Chapter Text
What was it like?
Like water? Soft ripples, strong waves, currents ebbing away, sometimes slowly swirling down invisible drains, then clogging and flooding once again, lifting back into large swells.
Like endless ropes? Snaking their way over and through everything, sections curling into knots, tight holds, bruising grips, and then resolving, disintegrating, falling apart, or violently ripping, leaving burning trails of friction.
Like colors? Vibrant here, muted there, mixing, bleeding out, dripping into others, striations turning into puddles, iridescent shimmering coating certain areas, dark shades expanding and shrinking.
Or like music? Single notes, calling, punctuating, screaming, or bending, then stopping all together, underlying chords, shifting half a tone, flanging echoes growing louder before fading into whispers.
Or like something else entirely? Impossible to put into words or to associate to a single sense, but clearly there nonetheless.
Anakin stood around on the bridge, desperately attempting to focus on the map of Alaris Prime, and not on the sensory overload the Force was now assaulting him with, and neither on his own anxiety consistently gnawing at the edges of his mind.
The reality in the bridge wasn't better. He felt useless, helplessly out of place, trying not to be in the way of the clones swarming in and out of the room. There wasn't a single spot he could stay in longer than a couple of minutes so Anakin resorted to slowly moving around the holotable.
He was straining to understand the rapid exchanges about strategies, how the short orders and codes bursting out of different comm stations fit together, and why the acronyms that frustratingly didn't mean anything to him were important to everybody else. Then of course, every men crossing the room left an afterimage in the Force, every word triggered a reaction with some form of emotion attached to it. Anakin could read some of them, but he couldn't keep up as most disappeared as quickly as they came.
Cody and Rex made sure he at least had a vague idea of what was going on. Despite being absorbed by the preparations for Sev'rance Tann's attack, they did check in with him periodically and gave him little updates or a short explanation when he looked at them puzzled after a critical sounding jumble of nonsense had croaked through the speakers.
As overwhelmed as he was, there were moments of absolute clarity when Rex's explanations overlapped with the elements that made sense in the Force. Small anchors transcending all forms of perception giving short impressions of stability, and he yearned for the next to finally, finally, be able to untangle and re-mesh everything together into a sensible image. Ideally with a place for him in it too.
Thus, Anakin was relieved he could stand around, and wasn't confined to his and Obi-Wan's empty quarters where he would definitely go crazy.
Biting on his fingernails, Anakin focused on the map again. A little blue icon indicated Obi-Wan's position on the planet. He was on his own in the hangar where the decimators had been built. Other icons showed the positions of the troops around the five major settlements of Alaris Prime. The decimators were under Wookiee control, and now evenly dispatched between the cities. If Anakin understood it correctly, the idea was to make them as complicated to steal as possible without leaving the population unprotected.
They didn't know anymore what Tann knew or didn't about the locations of these war machines. Would she beeline for the hangar? Or would she search for them; and what plan had she in store to do gather them? Anakin could not even begin to imagine how one would steal twenty active tanks...
Only one thing was an absolute certainty: the time for subtlety was over. This would end up in battle.
The blue dot seemed so alone. Obi-Wan insisted on staying on his own in the hangar, without any troops in the vicinity. Tann would definitely go there at some point, if not to gather intel on the weapons then at least for the activation codes. Obi-Wan said he did not want any lives at risk between him and her, so he stood watch alone in the empty hangar.
And Anakin watched the lonely dot, feeling useless. What would he do if it were to disappear? Every time his mind reached that thought his throat constricted. And he had to find something else to focus on again. Like this ominous swell in the Force right now. What was that?
A triple beeping noise let all heads turn at the same time towards a display and all exchanges stopped immediately. Cody stared at it.
Rex broke the silence. “That’s… a lot of landing craft.”
Cody exhaled through his nose. “I was hoping you’d say I was misreading that.” In a few steps he reached a comm station.
“This is Commander Cody to all Republic ground units,” he said in a calm and clear voice, “three C-9979 landers incoming. I repeat: three C-9979s are joining the party.”
Anakin heard Rex mutter something to himself along the lines of “three, sure... why not... because one disaster at a time would be too kriffing reasonable.”
Obi-Wan's voice came through the speakers. “Copy that, Cody. Then let the troops foc... on ...ing.. to … many...”
“General, we didn’t catch that. Repeat transmission.”
The line only crackled. The three landers had entered the atmosphere of the planet.
Tension on the bridge rose quickly and movements became more hectic. Anakin did not need his newly acquired sensibility to understand the looming danger, but it pushed itself to the forefront of his mind anyway. The Force felt unhealthily fizzy and heavy at the same time, like a fermenting cesspool of only bad possibilities.
“Switch to back-up channels!” Cody bellowed to someone.
“Nothing, sir!”
“The frequency-hopping one?”
“Only static!”
“Low-band emergency burst-transmissions?”
“Nothing gets through the jamming!”
“Blast! How have we already lost communications?”
“We don't know, sir, but this jamming is unusually strong. We're unable to reach the troops on the surface. All long and mid-range communications seems to be impacted. The platoons probably can't even communicate with each other either to coordinate.”
The three dots were flying in a wide triangular formation, searching for their destination. Anakin was hesitant to interrupt, but couldn't hold back any longer.
“What happens now?” He whispered to Rex, hoping his voice didn't sound as forlorn as he felt.
“Right now? We fall back on command hierarchy, while we look for a solution. All the platoons technically know what to do while the landers are unloading, even though we will lose efficient coordination, because we did not expect three of them.”
“Oh, we need communications back asap!” Cody sounded dangerously urgent and his fingers drummed nervously on the edge of the holotable. Units were moving. Units that were supposed to stand still, Anakin had understood that much.
“Why are all the decimators relocating?” Rex growled. “They're supposed to stay put near the cities,”
Cody seemed to stare beyond the tactical display. “Tann isn't just blocking us... She's sending fake orders! The Wookiees are falling for it.”
Cody swirled around and started shouting through the room. “Warm up is over, soldiers. Start cooking up solutions!”
Anakin felt half an idea forming in his mind. “I-if you can get me into the atmosphere I can communicate with Obi-Wan using the Force. A-and if proximity communication still works, then he could relay-“
“Nice try, but not good enough,” Cody cut him off firmly, “the tactical channels in our helmets are usually not compromised, but they are far too short-ranged.” Then he turned to other clones bouncing different ideas.
Rex added an explanation. “It would also take too much time, and potentially turn into a relay-chain nightmare. And that's not taking into account that the General only has a comlink and not one of our helmets. Slightly different tech. He is also too far away from the next platoon to start the chain... and he might have other things to do.”
“Got it. Relaying is too slow and the helmets too weak.” All kinds of wheels in Anakin's mind were turning, rotating and shifting, trying to slot into place for a viable solution to this puzzle. Getting things to work in less than ideal conditions would have been his slave-job description. Communications needed to function again. He could do this.
Suddenly his left hand ended up in his pocket and on the hydrospanner he picked up somewhere to fidget with. He took it out and looked at it.
“Can I check something with your ARC-170 fighter?” Anakin asked.
Rex looked up from his console, baffled, then he nodded. “If it helps our current situation, sure. Just keep it flight-ready.”
Anakin took off.
Obi-Wan had first been walking slow circles inside the hangar before settling down onto his knees and heels. About twenty minutes had passed since his comlink sputtered out broken off words and then died completely. Maybe it was only his own acting up, but the timing coinciding with Tann's arrival was too precise. He still hoped the rest of the troopers had some form of communication left.
At least Anakin was safe on the Negotiator. He would not be able to concentrate on his task otherwise.
The distant sound of a door opening and closing brought him out of his light meditative state and then he felt another Force-sensitive approaching.
Sev'rance Tann.
He didn't bother getting up for the moment, content with feeling every shift in his surroundings through the Force, his lids firmly shut, chin on his chest.
Footsteps echoed in the vast hall.
“Another Jedi, how cute,” said a smoky voice, “but alas, no little padawan for me to slay. I must say I am disappointed with this meager welcome comity... I expected more...”
Her tone was flirtatious and condescending.
“Hello there,” Obi-Wan lifted his head, knowing exactly where to look to catch her gaze.
The first thing he saw were her red eyes, almost glowing in the dimly lit hangar. No pupils, only red almonds perfectly zeroed in on him. Then her blue skin. Her wavy dark hair going past her shoulders.
She didn't just walk to cross the hangar, she sashayed slowly towards him, unhurried, almost leisurely, one hand on her hip, unlit lightsaber in the other.
She was undeniably beautiful. Very beautiful... and very intense. Like a nexu on the hunt, enveloped in a cloud of murderous intent.
“Sev'rance Tann, I assume?”
“Aww, you learned my name,” Tann stopped half way through the hangar and looked at him like he was some stray loth-kitten meowing at her, “I'm sorry, but I won't bother asking for yours.”
Obi-Wan stood up. “It's Kenobi, in case you do wish to curse me later.”
“I fear there won't be a later, you cute little thing. I need something for the new toys I acquired. You're in the way. Leave, or die.” There was more bite to her intonations now. A commanding tone radiating confidence, implying that both options were more than fine for her.
“And I fear what you acquired wasn't for sale. And right now you are attacking a moon that is under the protection of the Republic. This is an unforgivable act of war. Surrender or face the consequences.”
Sev'rance started moving again. Even though she was still far away, Obi-Wan switched on his blade and fell into his Soresu opening stance.
“Oh my... So feisty!” A predatory smile crept into her face, as she prowled forwards.
She switched on her yellow blade and halted for a moment to perform a precise Makashi-salute.
“Naughty boy... Time to die then.”
“Uhm, Skywalker? Why is the co-pilot seat not inside my fighter anymore?”
Anakin only heard Rex's voice. His feet didn't touch the ladder anymore, his legs were pressed against the hull for stability, otherwise he was hunched over with his upper body hanging down inside the pilot-cockpit of the ARC-170 fighter, trying not to lose track of all the wires.
“Because the helmets need space! Give me a minute. You were faster than I thought. I just have to finish rewiring the targeting array.”
“Rewiring the... what?!”
Before Anakin could explain anything, the commander's voice came through a communicator. “Cody to Rex. Does Skywalker have a solution?”
“I'm not sure what I'm looking at, Cody,” Rex answered hesitantly.
“Well, does it look promising or not? You know we're running out of ideas here...”
“Skywalker appears to have chainlinked my starfighter, a dozen clone buckets... and a thermal detonator?”
Put like that it sounded ridiculous indeed, even to Anakin. But he could explain. It was a good idea. He just needed to finish connecting the last wires.
“WHAT? WHY?” was the reaction through the communicator.
“Because the detonator casing is shielded.” Anakin yelled in the meantime, his voice muffled by the insides of the cockpit. “And it's just the casing, obviously,” he added.
“That does not even remotely answer the question.” Rex snapped back.
“Just give me one more sec'.”
Anakin finally got the connections were they needed to be and wrestled the covering panel back into place. His new hand was good, but sometimes weird, especially when working with small electronics; it could get tricky to be precise. He wasn't complaining. His old prosthetic would have been a total nightmare in this setting. No space to move, difficult to see what he was doing, risky buttons, switches and delicate connections all around him. The new one gave him the necessary sensory input to theoretically know what he was touching, but he was still getting used to it and sometimes he misread that input.
At least the Force-impressions also helped him. He found that when he was focused on a task like this one, the onslaught of the Force wasn't as overwhelming. It seemed reduced to only what he needed to work with.
Holding on to the side of the cockpit, he felt for the ladder with his dangling feet. Once he got his balance back, he climbed down and faced a very much befuddled Rex.
“Cody, I'll leave the channel open. Something tells me this will be impossible to summarize.”
“Ok,” Anakin started, “if the jamming prevents us from using the network, we simply don't use the network.”
“Doesn't sound do-able. Please continue.” Rex said without missing a beat, his eyes fixed on Anakin.
“You said the proximity communication system in your helmets is rarely affected. That's indeed because it's a different technology. It doesn't use the same grid.”
“Yes, but it's for talking to the trooper on the other side of a field, not across a an entire region.”
“I know. That's why I boosted the signal chainlinking all the helmets here.” Anakin waved towards the dozen interlinked helmets temporarily resting on one of the starfighter's wings. “It should at least be tripled. And well, I will spare you the technical details...” He looked at the casing of the thermal detonator. Time was of the essence. Anakin needed Rex and Cody to understand his idea. The technicalities wouldn't help. “In short, I enhanced the signal, and wrote a program so a message can automatically bounce between helmets until it reaches a specific group, or all available helmets, depending on what you need. So no individual, active relaying, it's automated.”
It was the best he could do. It would still be impossible to contact Obi-Wan, and that bothered him. But he figured if he could help the soldiers, it would end up helping Obi-Wan.
Rex blinked. “You’re using our men as comm towers?”
“Basically. You just have to fly around, check if all troopers are close enough to each other to get orders. If a group is too far away, you might have to fly closer to them.”
“This way we could restore a form of ground communication. But mission control is up here on the Negotiator. Any way to get that working?”
“Yes, well... In a way.”
“Spit it out, Skywalker. This blackout is costing lives. So far this is our best shot.”
“Speaking of shooting... We can't have you fly out, dock to talk with Cody, fly out, dock again and so on... So, I thought let's use an optical beam to transmit between your fighter and the bridge. You only have to aim the laser canon exactly towards the bridge. This way you could check in with Cody from time to time.”
“Aim the laser canon?... Because I have to shoot my message to the bridge???”
Right away Cody's concerned voice crackled through as well. “Did I hear Skywalker suggest shooting my bridge?”
“Obviously, I toned down the laser,” Anakin lifted his hands in defense, “It's just a wider light beam now. Should be harmless. I'm pretty sure I rewired it correctly, I think.”
Rex lifted his eyebrows.
“I mean, it's rewired correctly, full stop.” Anakin added. “Distance doesn't matter, but you have to be precise. Just like with a real canon, I guess. You need a direct line of sight and hit the scanners, otherwise the transmission will break off.”
Rex had watched him attentively throughout the entire discussion. Anakin tried to look confident. He was confident it would work. At least eighty percent sure. Maybe only seventy... No! It should—would work. It needed to. For Obi-Wan's sake.
Then, slowly, Rex started nodding, squeezed Anakin's shoulder with his free hand and lifted the communicator closer to his face.
“Cody, I think this is worth a shot. Quite literally.”
It really worked. It actually did. Rex's voice came through, even if it took him a couple of tries to align the beam correctly, and some transmissions broke off due to him slightly changing course. Cody was so happy he even named the sytem: the bucket-canon-relay. He used it as a verb. "Rex, bucket this to the troops, then canon back!".
Anakin walowed in relief knowing he truly contributed something. Until Rex's updates sunk in. The fights on the surface were chaotic and brutal: the battle droids were better organized and clearly not suffering from the jamming; the clone platoons inefficiently divided between the landers, missing battle clarity, unable to focus on the relocating decimators, because the droids relentlessly pushed towards the cities as a diversion.
The ongoing tension on the bridge made Anakin so anxious he had to leave. The inability to contact Obi-Wan didn't exactly help either. His contribution was over anyways, he told himself while walking out discretely. Yet, in the elevator on the way to his quarters, he realized his anxiety only grew. The tension he associated with the unyielding work of the officers on the bridge to gain back control over the raging conflict didn't not go down one bit. It felt more and more like a warning in the Force. Like cables under torsion, about to snap back violently at some point.
Obi-Wan.
It struck him like a proton torpedo finding its mark.
Obi-Wan was in danger.
Within minutes, Anakin was back in the dorsal hangar of the Negotiator looking at his options. None of them were good. None of this was a good idea. Yet, not doing anything felt worse.
He was basically about steal a ship and do the one thing Obi-Wan had asked him not to do.
The WTK? Too slow, too big, too much of a target.
Another ARC-170 or a V19? The clones might need them. He would be messing with their options to win this battle. Unfair.
His eyes fell on the Aethersprite. The Jedi-starfighter. The one he struggled to control in a simulation... Bad idea. Very bad idea.
Though it would be the one ship no one relied on. He wouldn't interfere too much with their strategies taking this one. And he had more input from the Force now... Would that suffice?
Just fly down, land, check on Obi-Wan, come back. No wild maneuvering. Easy... Right?
Anakin grabbed a clone helmet that was still lying around from his experiments, and glanced at all the starfighters again. His heart hammered inside his chest as he climbed into the Aethersprite.
The last thing Obi-Wan saw was a flash of yellow.
The constant clashing of blue and yellow... These colors would probably be imprinted forever onto his lids. The electrical hum, the heat.
Sev'rance Tann was agile, quick and graceful, every movement a perfect expression of her Makashi-style.
The duel was dragging on. Their blades flowed from one exchange into the next with neither of them able to gain the upper hand. A battle of attrition at its finest.
Tann was taunting him sometimes, either with words or with moves, but didn't manage to lure him out of his Soresu.
Obi-wan had rarely fought someone so elegantly efficient, so economical in the management of their energy, and yet so determined and deadly. He recognized Dooku's influence on her style.
Then, all of a sudden, she threw her lightsaber at him. He lifted his own blade to fend of the swirl of yellow that came right at him, managed to deflect it, and before he could begin to think about that uncommon move, he felt it. A sting on the right side of his chest. He lowered his arms, looked down – and saw a the smooth hilt of a throwing knife stick out of him.
There was only his own disbelief. Strangely, his thoughts went to Qui-Gon next. Had he felt the same? The way he collapsed onto his knees and fell on his side should have been uncomfortable, but his brain had not yet prioritized pain as a useful information.
Inhaling became difficult. There was blood in his mouth.
Anakin.
The pain washed over him.
His strength vanished, and all he could do was cradle his side of the bond to him as if it were his own heart, hold on to it, caress it-
A loud sound made him close his eyes.
But the last thing Obi-Wan saw was a flash of yellow above him.
Anakin barrel-rolled into the atmosphere of Alaris Prime. Keeping the fighter level wasn't as straight forward as he hoped it would be.
“SKYWALKER! What are you doing here?” Rex's voice thundered through the helmet Anakin had decided to wear. Apparently boosting the signal with his weird contraption also meant the sound quality suffered greatly. He inadvertantly made a mental note for next time he'd have to repair a comm system. The voice sounded metallic, hollow and tinny. “The General will rip my head off if something happens to you!”
“Obi-Wan is in danger. I can feel it! I have to do something!”
“Let me get a visual on you. Ah! There you ar—CARTWHEELING into the hangar with that interceptor won't help anyone! Get that damn nose level!“
“Well I'm trying!”
“Pick a direction that is NOT the ground! Counter the roll once, then let her settle!”
Anakin aimed for the horizon and... managed to stop the roll. Even though the wings were at a ninety degree angle towards the ground and he was now pressed into the side of his cockpit, with only the belts keeping him in his seat. At least it gave him some breathing room to stop his adrenaline from spiking further. His blood was pounding inside his ears.
“Good,” he heard Rex say, “let the stabilizers do their job. And give us both a moment to think!”
Anakin loosened his death grip on the controls, forcing himself to breathe. The alarms that had been going off non-stop were gone. The craft was simply flying. Straight. Kind of. A certain calmness washed over him. Technically, he knew how to fly. He felt for the Force surrounding him.
Beneath his hands, the Aethersprite now seemed to... speak. Tiny vibrations rippled through the control yoke, every small thruster adjustment was preceded by a subtle shift he felt before he consciously registered it.
Anakin tested getting his wings aligned with the horizon. A minuscule movement of the controls was enough. Almost too much already, as he didn't get them exactly parallel, but slightly overshot.
Then he felt it. The waves, the ropes, the colors and sounds he couldn't really place, but that encompassed everything around him, and much more. With his mind set on flying, the overflow of information wasn't as disorienting. It was almost as if he could pick guidelines to learning a new language.
“Much better, Skywalker. Whatever you did, keep doing it and hold tight. I have to get an update to Cody. I'll be back in a minute. AND stay high! There is anti-aircraft fire in the battlefields.”
Anakin saw the ARC-170 in the distance shoot high into the sky and orient itself to find its target, aka the bridge, for a quick exchange with mission control.
In the meantime, he tried flying a curve, with slightly shaky hands.
So far, so good, he thought.
It allowed him to watch the battlefields in the distance below him. The war unfolded like a living, moving map. White-armored platoons clashed against rows and rows of battle droids. Green and blue blaster bolts stitched across the landscape, columns of dark smoke shifted in the wind, explosions blossomed here and there, marking invisible defensive lines.
Some Wookiee groups of warriors mixed with the clones to defend the cities, fending of wave after wave of droids.
“I'm back, Skywalker. I've ordered a small team to the General's location. They should at least be able to update us in a moment.” Rex's fighter appeared in Anakin's field of vision again. “I suggest we find a way to deal with the decimators. That should get Tann's attention away from Kenobi.”
“I still have the activation codes for four of them!” Anakin suddenly realized. “I could initiate the self-destruct. These tanks are so sensitive to overloading, it should trigger a chain reaction if the others are close! Maybe we could destroy all of them!”
“Huh... That would definitely prevent them from getting stolen... But, somehow I think they were supposed to stay assets though...”
“They'd still be assets... Just single-use exploding ones.”
“And right now they're a huge liability anyways... Ok, how do we do this, Skywalker?” There was anticipation in the tinny voice.
“I need to get close to them. Under hundred meters close to make sure the signal reaches them through the jamming. Do you know where they are?”
“Yes, in that C-9979 lander on your starboard. The one that's furthest away. See it? Half of the other decimators are already loaded inside. Troops couldn't get close due to all the droids.”
“How did they get there?”
“The Wookiees were ambushed at the fake 'safe' rendez-vous point. Unfortunately all of the Wookiee pilots died. Then the droids simply drove them here. Fortunately none of the pilots gave them the codes to engage the weapons.”
At least they were all in one place. That should enable quite a strong explosion.
“Got an idea,” Rex continued, “I'll coordinate the platoons and have the LAATs suppress the flak. That should give us a short window to get in close. You follow me. I've still got the rear cannon if we need extra firepower. And you stay on my line. I'm not scraping you off the ground!”
“Ok, let's do it!”
Anakin clung to this plan. It was a plan. It could help Obi-Wan.
Moments later, the battlefield transformed. LAAT gunships swept in low, their side-mounted cannons hammering the enemy flaks while clone platoons surged out of their cover in coordinated bursts.
“Corridor's open!” Rex yelled.
The ARC-170 carved a path through the smoke and Anakin stayed glued to his tail, trusting Rex's experience more than his own instinct to pull away from the explosions. They were so low, Anakin felt like he could touch the ground.
"Eyes on me, Skywalker," Rex said over the helmet. "I'll get you there."
And he did. His rear canons chewed up all droid gunners trying to line up on the Aethersprite.
Suddenly, the onboard computer beeped, announcing the requested connection was established. Anakin punched in the activation codes, then selected the self-destruct mechanism. He hit the confirm-button and immediately the computer beeped again to inform him of the disconnect.
For a split second, he thought he had failed.
Time slowed down.
He felt a soft caress through his bond with Obi-Wan and wondered what that was...
Then the shock wave hit him.
One violent push on one wing sent him into another roll. Luckily, the nose was already pointed upwards, as he was still following every single one of Rex's moves. Alarms shrieked through the cockpit again, as he saw Rex's fighter barrel-roll upwards as well. The next wave hit, even before the sound of the first was audible.
“Wooooof! Let's clear the area, Skywalker!”
Now the sound waves caught up and a series of loud bangs reached them as they both steadied their fighters again in higher atmosphere. Anakin had to focus entirely on keeping the Aethersprite under control.
“Eighteen... nineteen... twenty!” Rex counted. “Plus the initial detonation. All targets destroyed!”
Anakin let out a short incredulous laugh. “Rex, it worked!” He looked back and saw a sea of fire where the C-9979 lander used to be.
“That was completely insane!” Rex answered laughing. “Nice flying, Skywalker!”
They flew a wide curve over the battlefield, while Rex compiled and sent updates for both, the ground-platoons and mission control.
Anakin fumbled to feel for his bond. Around him, the Force felt less dangerous, less chaotic. But there was something going on with his connection to Obi-Wan. He couldn't feel the shields Obi-Wan had put up to focus on his fight. Nudging him didn't get him any reaction. There was only... numbness. What had been that soft sensation he had felt earlier? Panic rose in him again and started looking for the city of Chendrll to find the hangar.
“Skywalker, I got news for you.” Rex's voice appeared in his ear. “The General was injured. Our ruckus with the explosion came just in time. It distracted Tann enough that the squad could push her into fleeing. They're getting Kenobi into medbay as we speak.”
There's injured and then there's injured. Turned out Obi-Wan got a throwing knife into his left lung and was found with a collapsed lung moments from bleeding out.
And Anakin hadn't been there.
Apparently, Tann had her lightsaber raised above him when the troopers arrived and fired a salve at her. That was the only thing that had prevented her from doing the unthinkable. Then the explosions went off in the background.Tann received a transmission, glanced toward the exit, and vanished yelling somehing about 'that damned Hutt'.
Once back aboard the Negotiator, Anakin sprinted to medbay only to be stopped at the entrance. The medical staff had their hands full. Stretchers lined the walls, there were so many injured clones that there wasn't the time nor the space to handle visitors.
Anakin tried to push past anyway and the chief medic had to call in Fives to escort Anakin out of medbay. The only reassurance Anakin managed to extract was that Obi-Wan had been placed in a bacta tank and was stable.
But it didn't do anything to keep his mind from spiraling.
Fives accompanied him somewhere, all while explaining the current situation to him. The troops were cleaning up the battlefield. The injured were top priority and Anakin couldn't do much for Obi-Wan at the moment.
Instead of ending up in front of his shared quarters, Fives had brought him to maintenance.
“Occupy your mind, Skywalker. Debrief is in two hours on the bridge. Until then, you can help out here if you want. I think it's better than walking in circles doing nothing.”
Anakin spent about an hour filling and sealing blaster scoring on armor plates before he couldn't stand it anymore. He had to get to Obi-Wan. He had to see him. Their bond was weirdly muted. It sounded logical as he was unconsciously floating in bacta, but still. It was driving Anakin crazy.
Discreetly, he left maintenance and walked back to medbay. The worst of the storm seemed to have passed. There were no stretchers standing around randomly anymore, no shouting, no running.
The medics were moving around, doing their work diligently, highly concentrated, not paying any attention to Anakin who snuck in.
Anakin was crouching, moving slowly from medibed to medibed though the triage-area, then through a recovery ward, until he reached the door leading to the room with the bacta tanks.
There were eight cylindrical tanks, dying the room in light blue. All of them were occupied, but otherwise the room was empty.
Anakin held his breath, passing one tank after this other. Then he saw Obi-Wan in the last one, suspended in the healing liquid, a mask covering his mouth and nose.
He rested his flesh hand against the transparisteel. It was cold and that was it. What did he expect? Realistically nothing, yet a part of him hoped he would get a sign that everything would truly be alright.
Obi-Wan looked calm, his hair floating in the motionless substance. The stab-wound on his chest was already fading.
Someone could walk in any minute... Anakin searched the room and found a desk from which he would have a direct line of sight to Obi-Wan. He rolled a medical cart towards it. It was stashed with supplies, syringes, sealed bacta ampoules. Then, he crawled underneath the desk and rolled the cart in front of him. Obi-Wan was visible through the gaps between the trays, but it should also prevent anyone entering from spotting him right away.
What time was it? Anakin didn't know. He was lost in his watch over Obi-Wan. His day had started with a lesson in the flight simulator, then one with Rex on the shooting range, a wonderful visit of Alaris with Obi-Wan, a life-changing detour to a certain temple he would never forget... and then the battle preparations started. Followed by the battle itself. And now... Was it already the next day? His brain felt mushy, like he was supposed to be asleep.
The door hissed open.
“No, there's no one her-” a voice said, before stopping abruptly. “Never mind. Found him.”
Steps came closer. A pair of boots appeared next to the cart. The person crouched and looked at him.
“Anakin Skywalker?”
Anakin froze, uncertain of how much trouble he was in.
“...Didn't Fives escort you out earlier?”
A long silence followed.
“I'm Kix by the way.”
Eventually, Anakin scooted out, dusting off his trousers without meeting Kix's eyes.
“I wasn't disturbing anyone,” Anakin said sheepishly.
“No. But not spectacularly well hidden either. There is a reason that cart is supposed to stand over there.”
Anakin shot a quick glance at Kix. The man stood in front of him, arms crossed.
“Rex is looking for you. You have a meeting in 15 minutes.”
Anakin's gaze went to Obi-Wan.
“I... wanted to see Obi-wan.”
“I figured.”
“I just...” He swallowed, feeling his eyes tear up. “I needed to know he was still here...”
Anakin quickly swiped the palm of his flesh hand over his cheeks, making sure he wasn't crying. Kix's expression softened.
“He is here.”
“But what if-”
“His vitals are steady.” Kix said quietly. “He's resting in bacta, breathing on his own again. He's exactly where he should be.”
Kix rolled the medical cart back to where it was.
“And visiting hours exist for a reason,” Kix continued, “patients need to rest, staff need to be able to work.”
“You don't understand-” Anakin wanted to protest.
“Believe me I do. I constantly have troopers, sometimes covered in bacta patches themselves, trying to sneak into medbay because they want to check on their brothers. Half of them think I don't notice. And let me remind you they're all my brothers too.”
“Alright,” Anakin said reluctantly, “I'll leave...”
“Five minutes.”
“What?”
“I'll come back in five, and I'll expect you to be gone by then. Remember that you're needed elsewhere right now. And you need rest as well.”
“Thank you, Kix.” Anakin felt a genuine smile tug on his lips.
“If he wakes up tonight, I'll tell him I had to throw you out twice.” Kix walked to the door and turned back one more time. “It's good for patients to know that someone is waiting for them. See you tomorrow.”
Anakin reached the bridge feeling exhausted, but all in all a lot better. The short discussion with Kix had somehow helped.
“How do you want to proceed, Skywalker?” Cody asked, as soon as he entered the bridge. “As the General is incapacitated, I'll have to report to the Council after this debriefing. Especially if we want to move the Negotiator to the Outer Rim to follow Tann. Should I leave your name out of the events?”
It struck Anakin once more, that he wasn't supposed to be here. Even though everyone on board was kind to him and acted as if he was part of the team, officially he'd been left on Naboo.
Obi-Wan lying for him was one thing. Adding his commander and the rest of the ship into the game an entirely different dimension.
“No,” he said slowly, each of his next words a challenge to say. “I want to call them myself.”
Before neither Cody nor Rex could react, he reached for the button to activated the holocall that was already in stand-by. He heard a “Skywalker, WAIT-”, but pressed the button anyway.
No time like the present. Best to get this over with.
The holotable flickered to life.
Three blue figures rose from the projector in wavering blue outlines, their robes heavy and severe in the dim bridge room: a Cerean with a short beard, a stern-looking bald guy, and a very small one with pointy ears.
“Uhm-m... hel-hello?” Maybe he should have waited and discussed it further with the two clones. He hated that his voice was already shaky. He wasn't even sure who he was talking to.
Was the small figure Yoda?
The bald guy spoke. Anakin was pretty sure Obi-Wan mentioned him. Windu was his name. Maybe? Probably.
“Who are you? Why are we receiving this transmission through Master Kenobi’s command authorization? Where is Kenobi?” Probably-Windu sounded pissed from the get-go.
The Cerean Master didn't wait for Anakin to answer: “Oh no... has the Negotiator fallen into enemy hands?”
Anakin wanted to reassure them and sound professional. This felt like meeting the parents and he really wanted to leave a good impression. Somehow things were already weird. He really should have waited and thought this through.
“No, General Kenobi is marinating in bacta right now.”
Maybe he shouldn't have said 'marinating'. Why did he say that? Did he even tell them his name?
He must have looked completely helpless because Cody and Rex shared a look and decided to step into frame beside Anakin.
The atmosphere shifted instantly.
“Could someone explain what is going on?” Probably-Windu asked again, frowning deeply.
Rex folded his hands behind his back, ignored Cody who was also about to talk, and started reporting. “Separatist assault on Alaris Prime, sir. Sev’rance Tann deployed atmospheric jamming upon arrival. It got ugly quickly, but we kind of won.”
“Are you Windu?” Anakin blurted out, and regretted it the second the words left his mouth. So much for making a good impression.
“Master Windu for you, whoever you are!”
Rex instantly covered the lower half of his face with one hand. Cody looked abruptly fascinated by the tactical displays.
Great. He already managed to rile this guy up. Definitely-Windu wasn't shouting, but there was an annoyed growling in his voice.
“Young Anakin Skywalker, this must be,” Yoda said. To Anakin's utter astonishment, Yoda looked amused by the whole situation.
“Oh, the slave-boy!” Windu seemed to vaguely remember something about him, like a long forgotten anecdote. This fraction of a reaction infuriated Anakin. Windu continued. “Wasn't Master Kenobi supposed to-”
“NOT a slave anymore!” Anakin cut him off. This Windu-guy seriously got on Anakin's nerves, and he wasn't sorry for interrupting him. “And I didn't WANT to stay on Naboo! So I DECIDED not to.”
“-leave you on Naboo?” Windu finished his question anyway, pinching the bridge of his nose. Then he took a deep breath. “Ok, one thing after the other... Mission report, please!”
“There was a communication issue,” Anakin said defensively, completely overlooking Cody who made a hand sign to maybe let him explain. “So I invented a bucket-canon-relay with a modified ARC’s laser canon.”
Silence.
“You did what?” The Cerean Jedi asked, then he turned to both his colleagues, “Did you understand any of that?”
Windu was now massaging both his temples.
“It worked,” Rex added immediately.
“Barely,” Anakin muttered.
“It worked.” Rex repeated firmly.
Windu looked singularly unimpressed by all of this and turned to Cody.
“You allowed an untrained civilian access to Republic military systems?”
“Respectfully, sir,” Cody said, “he restored surface-to-fleet communications after Tan collapsed our network.” Now that he got a word in, Cody tried to bring some order into this mission report. And failed miserably as Rex jumped in again.
“By partially disassembling my fighter!”
“You volunteered your fighter,” Anakin shot back, unsure whether Rex was proud of it or still slightly horrified about the gutted co-pilot's cockpit.
“I lost that argument the moment you picked up a hydrospanner.”
To Anakin’s repeated astonishment, Yoda looked amused again.
Windu, somehow, appeared even more annoyed by that.
“Regardless,” the bald Jedi said sharply, “this situation has already exceeded acceptabl-”
“We have to follow Tan to Tatooine,” Anakin interrupted again.
Windu was now actively controlling his breathing. Anakin recognized a pattern he'd done with Obi-Wan while learning how to meditate.
“I'll ask one more time. SITREP! Now! An understandable one!”
“As if my sentence wasn't clear...” Anakin mumbled, more to himself, but very audible for everyone. He felt a hand on his shoulder, then saw Cody, jaw clenched, silently chiding him and Rex with a raised index.
Cody took over with a firm voice: “Troops have successfully protected the population from the battle droids. Because of the communication blackout, Sev'rance Tann managed to gather the decimators with fake orders. Rex and Skywalker destroyed them, which led to Tann fleeing. General Kenobi got injured during his duel with Tann. She's on her way to Tatooine, probably to confront the Hutt about the failed deal. She's dangerous. We are requesting permission to pursue her.”
Apparently, Rex couldn't stay silent for more than half a minute and had to add details.
“Skywalker and I turned the decimators into explosives and destroyed a C-9979!” Rex stated proudly and Anakin felt himself stand up straighter, smiling boldly at his mission companion.
Windu closed his eyes and kept rubbing circles on his forehead with his hands, fingers splayed for maximum coverage.
“Commander,” Windu looked defeated, “you hereby have the authorization to follow this General Tann. Get us Master Kenobi to report as soon as he can to clear up this... whatever this is.” Windu dragged his fingers over his face. “And I want – need a full, well written mission report! And fast.”
The holocall disconnected.
Anakin swore he heard some held back laughs from other clones present on the bridge.
“Well,” Rex concluded, “that was the most chaotic mission report of my life.”
“Sorry.”
“Oh don't be. I loved every second of it.” Rex grinned at Anakin. “Though I might get my ass kicked from the Commander.” He turned to Cody, who was typing something on a datapad. “Commander?”
“Ah, now I'm allowed to talk?” Cody put away his datapad with exaggerated care. “Since you were so eager to contribute, you'll be the one writing the damn thing! And when my shift ends, you're going to get me a decent drink. And you will keep doing that until this mission report won't be the only topic of discussion in the ship's cantina anymore. Clear?”
“I think that might take a while, sir.”
“My thoughts exactly. I'm looking forward to you paying for all my drinks.”
With a wide smile, Rex gave Cody a respectful salute.
“And you,” Cody turned to Anakin, “you will revert Rex's fighter back to its original state. As much as he might enjoy the idea of simply blinding the seppies to death with his overpowered torch, I have a ship to run and a war to win. Get that canon back to doing actual damage.”
Sometime during his lightly admonishing speech, Rex had put an arm around Anakin's shoulders, infectiously grinning ear-to-ear.
“Good work, though.” Cody added, trying to hide a smile that was slowly curling the corners of his mouth upwards.
“Go get some sleep, buddy,” Rex said, “Tomorrow, I'll even help you if you help me write that report. I'm actually looking forward to filing the bucket-canon-relay in great detail into the Republic's military database.”
Waning cold. That was the first thing he registered.
Something brushing lightly inside his hand. Something else on top.
Obi-wan stirred, tried opening his eyes – they were burning, sticky, and refused to cooperate. The acidic, clean smell of bacta reached his stuffy nose.
Bacta tank...
His lungs functioned. Had he really survived?
“Hey.”
Anakin.
The sound of shuffling. His arm got lifted and bent at the elbow, his hand slid and rested on a cheek. Anakin was holding his hand to his face, kissing his palm, cradling it with his own.
“I can't open my eyes” Obi-Wan said. Or he thought he would, but only a croaking sound left his throat.
A tugging on their bond made it flare and reminded him of it.
Are you alright? Obi-Wan sent.
An exhaled wet, chuckle.
“Yeah, I'm fine. And you will be – thank the stars. How are you feeling?”
Obi-Wan let his answer float over bond again. Can't open my eyes.
“Oh, Kix left some swabs for that here. Let me help you.”
Some fabric wiped gently over his eyes and eventually he could glance through his lids.
An indistinct shape resolved into a familiar face with a warm smile.
Gods, you're beautiful.
Anakin laughed again. “And you look terrible. Like you've gone through the digestive tract of Lady Gobblesnout. Your hair is all sticky.”
Well, thank you, Anakin. Obi-Wan tried to convey some light annoyance through the bond, but failed happily.
Anakin, who was now sitting on the side of the bed, reached for a glass of water.
“Honestly, it's good news. If I can make fun of you and you can complain, it means we're both alive.”
Anakin held the glass in his lap for a moment, looking into it. Obi-Wan dragged his own hand on top of Anakin's. They held hands for a moment, before Anakin started nodding slowly, catching Obi-Wan's gaze.
“Here, drink. Small sips.”
He brought the glass to Obi-Wan's lips.
The fresh water did wonders. His mouth, that had previously felt like it was all glued together, became mobile again. And after the fifth sip he could clear his throat.
“Thank you,” he rasped and closed his eyes again. He almost drifted off, but managed to mumble “Wanna cuddle?”
“I'd love to, but I don't think Kix would...”
“Don't care. Kix not here.” Groaning a bit due to his stiff muscles, Obi-Wan shifted to make some room in the bed. Anakin immediately climbed under the sheets.
“Do you need some more water?” Anakin offered.
“Yes, please.”
Anakin grabbed the glass again and handed it over, carefully making sure Obi-Wan would indeed be able to hold it.
“You seem way too collected for all of this...” Obi-Wan had to mention after some more sips. “You've been up to something.”
“Oh you know... I did a bit of this and a bit of that.” Anakin snuggled against his shoulder.
“Should I worry?” Obi-Wan inquired, raising the glass of water to his lips again, taking some water in.
“Nah. Windu is a bit cranky, but I'm sure he'll get over it...”
Obi-Wan spat out the water.