Precipice by shadowsong26
Homecoming: Chapter 8
Obi-Wan sprawled flat on the ridge, observing the base tucked away in the valley below them. It was their third day of observation, and he was fairly certain he had all the patterns down now. Looks like they haven't changed security rotation protocols yet. Good. We can use that against them, if we time it right.
Which meant moving this afternoon-not at night, the guards would be more wary in the dark. Assuming they were even halfway decent. Two he'd seen without helmets were new faces, so he couldn't answer for how well they'd been trained.
Still, they had been watching for three days, and were fast approaching the line between being ill-prepared and risking discovery.
He glanced over at Anakin, at his right hand again, back where they both belonged; he was a coiled spring, full of anticipation.
Oddly comforting, that. Some things, at least, hadn't changed.
Anakin met his gaze and arched one eyebrow.
Ready? He stuck to hand signals-there were no signs anyone was close enough to hear, but better safe than sorry.
He nodded.
Head south. Make some noise.
He grinned and nodded, slipping off into the underbrush and almost immediately out of sight.
Obi-Wan watched him go anyway, trying to release his-it wasn't doubt. He did not- could not -doubt Anakin. He was...concerned, though. This was the first time Anakin had been separated from Leia for more than a day, and Obi-Wan knew he was fretting about her. Despite knowing she was perfectly safe, back on the farm.
That was a fairly inspired choice on his part, Obi-Wan thought. He never would have believed Anakin would head back there, to the place where he had known such intense pain, with someone so precious to him. With any luck, Palpatine and his agents would make the same assumption. And he seems to be doing...all right, despite what...reminding himself must have been like.
Still, he'd been on edge the entire time they'd been here, even more than usual. Add to that the fact that this was Anakin's first active combat mission since Palpatine's takeover, and it wasn't going to be an easy one...
We don't have the luxury of planning around that, he reminded himself. If he wasn't ready, he wouldn't be here. Even he wouldn't risk it.
Besides. Difficult as this was, given that there were two of them against a garrison, it was also a fairly simple mission, one they'd done hundreds of times over the years, even before the war. And they'd faced odds this uncertain before, though it had been a while. They would be fine.
Of course, their lives being what they were, Obi-Wan had scarcely had the thought when things started to drift away from the plan.
First, there was an explosion on the horizon, in the general direction Anakin had wandered off-one at least twice the size of the explosives Anakin should have been carrying.
"Is it really so much to ask for a small distraction?" he muttered, annoyed but not altogether surprised, picking himself up and making his way down the slope, flitting from shadow to shadow to the all-too-familiar accompaniment of blaster fire.
Trust that he'll do his job, he reminded himself. And if he has any problems-well, the sooner you do yours, the sooner you can rescue him if he needs it.
The thought was parent to the deed, and he found the back door of the base helpfully unguarded. He paused for a split second, debating the best way through it, then simply cut the lock. His original plan had been to avoid leaving obvious indications that any Jedi survivors were involved in the incident, but-well, by the sound of things, Anakin had completely thrown that out the window.
No one immediately inside the door, either, which made him briefly worried, that Anakin maybe had overestimated his own capabilities, and drawn the entire garrison out of the base.
I can't do anything about that just now, he reminded himself. He closed his eyes to center himself, then crept down the hall, operating on a familiarity that was almost muscle memory at this point.
We'll be in bigger trouble if Palpatine ever decides to redesign the standard base layout, he thought idly, when he reached the comm center-exactly where it was supposed to be.
This time, he manipulated the lock rather than cutting it. Best to minimize the chances of hostile interruptions. The fewer obvious signs of where he'd been now, he was inside, the better.
Unfortunately, this was where the second thing went wrong.
Anakin may have drawn out most of the garrison- maybe more than he can handle, maybe he's in real trouble, I should be there, I shouldn't have left him alone -but there were a half-dozen left here to protect the comms.
And, more importantly, Obi-Wan's target-a set of thirteen theoretically unsliceable code keys.
He didn't waste any time on reacting, to the sudden change in circumstances or to the too-familiar helmets bearing down on him.
Or, worse, the one who had taken his off.
And was very much not a new recruit.
His lightsaber was active before the first shot went off, and he spun into action, reflecting it back to the source. A second- stormtrooper -narrowly missed him; he slid out of the shot's trajectory at the last second.
Shift. Block. Strike. There is no emotion, there is peace.
A too-brief moment later, there were six dead men at his feet.
He closed his eyes. This is getting easier. I'm...not sure how I feel about that.
The first few times, it had been difficult to separate out the present from the past. Sometimes it made him more desperate, more brutal. A few times, it had made him hesitate, remembering that awful mess with Fives and-he couldn't remember the other one's name, the one who had gone mad ahead of schedule.
They were victims, too. As much as we were.
It was a good thing that he was a Jedi and had forsworn revenge. Thoughts like that one were...tempting. His lifelong commitment, so deeply ingrained it was reflex, kept him on the right path.
He only hoped that Anakin-
Get the keys. Then go help him.
It was somewhat unlikely the keys would be useful for decoding intercepted communications for very long. The theft would hardly go unnoticed-wouldn't have, even if they'd managed subtlety. But it would cause no end of difficulty for the Emperor's war machine, while new codes were developed.
And then, I suppose, we'll have to steal those keys, and on and on.
It took about five tense minutes for him to break into the sealed compartment where the hard copies of the keys were kept, but there were no further interruptions. And, fortunately, all thirteen were there, along with a datapad that likely contained highly sensitive-meaning useful -information.
Obi-Wan slid both it and the keys into one of the pockets of his robes, then picked his way over the bodies and started working his way towards the south end of the base, towards the ongoing sounds of battle.
Well, if they're still shooting, he's still fighting, he reasoned with himself. Which was a good thing.
As if summoned by his thoughts, Anakin's mind brushed his lightly, checking his status.
Finished here. Time to go.
A brief acknowledgement, and Obi-Wan sensed Anakin beginning to withdraw. He paused for a minute, reconsidering.
I'll loop around, he decided. If Anakin thinks I've been pinned down trying to get to him, he'll come back, and that risks the rest of the mission.
He doubled back the way he'd come-encountered another pair of guards; these fortunately unfamiliar and unmasked; much easier to deal with-and reached the ridge mere moments ahead of Anakin.
Who was limping slightly, and still leaking adrenaline into the Force.
"Lost 'em," he said. "At least for now."
Obi-Wan nodded. "I have what we came for. Are you all right?"
Anakin waved a hand. "Just a graze, I'll be fine." He pushed on down the other side of the ridge, towards where they'd left the Waterfall.
Obi-Wan followed close behind, ready to deal with any pursuit, but the Force was with them-Anakin had managed to pull far enough ahead that they were in the air before the shooting started.
"Clean up," he advised, as soon as they were out of range. "I can take the controls for a minute."
He shook his head. "I'd rather be here, least 'til we're in hyperspace."
Which meant he was upset-probably for at least some of the same reasons as Obi-Wan-and, since he didn't have anything to take apart and reassemble, piloting was the best way for him to calm down.
Still, despite the faint traces of lingering distress bleeding into the Force, it felt comfortable. Familiar, strapping himself in next to Anakin, a successful mission behind them.
And, to his relief, Anakin did relax a little, after he navigated them through the planet's rings and out into hyperspace. "So. That went well," he said. "Told you I was ready."
"You did," he said. "And I'm glad you were. I was able to get what we came for, and neither of us was captured. Although you could have been a little more…"
He gave Obi-Wan a perfectly innocent look. "You said you needed a distraction."
"Yes, well, next time, try not to draw so much attention you get yourself shot," he replied dryly.
"I told you, it's just a graze," he said. "I'm fine."
And he was Obi-Wan would have sensed it if Anakin were seriously hurt. Still, with the added context of-who he'd seen in the base, who he'd killed today, it was difficult not to remember him lying unconscious in the Tantive 's medical bay, barely holding on.
Difficult not to remember-
A moment with your Padawan, take.
"I know," he said, and fought down the urge to add, but we can't replace you, so do try to be more careful; I don't want to say-I've had to say too many goodbyes, please don't be one more.
"Are you okay?" Anakin asked.
"I'm not hurt," he said. "Not even grazed." And if that last was maybe a little pointed, well.
"Fine, fine, I can take a hint," he said, rolling his eyes and unstrapping himself. "I want to do a couple intermediate jumps, but we should head for the farm. You haven't seen Leia in a while. Or held her. Everything's better, holding Leia."
"Hm." Well, Anakin probably wasn't wrong there. And a long, circuitous route to Tatooine would give him some time with the datapad and the code keys, before he deposited them in a dead drop for Senator Organa to deal with. "That sounds like an excellent plan."
Anakin grinned at him. "Good, 'cause I already programmed in the course. It'd be a pain to reset everything if you said no."
It was Obi-Wan's turn to roll his eyes at that. "Go clean yourself up. I'll be right here if you need anything."
He nodded, and limped back out of the cockpit, and Obi-Wan sighed. Today had gone well. Better than he'd expected. Better even than he'd hoped. But it was still-there was still a long war ahead of them.
On the other hand, they were together again, a team again, falling back into seamless collaboration as if Anakin hadn't just spent six months healing. As long as that was true-as long as he still had his brother beside him-Obi-Wan knew they'd make it through. They always had, and they always would.
No matter how long it took them to do it.
Original Author's Notes: And this concludes the Homecoming arc!
Part Three, which is tentatively titled 'Captain,' starts next week, with a bit of a timeskip. I hope you will enjoy ^^.
~shadowsong