Precipice by shadowsong26

Part 5: Lessons

Lessons: Chapter 6

Obi-Wan and Anakin were not, strictly speaking, searching for Darth Infernalis.

As with Darth Specter, they, along with Master Yoda and Ahsoka, had decided that they lacked the resources to focus on Infernalis exclusively for any particular length of time. However, they had no intention of being caught off guard again, the way they had been when Specter had found Anakin.

Which meant that, when they came across an opportunity to try and learn a little more about their enemy, they certainly weren't going to let it pass by without a very clear, immediate reason. Because even if they were a step behind him, even if they couldn't...couldn't save the people he had killed, or even do much to help the people he had hurt, they could learn something that might prove vital when their paths finally did cross.

And prevent any more limbs from being lost when they did.

So, they were here, where, only a few days ago, Infernalis had eliminated a group of pirates who had been attacking highly classified Imperial convoys. Not an affiliated group, or anyone Obi-Wan knew personally, which of course didn't really mitigate the slaughter, but…

Well, if he were truly honest with himself, it...mattered. To a point.

And the fact that Infernalis had been sent to deal with the attacks, even as a probable test of his skills, meant that the disrupted convoys had likely been carrying something extremely valuable to the Emperor. Likely related to the giant infrastructure project that Obi-Wan knew was going on somewhere, though he lacked the necessary details to identify exactly what it was. Which was another reason, after he and Anakin had wrapped up their last mission elsewhere and caught wind of this opportunity, that they had decided to take advantage of it. The two of them were planning to break into the shipping offices later, see what they could find in the agency's files, in the hope that they might gather more intelligence and finally figure out exactly what the Emperor was building.

But first, Infernalis.

They'd found the location of the skirmish, just outside the hangar, with little difficulty. The bodies, of course, had already been removed, as had much of the overt evidence. But they'd been scouring what was left for about twenty minutes now, and they had the knowledge and experience to read between the lines and put together a decent picture of the being responsible.

"Any thoughts?" Obi-Wan asked, running his hands over a lightsaber gouge in the rock, trying to trace the faint, oily, lingering impression of the being who had carved it. He uses a single blade, I think. Not jar'kai, and not a saberstaff, either; but, judging by the angle here, his blade is maybe a little longer than average, or maybe he just has a particularly long reach.

"He doesn't have anything to prove," Anakin said. He was crouched in the middle of the skirmish area, examining some of the half-faded footprints in the blood and dust and ash. "Not like Specter did. He...knows who he is. What he's worth."

"I agree," he said. Which meant, likely, that they wouldn't be able to off-balance Infernalis very easily. At least not in that way. There was probably a corresponding weakness, or vanity, that they could play on, but Obi-Wan doubted there would be enough information here for them to find it. "And he seems to be less interested in concealment," he added, after studying the slash and burn patterns in the wall for another few seconds.

"Yeah," Anakin said, and stood up. "Or at least he's much more direct in his approach. Less hit-and-fade then Specter was."

Obi-Wan nodded. It wasn't that there was an indication that Infernalis had deliberately drawn out the fight, exactly. Both apprentices were, by all appearances, swift and decisive; and this skirmish probably hadn't lasted much longer than any they could attribute to Specter. And both were equally likely to set an ambush.

But once their target walked into the ambush and the trap was sprung, their tactics diverged significantly. There was a sort of- solidity to Infernalis' presence, where Specter had been, well, aptly named. Striking from the shadows and moving on to his next target before the first even processed what had happened. Unless, as when he had come after Anakin, he had a very good reason to draw attention.

Infernalis, on the other hand, would have been impossible to ignore, and likely wouldn't have tried anything like that it . Unless, Obi-Wan supposed, he had a very good reason to pass unseen.

Obi-Wan frowned a little, turning in a slow circle and broadening his focus, turning his attention to the specific location Infernalis had picked for his ambush. It was not one he would have picked-but there was something vaguely familiar about it, something that would read as an advantage under different circumstances, perhaps; if he could just-

Ah. I see it now.

"I think," he said slowly, "we might find some trace of our new friend in prison records. Look at where he chose to set his ambush-not the best cover from the air, for example, but a lot of tight corners to trap opponents in, and likely to be in the security cameras' blind spots." Exactly the sort of place someone in prison would identify as a good position from which to pick a fight with another inmate.

Anakin considered, eyeing the space, and nodded. "Yeah," he said again. "Yeah, I see what you're saying. Plus, he's brutal and efficient, and he stands his ground. He doesn't linger when he doesn't have to-but he...displays. Dominates."

"Yes." Much like stabbing a man with a fork, Obi-Wan added in the privacy of his own mind. Unlike Specter, who had been more a thief in the night-just as efficient and not at all less brutal, in his way, but.

It was a fairly radical change, going from an eager-to-please teenager who relied on speed and stealth and surprise, to a seasoned adult who relied on overwhelming displays of force. One who had spent significant time in, by the looks of things, a high-security prison, while Specter had been, so far as Anakin could tell, a solitary street thief who had never been caught. Obi-Wan wondered exactly why the Emperor had made the shift.

Something that I think will take a great deal of consideration to figure out. Assuming we can even fathom Palpatine's motives here.

He sighed. "Can you spot anything else that might be relevant?" he asked.

Anakin shook his head. "I don't think we can get much more from here. Not at this point. But I want to see if we can find security footage when we search the office too, to confirm what we've guessed, if we can Maybe get a little more, even. If we're lucky."

Unlikely-given the camera blind spots-but they might get something out of watching Infernalis' approach and exit. Species, at least basic body type, and how he moved, if nothing else. Useful information, when preparing to confront him. Especially if he did decide to take a more subtle, Specter-like approach when he came after them.

"All right," he said. "Why don't you look into that, while I see what I can pull from the shipping manifests?"

"Sounds like a plan," Anakin agreed.

Once the decision was made, no further discussion was necessary. The two of them headed for the security office, taking an irregular path to avoid the remaining cameras and silence any guards. Obi-Wan took the lead, with Anakin half a step behind, to cover him.

Although-

Looking closer at the cameras, something seemed slightly off about the few he spotted.

Anakin signaled briefly; he'd noticed it, too.

Someone else is here.

And not a shipping company official, and probably not any Imperials, either; they wouldn't have disabled the cameras.

Another thief. Maybe friendly, maybe not. Better not to take chances.

Obi-Wan nodded once, and gestured for Anakin to take a wider loop. He nodded and leapt out of view, circling around to find another entrance.

The threat was probably low-level, or they'd most likely have had more warning than the cameras. Most likely, one or two of the pirates had circled back to try and salvage what they could, or possibly seek vengeance for their fallen comrades. He and Anakin could flank them with little difficulty, detain them, and have an even better chance at real intel, on both Infernalis and the convoys.

Further signs of trouble as he entered the post; the lone security guard who had been on duty was dead just inside the door, slumped over with a neat blaster wound in the center of his forehead.

He could sense Anakin already in position at the other end of the hallway, as they closed in on where their unexpected companion was, in the main control room.

A raised eyebrow, when they met- any other trouble?

Anakin shook his head. One dead guard. You?

The same. Shall we?

He grinned, shifted his grip on his lightsaber, and slammed the door button.

It slid open to reveal a single intruder, a young Nautolan woman at the main desk. She spun around, bringing a blaster already in her hand to bear and-

-wait!

Obi-Wan held out a hand to stop Anakin. "Moonshot?"

She blinked, and lowered her weapon, her presence thrumming with surprise. "Ben?"

"Yes," he said, and put his 'saber away, relieved. Partly because their unexpected companion was not a threat after all, but largely because…

He'd gone back, about two months after that- disaster of an Empire Day mission, once Anakin was safe and at least well on the way towards recovering, and tried to re-establish contact with Moonshot and her cell, but they had vanished by the time he arrived. He had...he had feared the worst.

"It's good to see you again," he went on. "Good to see you're all right. This is-"

"Kitster," Anakin supplied. "Good to meet you."

"Likewise," she said, and flashed him a brief smile. "Sorry about the-" She gestured at her gun.

"Don't worry about it," Obi-Wan said.

"It's not like we didn't have the same reaction, when we figured out we weren't alone," Anakin added.

"Yeah," she said, then paused. "It's...it's good to run into you, too. We...uh, we weren't sure you'd made it out alive. We waited, a couple days, for you to make contact, but…"

He nodded. "Things got-complicated. But what about the others? Are they…?"

"Lucky didn't make it," she said, very softly. "But the rest of us got out, at least mostly intact. Cleaver figured we should scatter, afterwards, all the same. Especially after I did a little more digging into Thrawn. He's got one hell of a reputation."

Obi-Wan nodded. "Yes, I know."

"We haven't kept in close touch, but we all know how, just in case. We didn't want to disintegrate. Just…"

"Disappear for a while," Anakin finished for her.

"Exactly." She, sighed and shook her head. "What were you guys doing here, anyway? If it's all right to ask."

"Couple things, really," Anakin said, after exchanging a glance with Obi-Wan.

"We're interested in what the attacked convoys were shipping," he added. "Along with anything about the being who took out the pirates that were responsible."

"There's not a lot here, unfortunately," Moonshot said. "I've been going over the system in a lot of depth, but the official investigators all already wiped it pretty clean. There's some security footage, though-the guy you're looking for is Mirialan, and big for his species."

"It's a start," Anakin said. "Can I take a look?"

"Sure," she said, and got out of the chair to make room for him.

"Thanks," he said, and pulled out a datacard to start downloading everything he could. They could go over it in more detail later, maybe find something the Imperial cleaning crew had missed. Not that there was likely to be much, but every little bit helped.

"What about you?" Obi-Wan asked. "Were you hunting down anything in particular here?"

She shook her head again, tentacles swaying. "Just general route and security detail information. I'm mostly smuggling food and medical supplies these days, stuff that's not actually illegal to have on my ship, just...illegal or prohibitively expensive wherever I'm taking it. But I like to keep my hand in, about the bigger things. Feed information to some of the others, or...or other friends of mine, if nothing else. So after this depot was cleaned out, I figured it was worth seeing what I could find."

Which made perfect sense. "Any luck?"

"Not really," Moonshot admitted. "Like I said, the cleaners were pretty damn thorough." She paused for a minute, then glanced over at Obi-Wan again. "But...while we're on the subject, about my old team and me being in loose contact?"

"Yes?"

"Well, we are," she said. "So...so if you and your people have something big planned…"

She could bring her cell on board. What's left of it, anyway-if they've scattered, something may have happened to the others, not just Lucky. That was-very encouraging news. "We don't," Obi-Wan said. "Not at this time, anyway. But…"

"Someday we will," Anakin said, looking up from the screen. "And in the meantime, we are trying to bring people together. Form links between cells that aren't just-well, Ben, mostly, actually. Sometimes-uh, Ashla."

We...probably should have taken the time to iron out default code names for situations like this sooner, Obi-Wan thought. So he didn't stumble over Ahsoka's like that. And so I'd know which of his aliases he was going to pick before he does it. Anakin had six or seven names that he rotated between at random; he mostly used them to add another layer of secrecy to his trips to the farm. None of them would hold up on a Core world, but for getting through what little spaceport security there was on Tatooine, or for providing a code name to another resistance cell, they were sufficient.

Moonshot nodded. "Well, even apart from my old cell, I have some contacts I could help you get in touch with," she offered. "I mean...it's mostly people like we were. Scattered cells of a couple dozen people at most. But some of them are also a lot more mobile than we were."

Which had been one of the bigger problems in trying to integrate all the-he hesitated to call them field units. All the active combat cells, then. Most of the ones he'd made contact with were still so focused on their local problems that, apart from being willing to trade intel and supplies along the lines he'd set up over the past seven years, they weren't in a position to look at the larger picture. And he couldn't really blame them. In the places where things were bad enough, where the Empire's hand was heavy enough, to spur people into action, the local problems usually needed that kind of attention.

But if Moonshot could put them in touch with mobile cells, that were already employing hit-and-fade tactics on a larger scale, and would be willing to at least take steps towards a wider battleground, to fighting the problem at the source, rather than desperately trying to keep their corner of the galaxy from bleeding to death…

It wouldn't be the kind of force they would need, not yet, but it was a step in the right direction.

"We would appreciate that, very much," he said. "Thank you, Moonshot."

"Of course," she said. "I'm sorry I can't do much more than give you names right now, but…"

"It's a lot," Anakin said. "Reliable contacts mean a lot, Moonshot, believe me."

She nodded. "And-you know, if you guys need a courier somewhere, my wanted posters aren't too widespread. Even after our last meeting." She grinned a little at Obi-Wan. "So I can probably get-maybe not all the way to the Core, but deeper into the Mid Rim than you two probably could."

"We'll remember that," Obi-Wan said. With any luck, they wouldn't need it for something so drastic, but it certainly would have made getting Anakin's prosthetic a great deal easier, if they'd had a reliable courier of their own to turn to.

"Great," she said. "I-can't stay much longer, or I'll miss my ride, but...do you have a way I can get in touch with you? Dead drop or something? That's probably the safest bet."

"We've got a couple," he said. "Kitster?"

Anakin, who helpfully always had hard-copy writing materials on him, wrote out a couple locations. "We try to check these as often as we can, but sometimes it's a while before we get there," he said.

"Got it," she said, sticking the paper into a pouch in her belt. "I'll be in touch as soon as I can. In the meantime…" She tore off the bottom of the page, grabbed Anakin's pen without asking, and scribbled down a couple things. "These are some people you can start with. Tell 'em Druthi sent you. They'll know who you mean."

Which may or may not have been her real name, but as long as it opened those doors for them, Obi-Wan didn't really need to know more. "Right," he said.

The console chimed softly.

"Shift change," Anakin said, glancing at the screen. "In ten minutes. We should go, too." He pulled the datacard out of the machine.

Obi-Wan nodded. "Thank you, Moonshot," he said. "Or-I'm sorry, would you prefer…?"

She shook her head. "Either," she said. "I should go. I'll see you soon-it was nice meeting you, Kitster. And...both of you, good luck."

"May the Force be with you," Obi-Wan replied softly.

She nodded and disappeared down the back hallway.

Anakin, beside him, let out a breath. "So...that was...good. Really, really good. The whole day has been...good."

"Yes," Obi-Wan said. "It was." Even if we turn out to be completely wrong about Infernalis, even if we don't get anything else off that datacard...finding Moonshot alive and gaining a new set of contacts is has been one of the most solid wins we've had in a very long time.

He started to say something else, paused, then shook his head. "I think we should go, before it decides to explode or something."

"Things don't generally decide to explode, Anakin," he said.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "I mean, really sure? Because, I mean, in my experience..."

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes. "Come on, I'd rather not have to fight my way through security again."

"Yeah, good point," he said, then double-checked to make sure the datacard was secure. "After you, Master."

He nodded once, pulled out his lightsaber just in case, and headed for the door.

Original Author's Notes: Hey, guys! Sorry this chapter is so late, work/life/etc. intervened...

Also! The bonus I mentioned a couple weeks ago (for one whole year of Precipice) is up on my writing tumblr, if you want to check it out!

~shadowsong