Chapter 42
Mischief Always Wins the War
"Anakin," Ahsoka called, voice tinny through the comm, "Anakin, do you read?"
There was no response and Anakin's fighter rocked under the impact of several cannon blasts.
"Artoo, have Anakin's comms been knocked out?" Obi-Wan circled the motionless ship to provide some sort of shield for his friend.
The droid's response scrolled across his cockpit screen.
COMMS SYSTEM NORMAL. MASTER ANAKIN UNRESPONSIVE TO QUERIES.
Obi-Wan and Ahsoka were doing their utmost to protect Anakin's X-wing from the TIEs, but more shots were breaking through now. Obi-Wan looped around and hung upside down relative to Anakin's fighter. His heart sank at the sight of the slumped figure held upright only by the harness.
Anakin couldn't be dead. Not now, when everything had begun to come right again at last
Obi-Wan stretched out through the Force, and a tide of giddy relief swept through him. "Ahsoka, he's unconscious, but I can't tell if he's injured or merely knocked out. Artoo, confirm that the cockpit has not been breached and the atmosphere is uncontaminated."
CONFIRMED.
"What is your shield strength?" Obi-Wan rejoined Ahsoka in maintaining a picket line around Anakin's fighter.
FIFTY-TWO POINT THREE ONE PERCENT came the alarming answer. If they didn't get Anakin out of the battle before the shields dropped much further, he would be as good as dead. Palpatine would capture him, and torture, reprisals, and execution would follow mercilessly.
"Artoo," said Obi-Wan, "calculate the vector back to Geonosis. It will be up to you to get him to the carrier for medical attention. Ahsoka and I will clear a corridor and escort you out as soon as you have the vector. Oh—" he added as an afterthought— "and fire those torpedoes. You can't land with them on board and a pilot in medical distress."
ACKNOWLEDGED. VECTOR CALCULATED.
"Send it to us. On my mark, fire your torpedoes one at a time. On my second mark, we will accelerate together, firing our cannons as fast as possible. Once you're clear, Artoo, jump to lightspeed."
ACKNOWLEDGED. WAITING FOR MARK.
"Mark."
The pair of torpedoes raced ahead in succession, punching halfway through the mass of TIEs. Before the fireball had dissipated, Obi-Wan called the second mark. Firing madly, the three X-wings sped side by side toward the edge of the battle. Obi-Wan's droid, scorched by an explosion, screeched in electronic shock. Ahsoka's shields dropped below fifty percent. But they had made it.
They burst through the perimeter and Anakin's X-wing winked out of sight on a straight vector to Geonosis.
With no time to appreciate his relief, Obi-Wan opened up the throttle to swing high above the plane of their skirmish, preparing to sprint toward the Death Star. The chaotic mosaic of the Force was familiar to him from uncounted battles long ago. Surging emotions—desperation, triumph, terror, relief—flickered, transmuted, dissipated, fractured. Without warning, a wave of jubilation swelled through the Force. The brilliance of it almost blinded Obi-Wan's senses, and the conflagration that followed seemed no more than its echo.
His helmet visor darkened, as did his cockpit canopy. For an interminable interval, the light intensified—fierce, searing, incandescent—before it collapsed. A cloud of bright particles now glittered where the Death Star had hung.
Over the comm, someone was still yelling, "Go, go, go!" Obi-Wan allowed himself to heave one deep breath of relief before he forced himself to think tactically. He tipped his head back to observe the TIE pilots' reactions. They milled about in a confused, directionless mass.
He punched the task force's frequency. "This is General Kenobi. Objective achieved. All Alliance personnel, return to origin coordinates immediately. We will resume formation upon arrival."
He lingered to see the flashes of hyperdrive ignition that accompanied the winking out of green blips on his screen. Once he was certain the pilots had obeyed his orders, he said, "Ahsoka, it's time to leave," and pulled his own hyperdrive lever.
The New Hope was surrounded by several dozen fighters still trying to resume formation when Obi-Wan and Ahsoka dropped back into the Geonosis system. Squadron leaders barked orders and slowly the jumble sorted itself out enough to begin the docking procedure.
Anxious about Anakin, Obi-Wan keyed his comm. "This is Saber Two; I need to speak with General Dodonna."
A brief pause ensued and then, "Saber Two, this is Dodonna. Go ahead."
"General, I am pleased to report the strike was successful, but there is a trio of vengeful Star Destroyers that probably tracked our exit vector. I suggest moving out of this system once all fighters have been recovered."
"Agreed, Saber Two."
"And—Gen—Commander Skywalker passed out during the battle. Did his fighter make it back?"
Another, longer pause before Dodonna said in a rather odd tone, "Affirmative. Commander Skywalker is receiving treatment in the medical bay."
Obi-Wan's heart sank. Who knew what rumors were racing around the ship after that acrimonious exchange with Tarkin? So much for Bail's advice.
The wait to dock was agonizingly long. Saber Flight had been first out, and were, therefore, last in. Except for Anakin of course. The berths beside and across from Obi-Wan's X-wing were empty as he finally settled to the deck in the main hangar bay. He had known neither of the pilots, but he had been at war long enough to mourn their deaths anyway.
He climbed stiffly down the ladder, grumbling to himself that he was far too old for this sort of thing, to join Ahsoka on the deck. He wanted to race to the medbay to check on Anakin—to stand over him with saber blazing if necessary—but as always, duty must come before his own desires. "I must speak with Dodonna. Let's get to the bridge."
"But SkyGuy…"
Obi-Wan handed his helmet to his fighter's crew chief with murmured thanks. "I know. But he's in the medbay, receiving whatever treatment he needs. And this is more urgent."
Ahsoka grimaced but conceded. As she fell into step beside him, she said idly, "I wonder who actually did it? That was a once-in-a-lifetime shot."
"Yes. Quite extraordinary. Yet if Anakin had done it, we wouldn't be impressed." Obi-Wan thought ruefully of all the impossible feats Anakin had pulled off over the years, including, yes, the Invisible Hand.
Ahsoka waved in an indistinct gesture of dismissal. "Because Anakin could do something like that in his sleep. But for a non-Force sensitive…It's phenomenal."
"The Force was certainly with us today."
They strode toward the hangar hatch, skirting a rowdy celebration. Obi-Wan thought he picked a name out of the cacophony. Sillman? Shillman?
"Uh-oh—I think I know who did it." Ahsoka darted off at an angle toward a clump of figures in orange flightsuits and dark coveralls, her third lekku flaring a bit with the speed of her turn.
"What?" Obi-Wan trailed after her in puzzlement.
The din of the festivities rattled the roof. Whoever had made that impossible shot would be fêted on the flight back to Yavin, but the thought was immediately smothered by concern for Anakin and the urgency of speaking with Dodonna. He sighed. Just for once in his life, he would have liked to enjoy a simple moment of triumph on its own, without the pressure of coping with the next oncoming crisis.
Ahsoka sliced through the crowd like a lightsaber. "You are in so much trouble," she said, her teeth bared.
Obi-Wan caught a glimpse of a pair of very familiar heads in the midst of the euphoric throng and his heart shot into his throat. They wouldn't have—
He caught himself up. They were Anakin's children. Of course they would have. And had, apparently. His heart grudgingly settled back into its usual spot and he released his vexation to the Force. Certain facts were as immutable as the laws of thermodynamics. Skywalkers and reckless aerial feats seemed to be one of them.
Ahsoka apparently had decided she would not exercise Jedi serenity at the moment. "Would you care to enlighten me as to precisely who let the two of you into the cockpits of X-wings?" She grabbed their elbows and towed them to the other side of the closest X-wing. There was another cluster of excited pilots and their deck crews on that side, but she ignored them.
Looking between the furious Ahsoka and the exuberant twins, Obi-Wan pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. There was no point in even trying to direct the conversation until they all had their say.
"Ahsoka!" Luke, grinning from ear to ear, threw his arm around her, so high on adrenaline he seemed oblivious to her ire, even when she shrugged away. "We did it! We were last in our squadron to take the run—"
"That port was tiny," Leia interjected. "Two meters doesn't sound small, but we were going so fast and the station was so big—"
"Yeah, I couldn't believe it when I saw it. Everybody else who tried missed." Luke spread his arms to encompass the whole of the hangar. "So when Leia took her run—she went before me—I could feel what she was doing. Through the Force, you know."
"I missed, too, though," she said mournfully. "It's a good thing Luke was there. He was amazing."
"Well, yeah, you missed, but I don't think I would have made it if I hadn't seen you go first." He looked earnestly at Ahsoka and Obi-Wan. "Leia used the Force and her targeting computer in tandem. Her torpedoes hit closer than anybody else's, but they still impacted on the surface. So I turned off my targeting computer and just used the Force."
"You should have heard Red Leader yelling at him." Leia's keyed up spirits spilled over into overexcited laughter.
Luke shoved his hand through his sweaty bangs with a slightly abashed grin. "I kind of remember that, but I was so deep in the Force, I didn't really hear him."
Leia sobered. "And Luke was a sitting duck. The TIEs had caught up with our squadron by then, so I was trying to shoot them down with Red 2 and 3 before they could shoot Luke." Her eyes were wide, as though she couldn't quite believe what she had done. "I shot down a TIE, Uncle Ben! And its partner flew into the trench wall when it tried to get out of the way of the explosion. And then Luke finally fired his torpedoes and they went in."
"Slick as a whistle." Luke beamed. "I did just what you always taught me, Ahsoka—I trusted the Force and waited until I knew it was time to fire. X-wings are amazing! Nothing like flying the Sandfish. They're so fast."
A dark-haired youth rounded the fighter. He smiled broadly and slapped Luke on the shoulder. "Ma'am, wasn't that a great shot? I was on Stillman's wing—I've never seen anything like it."
"Antilles," a passing group of pilots hailed him, "come on! Oh, hey, it's the kids—you too! It's party time." A few pilots from the group beside the X-wing jogged forward to join their friends.
"They can't come." Ahsoka crossed her arms. "But don't let us keep you."
"Aww, Ahsoka," Luke pleaded.
She pressed her lips together and shook her head firmly.
The young, dark-haired pilot looked between her and the twins before he nodded courteously. "All right. We'll be in the pilots' lounge if you want to come by later. Ma'am. Sir." He gave a casual two-fingered salute to Ahsoka and Obi-Wan as he left.
Ahsoka glared from one twin to the other. "You didn't answer me. How did you even get access to a fighter? You're not qualified."
The twins exchanged sheepish glances. "It was boring at the base, Aunt Ahsoka," Leia said. "You and Uncle Ben and Dad were off in meetings or whatever, and we didn't know anyone. We just asked the lieutenant if we could try the sims. I guess it was a slow day because they let us. And well…" she grinned. "Luke's always boasting about flying. I dared him to prove himself in a fighter sim…."
Ahsoka shook her head in exasperation. "And he's SkyGuy's kid, so his scores were off the charts. And I suppose yours were too. That still doesn't explain how you got your hands on fighters. You're underage." Her eyes narrowed. "Did Anakin sign off on this and just not tell us?"
Luke's eyes skittered away shiftily and he shuffled his feet. "No. We didn't ask him. The sims officer was so impressed, he showed our scores to a couple of squadron commanders. They said we could have slots in X-wings anytime we wanted, but when they heard we haven't turned eighteen yet, they said we'd have to wait or have a guardian sign for us—but they gave us sim time whenever we wanted—and then we, um, we overheard you guys talking with the squadron commanders about the mission."
"You overheard us." Ahsoka's tone dripped with scorn.
A few of the pilots who hadn't left for the party broke off their own conversations to watch her.
"Yeah, you came into the training room to talk with them, and we were there. And Red Leader said he was short a few pilots. So we talked to him and convinced him we were close enough to eighteen—since our birthday is in only three days—and they needed every pilot and..."
"If I didn't have so much to do right now, you would be so grounded, Luke Skywalker!" Ahsoka planted one hand on her hip.
A tall, spare man Obi-Wan thought was Red Leader stepped forward, concern shadowing his face. "Ma'am, you should be angry with me, not him." He paused and frowned. "I thought his name was Stillman?"
Ahsoka rounded on the unfortunate squadron commander. "Oh, believe me, I am. I just haven't gotten to you yet. And wait until his father gets wind of it."
"His father?"
"General Skywalker." Red Leader's eyes widened briefly before suspicion flashed across his face. Ahsoka charged ahead without noticing. "You better hope he doesn't decide to go all Daddy Dar—"
"Ahsoka," Obi-Wan cut in sharply, trying to head her off before she made a delicate situation untenable. "That's uncalled for. And ill-advised. They did it. And as it happened, none of us was able to so much as approach the Death Star. Luke and Leia may have been the only other pilots capable of hitting that port." He turned to the twins. "It is imperative I speak with General Dodonna immediately, and since clearly we cannot trust you out of our sight, you are coming with us."
"But they'll never let us on the bridge…" Luke protested.
"They will. It was the practice during the Republic for padawans to be allowed wherever their masters determined they could go. Come." He bowed to Red Leader. "Thank you for bringing them back safely. I doubt they will be encouraged to formally join the Alliance once Anakin hears of this, but I will make certain he understands the full situation. So if you will excuse us..."
Red Leader eyed the group warily for a moment, but finally he nodded politely to Obi-Wan. "Certainly. It was a shot in a million, kid—whatever your name is." The cluster of pilots and techs parted to let them through, and Luke and Leia passed to a hail of back slaps and cheers. By the time they left the hangar, Luke was grinning again.
Leia, however, looked downcast. "I'm sorry, Uncle Ben. Are you very angry?"
"I am…" He hesitated to give himself time to hunt for a more appropriate description of his emotions. "Anger is a harsh word. I am provoked. And dismayed."
Leia gnawed her lower lip.
He paused again. With Anakin he would have tacked on a stern reprimand and strict consequences. But that method had failed rather spectacularly with her father. Nevertheless, it was difficult to overcome long-established custom, particularly after the past week had stirred up the old habits and memories. For Leia's sake, though, he would try something new. He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, waiting until she met his eyes. "I am afraid, Leia. I realize it's after the fact, but now that I know you were out there, I can't help but feel anxious because—because I love you."
She reached out a little hesitantly to hug him. He smiled as he squeezed back.
The turbolift chime rudely interrupted them before either could become maudlin.
As they stepped aboard the lift, Obi-Wan continued wryly, "But I do understand the yearning to do something important. I was once a padawan myself, you know. And it wasn't for nothing that I raised and trained Anakin. You are your father's daughter—I have noticed it often over the years. I'm only surprised it took you this long to kick over the traces." Then, because uninhibited praise of Anakin would never feel natural, he added, "I would consider it a personal favor if you learn to execute proper landings, though."
Leia laughed shakily. "Is Dad really so bad?"
He relented. "In confidence, no. Although if you ever tell him I said that, I shall deny it categorically. I can think of four missions off the top of my head in which his piloting skill saved our lives. And I doubt anyone else could have landed those ships. But acknowledging that would merely inflate his already outsized ego."
"You know, he's not your padawan anymore, Obi-Wan." Ahsoka placed a gentle hand on his arm. "And there's no more Order to demand adherence to the Code. I think he would appreciate knowing how much you—you love him. You told Leia you love her. Have you ever told Anakin?"
Obi-Wan blinked a sheen from his eyes. He couldn't meet her gaze. "Once," he whispered. "But it was too late. And I did it all wrong."
Luke and Leia examined him curiously, but he had no intention of explaining any further. Some scars still hurt too much. In spite of Anakin's miraculous reversal over the past ten days, Obi-Wan didn't think he would ever be able to speak of his padawan's Fall without a sharp lance of agony.
Fortunately, he was saved from the necessity of making any additional remarks by the turbolift doors sliding open. He stepped onto the bridge to confer with General Dodonna.