cerean swung his legs down, using the full force of the fall to bring the lightsaber to the hilt into the rancor's neck. A pained roar faded into a shuddering groan, and the beast staggered as it collapsed, the rapid rising and falling of its ribs quickly stilling as it died.
Anakin felt the Force slam against him like a crashing wave, almost knocking the wind out of him as Kenobi sprinted toward the Jedi Master, the monestrous rancor roaring in time with the pulse of the Dark Side as it seemed to focus on Mundi, the smaller of the two remaining beasts barking and running away, it's attention drawn to Tarkin and Rex, the only two survivors of Anakin's squad. The other clones lay dead all around them, their bodies badly brutalized by wicked claws and hacking slashes from a lightsaber.
Mundi jumped off the beast as it fell, but a sudden, supernaturally fast swipe through the air grabbed the Jedi before he landed, the lightsaber clattering to the ground. Anakin rushed toward Master Mundi, but the rampaging of the other rancor got in the way, Tarkin and Rex scrambling to avoid savage claws and crushing impact, and for a moment, Anakin didn't know what to do, hesitated for only a second, but that second was enough to force the younger Jedi into dealing with the wild beast. He jumped up onto the creature's back just in time to see Obi-Wan do the same thing on the other beast, grabbing the massive rancor's horns and swinging up to stand on its armored head. The Cerean struggled in its grasp, the man gasping in pain as the powerful grip crushed him, and Skywalker could feel the Force pulse with darkness as Obi-Wan grabbed both horns, the rancor's eyes seeming to glow as the Sith assumed control.
Standing on it short, thick hind legs, the rancor grabbed the Jedi Master with both its hands, and with a roar of triumph, it pulled the Master apart, blood and viscera splattering on the ground below, its two bloody hands tightly grasping the two halves of the Master and slamming them to the ground. Grief and revulsion pierced through Anakin, his focus lost as the rancor he stood on shook him from his body, and Skywalker barely had time to land before Kenobi had jumped off his mount and began to quickly advance, the enormous rancor following closely behind. Calling Master Mundi's lightsaber to his hand, Anakin quickly grabbed Tarkin and Rex and began to run.
"Plan, fast," Anakin snapped as the three rushed across the room, their pursuers close behind them.
"The plan hasn't changed," Tarkin growled, panting between heavy breaths. "You take Kenobi. We take the rancors and the clone."
"That's a very nasty three on two, Tarkin!" Anakin said, his voice high with worry and near panic.
"Yes, but it's better than having to deal with three rancors. We can dispose of them with enough time." Anakin nodded. He believed him.
"Keep your com tuned to mine and contact me if you need." With a sharp nod, Tarkin and Rex pealed away from Anakin's side, shooting back at the rancors as they did so, and the beasts tore after them, the rogue clone soldier following close behind. Which left Anakin with the Sith Lord, and he was furious.
The Force was turbulent, like the sea in a storm, and Kenobi commanded it all. His first offensive against Anakin had been vicious enough, but this one was fueled by something else entirely. Before, Obi-Wan had been amused, almost playful, but now, grief turned to rage, and rage made him strong, and Anakin wasn't fast enough to center himself before the red blade came crashing down upon him, followed closely by the black. Two hands on his weapon, Anakin swiftly retreated, backing up and away from the bloody room and into a long, branching hallway, pressed further and further back by the flurry of red and black. It wasn't until they had entered another large chamber, the entire room humming with the whine of the hyperdrive, the walls bathed in a blue glow from the powerful, active core, that Skywalker refound his focus and balance, and as calm settled over him, he activated Ki-Adi-Mundi's lightsaber in his offhand. The fight, suddenly, had become much more even.
And it was. Even the Force seemed to flow in a beautiful harmony, the light and the dark mixing as blue blades met red and black in a mix of graceful movement and masterful, deadly precision. Both Jedi and Sith, touched by the Force, moved by it, couldn't come close to striking the other, each strike bouncing uselessly off the opposing blades. They moved around each other, alternated attacking and defending, neither one tiring or showing any sign of stopping as the Jedi found calm and peace in the smooth, fast, elegant motions, and the Sith found strength in his furry at how long the fight was taking. Anakin felt it could go on forever. Kenobi knew it could. They were too evenly matched, two eyes in the storm of the Force, energies opposite and opposed that, when placed together, neutralized the other.
Anakin knew that as his focus grew, so would the Sith's rage, and while it made Kenobi powerful, it also made him wild and unpredictable. So long as Skywalker stayed centered and focused, calm and collected, the endless passion of the Sith would at some point yield to mistakes, and in those moments, Anakin would strike. Kenobi would die today. The Force whispered it to him even now.
"General." The comlink on Anakin's wrist sounded, but Skywalker's focus wasn't broken.
"Report."
"We're held up in an auxiliary room offside the port engines," the Admiral reported. "The rancor can't get through, and the clone is using it as a shield to keep us from shooting him."
"Good work, Tarkin," Anakin droned, and the Sith Lord growled, pressing his attack once again, and Skywalker retreated onto the platform surrounding the massive, humming hyperdrive.
Kenobi was done. This Jedi had killed one of his rancors. Well, not this Jedi, but it was Skywalker's fault for bringing him. No matter what he did, Skywalker countered it. Whatever it was that Qui-Gon had done to train him had worked masterfully, because Anakin Skywalker was, in fact, one with the Force, the center of a mighty vergence, and for a moment, Kenobi could feel the long-forgotten feel of jealousy. When he was a Jedi, he had so wanted to be Anakin, to have half the potential he was said to have, to be wanted by Qui-Gon Jinn, to be a force to be reckoned with, to one day be one of the greatest Jedi of all time. All that had been swiftly crushed at every turn, and then he had found the Sith, the family who accepted him, nurtured his wants, his needs, his passions that had been so long forbidden. Everythig led to this moment. Everything...
The speakers in his helmet crackled with static as he swung his lightsaber over his head and brought it down at the Jedi, slashing across with his other weapon as Skywalker jumped away, and Kenobi rushed in, swinging his lightsabers up, dragging a trail of sparks along the ground as he met Anakin again. The blades clashed, locked one across the other as both combatants struggled to aim the blade's tip in an angel to give them the best chance of striking their opponent as they dislodged.
"Obi-Wan!" Kenobi froze, the weapons hissing and sparking with Skywalker's. It was Satine, he voice tight and fraught, and Obi-Wan held his breath. "Obi-Wan, Mandalore is under attack!"
"What?" he snapped, breaking away successfully from Skywalker, but this time, th Jedi moved to the offensive as Kenobi slipped into his preferred Soresu. "That isn't possible."
"It is," she snapped. "Black Sun, the Pyke Syndicate, the Hutt Cartel...Obi, the army is massive. We can't hold it off." Pain pierced though his chest as the Dark Side roared. It wasn't angry. It was frantic. He looked at Skywalker as the man ferociously attacked him, the calm, cool of a Jedi flowing through him, and three words from his lover told him exactly what he needed to do. "I need you."
Blocking two vicious strikes from the Jedi, Obi-Wan thrust his darksaber behind him, the black blade piercing the hyperdrive's main control, and the ship lurched forward as the glow of the blue core faded, the Star Destroyer quickly reverting to real space as Obi-Wan blended into the shadows and ran. There would always be another day for Skywalker. Now, all he could think about were his visions, the flames bruning in his mind as a single word echoed over and over within him.
Maul.
"I'm on my way, Satine," he muttered quickly, and contacted Cody as he ran through the desolate ship. "Cody, bring the rancors to the Umbra. I'm leaving without you if you aren't there when I get there." Cody didn't ask any of the several questions he had, he simply gave a swift affirmative and left Tarkin and Rex, the rancors following close behind. The Skywalker had been gutted in order to set up the trap he had devised, and as of now, there were few ships that would be slower than the lumbering Star Destroyer. And further more, the Umbra was one of the fastest ships ever built. And still it would not be enough. They were hours from Mandalore, and as he ran to the hangar, Kenobi couldn't shake the dread from his mind.
"Sir," Rex said over Anakin's com as the Jedi pushed himself off the floor. "The rancors and that traitor are retreating!"
"Get to the hangar bay!" Anakin snapped, leaping to his feet and rushing down the corridors in search of Kenobi. He had disappeared, and not only could Anakin not see the man, he couldn't sense him either. "Kenobi's trying to run, don't let them escape!"
Skywalker rushed through the ship to the hangar. He knew the way there from every single part of the ship, being the place that housed his beloved starship aboard his own Star Destroyer. He got there in short order just in time to see the massive overhead hangar doors opened, the blue atmospheric shielding protecting them from the vacuum of space, the stars the small pinpricks of white light instead of the blue and white of hyperspace. For some reason, Kenobi had brought them out of hyperspace early, dropping them into space who knows where, but out the doors, Anakin could see no planets, no nearby stars. Just the inky blackness of space, the white dots of stars, and the sleek black of the Umbra as the ship made the jump to hyperspace.