Precipice by shadowsong26
Captain: Chapter 3
There were days when Obi-Wan felt he had accomplished very little over the past two years. For the most part, of course, he knew that was simply a matter of perspective-progress was being made. But for every Imperial installation he or Anakin or another resistance cell disrupted or destroyed, Palpatine had at least another dozen waiting in the wings. Looking at the raw data, such as it was, it was difficult not to get discouraged.
On the other hand-well, there were pockets of resistance spread all over the galaxy, and for every one the Empire wiped out, at least one or two more rose up somewhere. It wasn't much, but it was still something. The fight continued, inch by inch; and their impact, while small, was still there.
Besides, this was going to be a long war. He knew that. He always had, from the very start, when they proved incapable of deposing Palpatine in the immediate aftermath of his takeover. As long as he kept reminding himself of that, as long as he was able to maintain that perspective, he could be patient. He could hold on to hope.
So he did what he could with his own hands, and made contact with as many rebel cells as he could. While very few actually knew who he was-there were too few Jedi left; he couldn't risk too much on that score-he was gradually drawing his contacts into a loose network. A network, so they could share information and eventually supplies (once he had secure lines in place, which was still a work in progress). But loose, so that if-when-one cell was compromised, it didn't bring them all down. It was safer that way, at least for now. Obi-Wan knew that.
But he was often extremely conscious of how fragile it all was. Even as independent as he had kept things, it wouldn't take much to unravel things. The web was held together only by his efforts and the coded data he sent Bail (so that if he fell, they wouldn't crumble). He was keeping an eye out for other recruits he could put in coordinating positions, but so far even the most promising leaders had to focus on keeping their own cells going.
In time, he knew, it would grow, and strengthen. He just had to hold things together until then. Until the web was truly self-sustaining. They just had to last that long. And, to be fair, on most days, he was confident they would.
Of course, on most days, he wasn't kept waiting for contact from a cell that had gone dark for a mission, and was now over an hour late getting back in touch. Add in the fact that said cell was Anakin…
Well, today was not a particularly hopeful day.
I'm sure he's fine, he told himself. I would know if he weren't.
The problem was, he hadn't known the last time Anakin had been in serious danger-but, of course, given everything else that had happened that day, even their bond had been drowned out. Those circumstances were not a factor now, and never would be again. So this time, he would know.
But it wasn't like Anakin to be late like this. Oh, he would still drop off the grid sometimes, but even at his most evasive, back during the war, he would at the very least check in via comm after a dangerous mission before disappearing again.
Something's gone wrong.
Maybe not quite to the point where Anakin was in serious danger, or at least not yet, but still something. Particularly given Anakin's extraordinary talent for finding trouble.
A talent which is matched by his ability to find his way back out again, he reminded himself. And that helped, somewhat.
Still.
I'll give him another hour, Obi-Wan decided. If I haven't heard from him by then, I'll-
At last, interrupting his increasingly gloomy thoughts, his comm buzzed at him-the private one, that only Anakin, Bail Organa, and Beru Lars knew about.
Oh, thank the Force, he thought, and accepted the call.
Anakin's hologram flickered to life. "Sorry it took so long," he said, not wasting any time on a greeting. Which, to be fair, wasn't unusual-they were never sure how long these conversations would stay secure.
"Well, you're calling now," Obi-Wan said, feeling a knot of tension at the nape of his neck ease. Anakin was upright, clear-eyed, coherent-unharmed by whatever had delayed him. "What happened? Are you all right?"
"Yeah, I'm not hurt," he said. "Mission went fine, too. Blew up the depot, got away clean."
"Good to hear." A significant disruption to that particular mining operation might buy them as much as week or two of breathing room while similar resources were brought in from other sectors. There was some sort of massive infrastructure project going on, but Obi-Wan had the sneaking suspicion he was only seeing the vague outline of it. And, whatever it was, it was massive. So, the more delays, the likelier it was he would be able to fill in the gaps before Palpatine inflicted any more disasters upon the galaxy. And the quotas for the moon in question had nearly tripled over the last eight weeks, which meant it was worthy of immediate attention. "Any hints as to why they were stepping up production?" he asked.
Anakin shook his head. "Nothing I could find. I looked, but…" He shrugged.
"Well, we'll piece it together soon enough, I'm sure," he said.
"Yeah," he said, then paused.
"Something wrong?"
"Uh. No," he said. "There was a complication."
Which Obi-Wan had known; otherwise he wouldn't have been so late checking in.
But before he could ask, Anakin hastily added, "I'm fine, everything's fine, but I had to sort of adjust my plans a little because I found Rex."
Obi-Wan blinked and sat back a bit, taking that in and trying to quickly process everything it might mean.
They'd been fortunate, until now, in that neither of them had run across any clones they knew personally, but it had only been a matter of time. It was difficult, even after two years and much repetition, to deal with strangers with a too-familiar face. It certainly couldn't have been easy, for either Anakin or Rex, given...everything. Because no matter how much the clones were victims, too-well, memory was often irrational. Particularly when the circumstances were this painful.
At least, from everything Anakin had said thus far, the meeting couldn't have gone badly.
"His chip's gone," Anakin went on, hiding his hands in his sleeves the way he always did when he was nervous and wanted to keep himself from fidgeting. "I made sure of it. It's safe. He's safe. A-and I know we said we wouldn't go looking, but he was there, on the planet, and I couldn't not approach him, so I-"
"I understand," Obi-Wan said, holding up a hand to cut him off. "Where is he now? Is he with you?"
He nodded. "Yeah." He paused again. "Is-are you okay with that?"
Obi-Wan's impulse was to just immediately say yes, of course- the clones were victims, too, after all. But instead he took a breath, and gave the question the attention it deserved. It wasn't an simple one, even if the objective truth was clear. And he had walked through the ruined Temple, where Rex had been that day; he had seen what had been done, and…
This was not a question he could answer impulsively. It wasn't fair to anyone involved.
He closed his eyes for a moment, weighing all the factors and seeking clarity and confirmation from the Force.
Would I have done anything different, if it were Cody? he asked himself.
If I were sure- absolutely sure-he was fully himself now...no, I would have done the same.
So, "Yes," he said, opening his eyes, and the rightness of it settled over him like a blanket, warm and comforting. "Yes, I'm fine with it."
Anakin brightened, and the hands came out of his sleeves again. "Oh, good. I was-good. That's good." He grinned. "Rex helped me with the depot."
"I imagine he would have," Obi-Wan said. "He's all right, too?"
"Yeah, he's fine. We're heading to the farm."
"Ah." Well, if Obi-Wan had had any misgivings left about the whole situation, they would have melted away at that. Anakin may have been heartrendingly cavalier about his own safety, but he would never do anything that might put his daughter at risk. "Give Leia a kiss for me, will you?"
"Always," Anakin said. "Will you meet us?"
It was a tempting thought-it had been over a month since he had last seen the child, and they grew so fast at this age. He had no idea how much he was missing.
But he still had a few things to wrap up in this sector. "I'll try," he finally said. "No promises. If I don't meet you there, next week I'll be at the rendezvous point where we met Jaira, you remember where that is?"
Anakin rolled his eyes and sighed theatrically. "How could I forget? I think I still have mud in my hair."
"Given that it was eight years ago," Obi-Wan said dryly, "I very much doubt that."
"If you say so, Master."
He bit back a grin, and was about to give a clever reply when the commlink vibrated-a system they'd set up, to warn them when they'd been on too long. Enough time to share important information, while limiting the chances of interception.
"Ah. Time's up, I'm afraid," he said.
"Right," Anakin said. "I'll see you soon, then."
He nodded. "May the Force be with you, my friend."
"You, too." And with that, Anakin signed off, leaving Obi-Wan once again alone with his thoughts.
Better ones, though. He knew it was a mistake, letting himself draw so much comfort from his little brother and his family, but he couldn't quite stop himself. Whether or not Anakin was the Chosen One ( and forgive me, Qui-Gon, but I'm no longer certain I believe in the Prophecy at all; I'm no longer sure I care), he was a beacon of hope. At least for Obi-Wan. At least for now.
When things are stabler, when the network is more secure, I can be better about that, Obi-Wan promised himself. But if this gets me through until then…
For now, he put the thought aside. He was going to try and make contact with some old allies on Mon Cala, and he should check the dead drops, and then he would meet Anakin and they could plan the next few weeks' strategy, and-
The commlink buzzed again.
Obi-Wan stared at it for a minute, then picked it up.
Something has changed, the Force whispered to him.
And when he checked the message-a few lines of text, not a holocall or even voice-only-the tension started to creep back up his spine.
It was from Bail.
Who, in two years of communicating through messages and supplies and intelligence left at dead drops, had never used this frequency.
He took a breath, let it out slowly, and opened and decoded the message.
A set of coordinates; a time-three days from now.
And that was all.
Something had changed, something significant enough that the Senator was willing to risk an in-person meeting. Just requesting such a thing was...
"Oh, I have a bad feeling about this," he said to himself, as he plugged the coordinates into the navicomputer.
If he got moving now, he would just barely make it in time.
For a moment, he hesitated, considering calling Anakin back. Sending him the same coordinates. If it was this important, maybe they should both be there.
On the other hand, if it went wrong, better at least one of them was free to maneuver. Anakin could rescue him and Bail, if need be.
I'll contact him while I'm on the way, he decided. Let him know I'm taking a risky meeting, and to be on standby just in case. That would have to be enough.
Hoping very much that he was making the right call, he waited a few seconds for the navigational calculations to complete, then took a breath and made the first jump to lightspeed.