#except maybe nilam and qui-gon

[hannagoldworthy]

AWOL 26

(Another longer one.  Lots of disagreements in this chapter, but somehow I managed to sneak in a brief, cute little exchange that I’ve been wanting to post for months.  Also, I left canon a little bit more broken than I found it, again.  Yay!)

It was said that the lineage of Yoda through his most recent apprentice, Yan Dooku, tended to be more reckless and foolhardy than most. Ahsoka had grown enough that she no longer bristled at that particular bit of criticism, but she still preferred to think that she, Anakin, and Master Obi-Wan had their priorities straight, because there was not much time in battle for thought to dwell on anything else but the most immediate problem.

Therefore, once she recovered from the initial wave of disbelief at finding her best friend in the company of a Sith Lord who ought to have died more than a decade ago, Ahsoka let the conundrum pass for the moment.  The immediate problem was not Barriss or Maul.  The immediate problem was getting off Florrum.

And the immediate obstacles to solving that problem were the several speederfuls of pirates who had caught up to them.

And getting onto the Crucible while in a live firefight.

When the Crucible was being piloted by a ten-year-old Rodian.

As a wise one once said…fierfek.

Well, at the very least, their ferocious new temporary ally was not at all afraid of returning fire…so to speak.  When a blaster bolt had ricocheted perilously close to Barriss’s head just as she was having her turn drinking from the canteen, Maul had sent the speeder of the pirate responsible hurtling into the speeder behind it.  Jinx gave Ahsoka precisely one wide-eyed expression of helplessness, before turning off his blue lightsaber and following suit, plucking the remaining pirates out of their seats and dropping them to tumble into Florrum’s yellow dust.

“You’re not going to win anything by sparing their useless lives, boy.”

“And you’re wasting your breath being dramatic.  They’re out of range now.”

Barriss swiped a blaster bolt out of the air before it could hit Jinx’s right lekku.  “Less talking, more blocking.  Are we there yet?”

Ahsoka tuned out the fight, listening to the distinctive whistle of the Crucible’s ancient engine as it gradually grew nearer.  “Almost.” She put her head into the tank’s hatch. “All right, everybody out!  You guys are getting on first.”

“But the accelerator…”

“Lock it in place with something!  We need to go!”

The Crucible pulled up beside them, smoking and squealing in ways that would have set even Anakin’s teeth on edge.  The old gangplank was lowered, and Ganodi and Professor Huyang stood upon it, the young Rodian reaching out with her hands and the Force towards her friends.

And that was when the tank suddenly decelerated; whatever had been placed on the accelerator to keep it going had been displaced.  Ahsoka braced, grabbing poor Byph as he lost his footing and nearly fell. The Crucible, already overtaxed in this high-speed chase for which it had not been built even in its time, careened away from them; without a good pilot at its controls, it lurched and then plummeted toward the ground.  Ganodi and the Professor only had enough time to leap out of the ship before it crashed…right into a ravine which Ahsoka only just now noticed they had been approaching.

Petro disappeared into the hatch, and the brakes screeched two moments later.  They came to a perilous, halting stop, mere meters from meeting the Crucible’s ultimate fate.  The pirate speeders surrounded them.

“Hands up, Jedi!”

Ahsoka knew when she was beaten.  She turned off her sabers, holstered them, and put her hands above her head.  Almost everyone else did the same…except, of course…

“That means you, Zabrak!”

The Sith held his hands primly behind his back, though he did spare the speaker one ferocious glare.  “I am not a Jedi.”

“Maul,” Barriss hissed.

“Put.  Your hands. UP!”

He lifted his eyebrows, and then tilted one ear to the sky. “Like…so?”  He flicked his wrists, and flipped the three speeders over, toppling everyone still in them to the ground.

The pirates swore and tried to right themselves, but before they could get reorganized, a heavy weight descended toward them.  A heavy, beat-up freighter landed thunderously between the pirates and the commandeered tank, its large cargo bay doors opened wide.

“Everybody inside!”

“Oh, you have got to be kidding,” Ahsoka breathed, even as she fished Petro out of the pilot seat.

“Have you got any better ideas?” Jinx yelled, before he leaped off the tank to retrieve Ganodi and the Professor.

…He was right.  There was no choice, here.  It was either this, or let the pirates capture them again, them and all the younglings.

Ahsoka ran up behind the children, helping Barriss toss Zatt, Katooni, and Petro up into Byph, Merrin, and Gungi’s waiting hands.  Then, she jumped into the cargo bay, and caught Barriss’s hand to lift her up; Maul hauled the Professor inside a second later, Barriss caught Ganodi when Jinx wildly tossed her, and Ahsoka barely managed to drag Jinx himself aboard before they were taking off, the blaster bolts still flying around their heads as the doors finally closed.  Then, for a moment, all was still as everyone fought to catch their breath.

“Best.  Training mission.  Ever,” Gungi growled at long last.

“What he said,” Byph returned in his own language.

When she got home, Ahsoka was going to buy Obi-Wan a good keg of his favorite tea.  If this was the sort of headache he had to deal with all the time around her and Anakin, the man was a living, breathing saint and deserved three dozen vacations at the least.

***

“Um…brother?” Savage murmured as they left Florrum’s atmosphere.

Maul rolled his eyes, and began to input calculations for a hyperspace jump.  “I know, I know.  Just…get us out of here for now.”

Savage sighed.  “No, I don’t mean them.”  He took Maul’s hand, and pointed out of the bridge window.  “That.”

His younger brother’s jaw dropped as he saw what Savage had noticed on the sensors…that being the entire flotilla of Confederate ships which had dropped out of hyperspace in front of them scant seconds before.  “…What?”

“That’s Grievous’s flagship,” Savage said…oh, and that was a person he’d hoped never to cross again, but here they were.  “What did you do?”

“I…I don’t know…”

“It wasn’t him,” intoned one of Maul’s new acquisitions, a Togruta, who entered the control room, staring at the ships outside with an expert gaze.  “The Ohnaka Gang has been at odds with Dooku for some time now. Obviously Dooku has sent his main enforcer to deal with them.”

“Oh,” Savage grunted, swiveling around to the controls in order to direct their ship out of the flotilla’s path.  “Well, never let it be said that I stood in the way of General Grievous…”

“You’re just going to run away?” the girl demanded.

Savage was pretty sure he and Maul made the same bewildered gesture before they turned back toward her.  “Was Ohnaka not about to sell you to Dooku?” Maul asked.  “Why in the name of every star are you defending that mongrel?”

There was an obstinate light in the young Jedi’s eyes. “That mongrel is the only thing in this sector that doesn’t belong to the Confederacy.  His raids have disrupted their supply chain far more than we’ve been able to manage. Like it or not, he’s necessary if anyone is going to depose Dooku.”

She was careful to avoid mentioning the Jedi or the Republic, and addressed her argument chiefly to Savage in a tacit appeal to his presumed desire for revenge against his erstwhile Master.  “That is an excellent point,” Savage replied, holding up a hand when Maul, confused, began to lose his temper.  “And, if I was in any other situation aside from this, I’d give my left hand for the chance to ruin Count Dooku’s day.  But, I’m not the only factor here. We are getting away, end of discussion.”

“But…”

“You heard him,” Maul murmured.  “Go back to your younglings, Padawan.”

She sneered, and stamped all the way back to the cargo bay where her fellows were waiting.

Savage grinned.  “Man, you’re better at adopting strays than I am.”

“…Shut up.”

“…We’re going back to Yavin?  But the pirates found us there…”

“The pirates are about to be far too busy to care about where we’ve gone.  It’s as good a hiding place as any.”

***

…There was a Hutt-sized bedframe welded to the cargo bay floor, with a fully-attached mattress to boot.  Barriss was currently occupied with gathering a great many blankets, comforters, and pillows, which had been scattered about the room with all of the recent activity; the younglings shrugged, and set about helping her with the task.

Ahsoka watched quietly, feeling as if her life was spinning out of control and she couldn’t even manage to decide how to react to it. Florrum is being invaded by Separatists, she signed, dully.

Good.

She glared at Jinx.  Obi-Wan did not spend the last two years cultivating a rapport with Hondo Ohnaka for us to lose him as an ally. This could turn the war against us.

Master Kenobi is still in the neighborhood.  If he wants to keep Ohnaka there, he has the numbers to liberate him, if the wily old rodder does not liberate himself first.  The Twi’lek eyed her shrewdly.  But that isn’t the real reason you’re angry, is it?

She huffed.  I’m not angry, I’m frustrated.  We just wasted two years of progress…

No, Ohnaka wasted two years of progress when he decided to throw friendly relations with the Jedi out the window to grab at some shiny crystals.  We made a choice to survive, and we did.

For how long?  Force save us…you weren’t here to see the results of Savage Opress’s last rampage, but I was.  He killed one of my crèchemates, his Master, and their entire division of clones…

Yes, I know.  I watched the HUD footage to get a feel for what I was getting into.  At Ahsoka’s horrified face, Jinx averted his eyes and shrugged.  I’ll admit it didn’t really put my mind in a good place.  But, that battle was months ago, and to be honest, he didn’t look well in those holos.  He was too still, too robotic, and his pupils were…I dunno, wonky, too much dilated for the amount of daylight he was in.  I think it’s safe to say he was not his own person then, under some kind of mind control.  And…well, look at him now.

The giant Zabrak had lumbered into the room, and gingerly bent to pick up a soft blanket patterned with cartoon tookas.  Zatt crept up to him, gesturing to the blanket.

“I can take that over to the bed if you want.”

Opress peered down, barely able to see the young Nautolan over the expanse of his own massive chest.  “Uh…no, I…” he stammered, gently lifting the blanket out of the youngling’s grasp.  “This is, uh…mine.”

Zatt stared solemnly back at him, and reached up to pat his elbow.  “That’s valid, my dude.”

Jinx turned back to Ahsoka, raising his eyebrows meaningfully. See what I mean?

She frowned.  Barriss obviously got to him.

And?  She’s good at mind healing, overworked or not.  And, they don’t seem to have any love for Dooku…

Jinx.  Please tell me you aren’t seriously suggesting what I think you are?

He regarded her frankly.  We have no choice but to watch and wait, right now.  If we can turn this into an alliance of some sort…you have to admit, it would give the Order options we didn’t have before.

You are…!

Ahsoka, tell me straight.  If these two had shown up on Wasskah instead of Chewbacca, what would you have done?

She closed her eyes, and set her jaw.  I would have united with them against a common enemy.

Even if the rest of us thought you were crazy.

She sighed.  I don’t think you’re crazy.

Of course you don’t, because you’re crazy. I’m just trying to keep up, here. Jinx smiled.  We can always try to run away once we land.  The kids’ commlinks still work, and Master Kenobi knows we’re out here somewhere.  And we’re pretty good at this surviving thing, you and I.

I hope we can be good enough…

***

Hondo Ohnaka sat enthroned amongst the ruins of his own hideout, observing quietly as Obi-Wan and Cody approached him.  He was stone-cold sober, his chin high and his back straight; that alone told the Jedi that he was greatly affected by the losses he had suffered.

“Well, General,” the Weequay said with a smile.  “I suppose now is as good a time as any to discuss my fee.”

“Your fee?” Obi-Wan replied, holding back a smirk as Cody deliberately adjusted the gigantic repeater he was carrying on one hip.  “Beg pardon, Captain, but as it was my army that liberated your assets, I believe I am the one getting paid in this scenario.”

“Ah, but you only helped me because my business is useful to your war efforts…don’t lie, I’ve been around to know how the game works.”  Hondo sniffed theatrically, slouching.  “Our ledger is settled on that account, but there is still the matter of the effort I spent protecting your young Jedi-in-training.”

Obi-Wan kept smiling, even as the gears of his brain came grinding to a halt.  “To which young Jedi do you refer?”

“Why, your teenage grand-apprentice, of course!  I rescued her from one of my more irritating competitors who were going to sell her to Dooku of all people, along with some Twi’lek kid she was with…Syndulla, I think his name was.  And then, of course, I found another girl named Offee; two of my men (whom I’ve now promoted to captains) snatched her out of the jaws of some monster and brought her back here!”

“…Do tell,” Obi-Wan said, forcing his body language to exude calmness instead of his steadily rising hackles.  “Well, where are they?  They’ve all been sorely missed back on Coruscant.”

Hondo laughed nervously.  “That’s the thing…they, uh, went their separate way after the attack on my compound.”

Obi-Wan’s eyelid twitched, and he heard Cody shift the intimidating weapon to hold it in his arms like a baby, sliding one step closer to combat mode.  “So what you’re telling me is that you had our young Jedi, and not only did you not immediately inform us that they were with you…”

“You’re a hard man to contact, Kenobi, have a heart!”

“…you also extended the same hospitality to them that General Skywalker, Count Dooku, and I received upon our first stay with your organization.”

“Absolutely not. I’m smart enough not to make the same mistake twice, my friend, give me just a little credit!”

“Not only that, but you had them in your possession, and then you lost them?  And you expect me to pay you for that?”

“There were extenuating circumstances, and I can assist you in finding them!”

“Oh really?  Tell me, where do you think they went?”

The pirate captain cringed just a little, trying to play it off as a shrug.  “They, uh, neglected to inform me of that.”

“Meaning they escaped.”

“No, meaning they were stolen, by two new recruits who took advantage of my generosity and my excellent benefit plan.”

Obi-Wan was beginning to seriously regret the choice to leave Anakin on Coruscant and Lissarkh on the ship; this man needed to be strangled or eaten, one of the two, possibly both at the same time, and he couldn’t manage to stomach doing either himself.  “Can you at least describe the reprobates in question?”

“Uh…well, they were both Dathomirian.  One was this little girl, maybe twelve years old, adorable, and she could talk to the disturbingly friendly ghosts we had staying in our diner.  The other was her father, a man kind of yay-high, red skin, yellow eyes…”

He was going to have a stroke.  He was certain of it.  “You allowed Darth Maul to walk away with my teenage apprentice!?”

“No, I allowed Malign, touchingly protective single father of Ilyana, to walk away with your teenage apprentice.  I’m not an idiot, Kenobi – that Maul fellow was in pieces and had a, uh, distinguished Core accent like you do.  This guy was whole and spoke like a normal person…I mean, normal for out here, not…”

“Did this ‘single father’ have a red lightsaber?”

“How in the galaxy would I know?  I was fashionably indisposed when the fighting broke out!”  Hondo was shrinking into his chair.  “Are you…angry? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you…”

Obi-Wan waved him silent and turned his back on him, so that only Cody could see the several long breaths he took through his nostrils and let out through his mouth in order to avoid doing something regrettable in a fit of temper.

“Easy, sir,” the Commander murmured.

“I should have let Grievous kill him.”

“And let that asthmatic cyborg have all the fun?  Sir, I thought you loved me.”

Obi-Wan grinned, and turned back to Hondo with what he assumed was an expression of tactfully withheld bloodthirst.  “Captain, your fee is settled.  For your effort in…protecting our future Jedi, I will order my colleague here not to gun you down like the…unrepentant gentleman of fortune you are.”

Hondo glanced in terror at Cody, who sighed disappointedly and shifted the repeater onto his hip again.

“You will also refrain from interfering in any Jedi effort again, for the duration of the war…my fellow generals are going to be less forgiving than I am.”

“Of course, Kenobi, anything you say.”  The pirate captain nodded shakily.  “All of my resources are at your disposal as well.”

“What resources?”

“…Want a drink?”

“I have my own, personal, very well-stocked bar on my own, personal, not currently on-fire or discombobulated ship.  Keep your drugged and watered-down spotchka.  I bid you good day.”  And with that, Obi-Wan turned on his heel and marched out of the compound.

“…You know, sir, we could always bombard them from orbit,” Cody said at his shoulder.

“I’m in a mood to admit I’d like that, Commander, but I’d have a devil of a time justifying such a waste of tibanna gas to the Council.” Obi-Wan sighed.  “He’s going to be scrambling to regain my good graces now.  That, at least, will ensure his good behavior for…a standard month, perhaps. He might even find the young ones for us.”

“Then we can shoot him.”

“Indeed.”