One Path Chapter 30--Brothers
Title: Brothers
Author: Lionchilde
Summary: Whatever differences might exist between them, Obi Wan and Anakin would both be exactly where he other needed, every time, without fail. Anakin had proven it when he saved Obi Wan from Asajj Ventress--proven it again by saving the child who had become his namesake. It had taken little Ani's birth to remind them, but Obi Wan knew that neither would forget again. They were brothers.
Rating: PG
Length: Around 3500 words
Category:Adventure? *facepalm* Battle scenes...
Pairings/Charaters: Obidala mentioned, chapter is heavily Obi/Anakin friendship.
A/N: One Path Chapter 30. The opening scene of an alternate RotS.
Brothers
"Flying is for droids," Obi Wan Kenobi muttered under his breath, banking his fighter hard out of the path of an explosion that came very close to turning it into a charred hulk--and the general with it.
His cockpit speakers crackled. "There isn't a droid made that can out fly you, Obi Wan."
A faint smile touched his lips. He knew that voice so well, and yet it seemed alien to him--calm, steady, confident, but without the cocky self-assuredness that Obi Wan might once have heard. Was it Master Windu's tutelage which had finally tempered Anakin--or was it the war? The war had changed both of them, but so had many other things, and he wasn't sure he knew which changes were the natural consequence of his choice to leave the Jedi and which had been forced upon them.
"Sorry," he said in reply. "Was that out loud?"
"Wouldn't matter if it wasn't. I know what you're thinking," Anakin told him.
"Do you?" He looked up through the cockpit canopy to find his friend and partner flying inverted, mirroring him so closely that if not for the transparisteel domes between them, they could have shaken hands. Obi Wan smiled again. "Some new gift of the Force?"
"Not the Force, Obi Wan. Experience. That's what you're always thinking," said Anakin matter-of-factly.
He was right.
And at least it's Obi Wan now, he thought. When they had first been sent to fight in the Outer Rim Sieges, Anakin had still been addressing him as "General" more often than not. Sometimes it had been spoken with affection--a replacement for the familiarity of "Master". At other times, there had been a clear edge of anger--the bitterness of betrayal. The last several months had, he hoped, finally allowed them to lay those feelings to rest. Though Obi Wan knew that his young friend could never again address him as Master, it was reassuring that Anakin had taken to calling him by name.
"And what does experience tell you we should do about those incoming tri-fighters?" he asked, moving his hand briefly from the fighter's controls to indicate a blue-white point of light that splintered into four ion trails.
"That we should break-right!" Anakin said sharply.
Obi Wan's hand was already back on his starfighter's control yoke, whipping the ship to the right. Anakin, flying above him, veered in the other direction, and the tri-fighters' cannons lanced through where they had been a moment before. An alarm sounded, and his gaze moved to the display in front of him, where a sensor-lock warning flashed up.
"Anakin! Slip-jaws!" he directed.
For most pilots, it would have been a suicide maneuver. Both fighters would roll toward each other, causing their pursuers to crash head on while Anakin and Obi Wan pulled out at the last fraction of a second, allowing their fighters to skim past one another.
"My thought exactly," responded the young Knight.
With the Force guiding their hands and the perfect unity of long-established partnership, they slid past each other through the crisscross of enemy fire. Tri-fighters exploded on their tails, but the resulting shockwave almost sent Obi Wan into a tumble that would have smashed the fighter against the nearby Republic cruiser's ventral hull. His threat warning sounded again before he had even managed to straighten out.
"Oh, marvelous," he muttered under his breath. Two of the tri-fighters had survived, and both were now locked onto him.
"Perfect," Anakin's voice came through his cockpit speakers again. "Both of them are on your tail."
"Perfect is not the word I'd use," Obi Wan shot. He twisted his control yoke in a vain attempt to shake them off. "We have to split them up!"
"Break left," Anakin replied with chilling calm. "The turbolaser tower off your port bow: thread its guns. I'll take things from there."
"Easy for you to say." Obi Wan whipped sideways along the cruiser's superstructure. Fire from the pursuing tri-fighters blasted burning chunks off the cruiser below them. "Why am I always the bait?"
"I'm right behind you. Artoo, lock on," Anakin said. There was, of course, no answer for the question.
Obi Wan spun the fighter around the recoiling turbo lasers, but still couldn't shake his pursuers. Cannonfire continued to flash past him, and he cried, "Anakin, they're all over me!"
"Dead ahead. Move right to clear my shot," Anakin told him with the same almost unnatural calm. "Now!"
Firing his port jets, Obi Wan jerked the fighter to the right, and one of his pursuers fell directly into the path of Anakin's cannon fire. He heard the Knight congratulate Artoo Detoo on his shooting, but seconds later he felt the ship rocked by a cannon blast that blew the ablative shielding off his left wing.
"I'm running out of tricks here!" he told his partner as he dove into the energy-riddled space between the Republic cruiser and a Trade Federation battleship. The tri-fighter and Anakin both followed, with the droid keeping itself perfectly balanced between the ships of the two human pilots. Anakin couldn't get a clear shot without the risk of hitting Obi Wan.
"No wonder we're losing the war," he muttered. "They're getting smarter."
"What was that? I didn't copy," he heard Anakin say.
Instead of replying, Obi Wan kicked his starfighter into a tight spiral toward the Federation ship below "I'm taking the deck!"
"Good idea. I need some room to maneuver," the Knight agreed flippantly.
Cannon fire tracked closer, almost too close. Obi Wan's cockpit speakers buzzed. "Cut right, Obi Wan! Hard right! Don't let him get a handle on you! Artoo, lock on!"
The general rolled a right wingover into a service trench, bringing the fighter too low and close to the deck for the ship's cannons to do anything, but the tri-fighter stayed on him. At the far end of the trench, the massive support buttresses of the cruiser's towering bridge left no room for even Obi Wan's small craft. He kicked into a half-roll, whipping out of the trench. The fighter shot straight up the leading edge of the tower, rocketing past the forward view ports with bare meters to spare. He hoped the tri-fighter would crash against the tower, but it followed his course with uncanny precision.
"Of course," he muttered. "That would have been too easy. Anakin, where are you?"
One of the control surfaces on his left wing shattered, and Arfour let out a scream. Battling to keep the fighter level, he toggled switches and keyed the internal comm. "Don't try to fix it, Arfour. I've shut it down."
"I have the lock!" Anakin's voice finally came. "Go! Firing--now!"
He hit maximum drag on his intact wing, sending the fighter into a wild arc as Anakin's cannons vaporized the last tri-fighter. Once clear, he fired his retros to stall the craft in the blind spot behind the cruiser's bridge.
"Thanks, Anakin. That was--thanks. That's all," he said shakily.
"Don't thank me," Anakin replied. "I told Ani I'd bring you back in one piece, and I intend to."
Obi Wan smiled at the statement, warmed by the thought of his son waiting on the planet below--waiting, he knew, with an absolute confidence in both of them. Ani had been the balm that finally soothed their tattered friendship, the force that brought them a unity more complete than they had ever experienced as Master and Padawan. He inspired the best in both men, much as his mother did, but unlike Padme, little Ani had never been a source of tension or resentment. After Anakin had saved the boy's life, Obi Wan felt nothing but pride and gladness as he watched them together. Ani saw the young Knight almost as a second father now, and that relationship lightened Obi Wan's heart in a way that few things could.
"And I promised him I'd keep you out of trouble. Don't forget that part," he bantered. Their promises had, in fact been opposite, with Obi Wan assuring the boy that he would bring Anakin back in one piece and Anakin responding that he would keep the elder out of trouble. They amounted to the same thing, though, and knowing that was part of the enjoyment of the wordplay. Obi Wan's tone quickly became serious again, though, and he asked, "Does your droid have anything? Arfour's hopeless. I think that last cannon hit cooked his motivator.
"Don't worry. If his beacon's working, Artoo'll find it. Have you thought about how we'll find the Chancellor if--"
"No. There's no need to consider it. Until the possible becomes actual, it is only a distraction. Be mindful of what is, not what might be," Obi Wan told him. The words were out of his mouth before he realized that he was speaking them, and he closed his eyes, remembering too late that Anakin was no longer his pupil.
Anakin, however, was too focused on his own guilt and worry over Palpatine. His voice was tight, and he fairly spit the words as he spoke. "I should have been here. I told you. I should have been here."
"He was defended by Stass Allie and Shaak Ti. If two Masters could not prevent this, do you think you could? Stass Allie is clever and valiant, and Shaak Ti is the most cunning Jedi I've ever met. She's even taught me a few tricks," Obi Wan said, hoping to still the boy's self-blame without seeming to reprimand him.
"But General Grievous--"
"Master Ti had faced him before. After Muunilinst. She is not only subtle and experienced, but very capable indeed. Seats on the Jedi Council aren't handed out as party favors," said Obi Wan.
"I've noticed," quipped Anakin.
"Put yourself in the moment, Anakin. Focus," Obi Wan said. He knew that appointment to the Council was a sore subject with Anakin, and the younger man's rampant ambition bothered him. He suspected that it had its roots in their friendship, or rather, in their rivalry. From the moment they'd met, they had been competitors--for Qui-Gon's attention, in their practice of the Jedi arts, and for Padme's affection, although this last had never been intentional on Obi Wan's part. However, this was not the time to rehash that, and both men knew it.
"Copy that," Anakin said dryly. "Focusing now."
Obi Wan couldn't resist a smile. He shook his head, offering no further commentary.
In another few moments, Anakin spoke again. "We've got him. The cruiser dead ahead. That's Grievous's flagship--Invisible Hand."
"Anakin, there are dozens of cruisers dead ahead!" pointed out Obi Wan.
"It's the one crawling with vulture fighters," Anakin explained.
"Oh. That one," the general ran a hand over his face and took a breath, realizing again how much he despised flying. "Oh, this should be easy..."
"Easy? No. But it might be fun. Lunch at Dex's says I'll blast two for each of yours. Bring Ani, too. He hasn't met Dex yet, has he?"
"I haven't had a chance to take him," Obi Wan replied. "But--"
"I doubt that Padme would want him in Coco Town," said Anakin easily. "We'll have to think up a cover story."
"We don't need a cover story. Listen, Anakin, no--"
"Artoo can keep score," the Knight's voice cut him off, and Obi Wan could see the mischievous grin already.
He grit his teeth. "Anakin--"
"All right, dinner. And I promise, this time I won't let Artoo cheat," Anakin interrupted.
"No games, Anakin. There's too much at stake," Obi Wan said firmly.
"I know what's at stake," Anakin replied with a sudden quiet seriousness that surprised his former teacher. "You feeling better?
Obi Wan's eyebrows rose. "Yes. Now, have Artoo tight-beam a report to the Temple. And send out a call for any Jedi in starfighters. We'll come at it from all sides."
"Way ahead of you," his partner replied. There was a moment's pause, and then, Anakin said ruefully. "There's still too much ECM. Artoo can't raise the Temple. I think the only reason we can even talk to each other is that we're practically side by side."
"And Jedi beacons?" Obi Wan asked.
"No joy," Anakin responded. "Looks like it may be just us and the clones."
"Then we will have to be enough. Switching to clone fighter channel," said Obi Wan grimly. He quickly switched frequencies, asking, "Oddball, do you copy? We need help."
"Copy, Red Leader," came the response.
"Mark my position and form your squad behind me. We're going in."
"We're on your tail, General Kenobi," the clone's voice came over his speakers again. "Set S-foils in attack position."
"This is where the fun begins," Anakin remarked with an almost childish glee. "Ten vultures inbound, high and left to my orientation. More on the way."
"I have them," confirmed Obi Wan with a glance at his own scanners. "Anakin, wait-the cruiser's bay shields have dropped! I'm reading four--no--six ships incoming."
"Tri-fighters first. The vultures can wait," said Anakin decisively.
"Agreed. Slip back and right, swing behind me. We'll take them on the slant," directed Obi Wan.
"Negative, General. Your left control surface is blown, and Arfour's been compromised. I'm going head-to-head. See you on the far side," Anakin said.
"Take it easy. Wait for Oddball and Squad Seven. Anakin--" Obi Wan broke off in frustration as Anakin's fighter surged past.
"Sorry we're late," Oddball spoke again as the squad arrived. "Where's Red Five?"
"Anakin, form up!" Obi Wan ordered to no avail.
"Incoming!" the Knight warned, not stopping in his race to meet the Trade Federation ships.
Obi Wan flew after him, and the next few minutes passed in staccato bursts of com traffic and cannon fire. He and Anakin moved through the battle in a perfect unison of Force-guided motion, relentlessly blasting at the droid fighters. Then the vultures began to target Anakin. Obi Wan's threat display showed twelve of them on his partner's tail.
"Watch this," Anakin's voice was steady. He flipped his starfighter again and dove, spinning, directly through them. "I'm going to lead them through the needle."
"Don't lead them anywhere. First Jedi principle of combat: survive," Obi Wan reminded him.
"No choice," Anakin replied. "Come down and thin them out a little.''
"Nothing fancy, Arfour, just keep me steady," Obi Wan said, slamming his control yoke forward. He reached into the Force and felt for his shot. "On my mark, break left-now!" The shutdown control surface of his left wing turned the left break into a tight overhead spiral that sent his guns across the paths of four vultures.
They exploded in quick succession, but that still left eight in pursuit of Anakin. Knowing that there was nothing he could do, he watched with a mix of helplessness and astonishment as Anakin flipped his fighter down into the same service trench that he had led the tri-fighter into earlier. He knew that with eight droids on him, there was no way that he would be able to pull off a slant up the bridge-tower as Obi Wan had done. With a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach, though, the elder man realized that Anakin didn't intend to try.
"Don't try it, Anakin," he warned. "It's too tight."
"I'll get through," the Knight assured him.
"Use the Force. Think yourself through, and the ship will follow," Obi Wan told him worriedly.
"Copy that. Thinking now," Anakin's voice came back sardonically.
Cannonfire blazed past the little ship, impacting on the bridge tower's support struts ahead of him, but Anakin came on fast. The fighter snapped onto its side, clearing the narrow gap between the two struts with bare centimeters to spare. The first two vultures exploded against the sides, and Obi Wan fired down on the others, forcing them into the path of the explosion. Anakin's fighter shot away from the cruiser into a victory roll.
"I'll give you the first four," the Knight's voice crackled through the speakers. "But the other eight are mine."
"Anakin--"
"All right, we'll split them," allowed Anakin. "But lunch is still on you."
"Fine," Obi Wan agreed. "But if Padme finds out, you can explain it."
"Deal--" Anakin started to say, then broke off. "Oddball's in trouble. I'm going to help him out."
"Don't. He's doing his job. We need to do ours," Obi Wan reminded him.
"Obi Wan, they're getting eaten alive over--"
"Every one of them would gladly trade his life for Palpatine's. Will you trade Palpatine's life for theirs?" asked Obi Wan.
"No-no, of course not, but--"
"Anakin, I understand. You want to save everyone. You always do. But you can't." The words burned through his chest like a lightsaber blade as he spoke them, but Obi Wan pushed the pain aside. Now was not the time to allow his personal life, his fears, to distract him. Palpatine's life was at stake, and he and Anakin appeared to be the only chance that the Supreme Chancellor had of being rescued.
He focused on the battle, on guiding his damaged craft through turbolaser bolts and flak from the Trade Federation cruisers, moving toward the command ship where Artoo had identified the Chancellor's emergency beacon. They had almost reached it when Anakin gave a sudden warning.
"Missiles! Pull up!"
He broke left, and two of the missiles followed him. He saw the streak of an ion trail and let out a breath of relief. "They overshot us…"
The second missile flew close enough to trigger its proximity sensors, and detonated in a spray of glowing shrapnel. The fighter continued on through the debris, and Obi Wan realized that the shrapnel was tracking him. Little silver spheres latched onto the fighter, then split and sprouted spidery arrays of jointed arms that pried up hull plates, exposing the fighter's internal works to the ravages of serrated circular blades.
"I'm hit," he almost growled. "Anakin?"
"I have visual." Anakin confirmed, and Obi Wan saw him swing his fighter back, closing the distance between the two ships. "Buzz droids. I count five."
"Get out of here, Anakin. There's nothing you can do," he told his partner.
"I'm not leaving you," the Knight countered with stubborn finality.
"Anakin, the mission! Get to the command ship! Get the Chancellor!" he said urgently.
"I'm not going to go down there later and tell Ani that I left without you," Anakin insisted.
Obi Wan closed his eyes, managing through sheer strength of will to maintain the calm he had learned as a Jedi. Again he felt the piercing heat of a blade through his heart. "You'll be able to tell him that we both did our duty. Go, Anakin. They're shutting down the controls."
"I can fix that."
Obi Wan watched in shock as the other fighter moved toward him, almost literally touching his wing. "Anakin--"
"Steady…steady…" the Knight muttered as he triggered his cannon, blasting the buzz droids away. Unfortunately, along with them went most of Obi Wan's wing.
"Whoops," Anakin said.
"Anakin, that's not helping," Obi Wan said as the fighter jolted hard, sending his head clanging against the domed canopy. His ears rang, and the cockpit began to fill with smoke.
"You're right, bad idea. Here, let's try this. Move left and swing under. Easy…" instructed Anakin.
"Anakin, you're too close! Wait--" he broke off, gaping as Anakin's wing dipped and physically swiped the buzz droid off. The impact rocked both fighters, shattered Anakin's forward control surface, and left a deep dent in Obi Wan's craft.
"You're going to get us both killed!" cried Obi Wan.
The droids still attached to the fighter were beginning to peel away the hull enough so that the saw blades could penetrate deep inside, releasing streams of gas into the vacuum of space. It crystallized, hanging around the fighter and making it impossible for Obi Wan to see.
"Blast," Obi-Wan muttered. "I can't see. My controls are going."
"You're doing fine. Stay on my wing," Anakin told him.
"I have to accelerate out of this."
"I'm with you. Go."
Of course he was. That was the heart of the relationship between Obi Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker. It was a relationship far beyond the bounds of Master and Padawan, beyond friendship. Despite the difference in their ages, these men had grown up together. Obi Wan had learned as much from Anakin as the younger ever had from him. He had learned what it meant to accept another without condition, to temper his own intensity and drive for perfection according to the needs of a fellow. He had come to see that while rules and order were valuable, they were not sacrosanct. Anakin had taught him flexibility and understanding without ever realizing that he had done so. In large part, it had been his relationship with Anakin which taught him to find humor in the midst of war. Whatever differences might exist between them, Obi Wan and Anakin would both be exactly where he other needed, every time, without fail. Anakin had proven it when he saved Obi Wan from Asajj Ventress four years ago--proven it again by saving the child who had become his namesake. It had taken little Ani's birth to remind them, but Obi Wan knew that neither would forget again. They were brothers.
Author: Lionchilde
Summary: Whatever differences might exist between them, Obi Wan and Anakin would both be exactly where he other needed, every time, without fail. Anakin had proven it when he saved Obi Wan from Asajj Ventress--proven it again by saving the child who had become his namesake. It had taken little Ani's birth to remind them, but Obi Wan knew that neither would forget again. They were brothers.
Rating: PG
Length: Around 3500 words
Category:Adventure? *facepalm* Battle scenes...
Pairings/Charaters: Obidala mentioned, chapter is heavily Obi/Anakin friendship.
A/N: One Path Chapter 30. The opening scene of an alternate RotS.
Brothers
"Flying is for droids," Obi Wan Kenobi muttered under his breath, banking his fighter hard out of the path of an explosion that came very close to turning it into a charred hulk--and the general with it.
His cockpit speakers crackled. "There isn't a droid made that can out fly you, Obi Wan."
A faint smile touched his lips. He knew that voice so well, and yet it seemed alien to him--calm, steady, confident, but without the cocky self-assuredness that Obi Wan might once have heard. Was it Master Windu's tutelage which had finally tempered Anakin--or was it the war? The war had changed both of them, but so had many other things, and he wasn't sure he knew which changes were the natural consequence of his choice to leave the Jedi and which had been forced upon them.
"Sorry," he said in reply. "Was that out loud?"
"Wouldn't matter if it wasn't. I know what you're thinking," Anakin told him.
"Do you?" He looked up through the cockpit canopy to find his friend and partner flying inverted, mirroring him so closely that if not for the transparisteel domes between them, they could have shaken hands. Obi Wan smiled again. "Some new gift of the Force?"
"Not the Force, Obi Wan. Experience. That's what you're always thinking," said Anakin matter-of-factly.
He was right.
And at least it's Obi Wan now, he thought. When they had first been sent to fight in the Outer Rim Sieges, Anakin had still been addressing him as "General" more often than not. Sometimes it had been spoken with affection--a replacement for the familiarity of "Master". At other times, there had been a clear edge of anger--the bitterness of betrayal. The last several months had, he hoped, finally allowed them to lay those feelings to rest. Though Obi Wan knew that his young friend could never again address him as Master, it was reassuring that Anakin had taken to calling him by name.
"And what does experience tell you we should do about those incoming tri-fighters?" he asked, moving his hand briefly from the fighter's controls to indicate a blue-white point of light that splintered into four ion trails.
"That we should break-right!" Anakin said sharply.
Obi Wan's hand was already back on his starfighter's control yoke, whipping the ship to the right. Anakin, flying above him, veered in the other direction, and the tri-fighters' cannons lanced through where they had been a moment before. An alarm sounded, and his gaze moved to the display in front of him, where a sensor-lock warning flashed up.
"Anakin! Slip-jaws!" he directed.
For most pilots, it would have been a suicide maneuver. Both fighters would roll toward each other, causing their pursuers to crash head on while Anakin and Obi Wan pulled out at the last fraction of a second, allowing their fighters to skim past one another.
"My thought exactly," responded the young Knight.
With the Force guiding their hands and the perfect unity of long-established partnership, they slid past each other through the crisscross of enemy fire. Tri-fighters exploded on their tails, but the resulting shockwave almost sent Obi Wan into a tumble that would have smashed the fighter against the nearby Republic cruiser's ventral hull. His threat warning sounded again before he had even managed to straighten out.
"Oh, marvelous," he muttered under his breath. Two of the tri-fighters had survived, and both were now locked onto him.
"Perfect," Anakin's voice came through his cockpit speakers again. "Both of them are on your tail."
"Perfect is not the word I'd use," Obi Wan shot. He twisted his control yoke in a vain attempt to shake them off. "We have to split them up!"
"Break left," Anakin replied with chilling calm. "The turbolaser tower off your port bow: thread its guns. I'll take things from there."
"Easy for you to say." Obi Wan whipped sideways along the cruiser's superstructure. Fire from the pursuing tri-fighters blasted burning chunks off the cruiser below them. "Why am I always the bait?"
"I'm right behind you. Artoo, lock on," Anakin said. There was, of course, no answer for the question.
Obi Wan spun the fighter around the recoiling turbo lasers, but still couldn't shake his pursuers. Cannonfire continued to flash past him, and he cried, "Anakin, they're all over me!"
"Dead ahead. Move right to clear my shot," Anakin told him with the same almost unnatural calm. "Now!"
Firing his port jets, Obi Wan jerked the fighter to the right, and one of his pursuers fell directly into the path of Anakin's cannon fire. He heard the Knight congratulate Artoo Detoo on his shooting, but seconds later he felt the ship rocked by a cannon blast that blew the ablative shielding off his left wing.
"I'm running out of tricks here!" he told his partner as he dove into the energy-riddled space between the Republic cruiser and a Trade Federation battleship. The tri-fighter and Anakin both followed, with the droid keeping itself perfectly balanced between the ships of the two human pilots. Anakin couldn't get a clear shot without the risk of hitting Obi Wan.
"No wonder we're losing the war," he muttered. "They're getting smarter."
"What was that? I didn't copy," he heard Anakin say.
Instead of replying, Obi Wan kicked his starfighter into a tight spiral toward the Federation ship below "I'm taking the deck!"
"Good idea. I need some room to maneuver," the Knight agreed flippantly.
Cannon fire tracked closer, almost too close. Obi Wan's cockpit speakers buzzed. "Cut right, Obi Wan! Hard right! Don't let him get a handle on you! Artoo, lock on!"
The general rolled a right wingover into a service trench, bringing the fighter too low and close to the deck for the ship's cannons to do anything, but the tri-fighter stayed on him. At the far end of the trench, the massive support buttresses of the cruiser's towering bridge left no room for even Obi Wan's small craft. He kicked into a half-roll, whipping out of the trench. The fighter shot straight up the leading edge of the tower, rocketing past the forward view ports with bare meters to spare. He hoped the tri-fighter would crash against the tower, but it followed his course with uncanny precision.
"Of course," he muttered. "That would have been too easy. Anakin, where are you?"
One of the control surfaces on his left wing shattered, and Arfour let out a scream. Battling to keep the fighter level, he toggled switches and keyed the internal comm. "Don't try to fix it, Arfour. I've shut it down."
"I have the lock!" Anakin's voice finally came. "Go! Firing--now!"
He hit maximum drag on his intact wing, sending the fighter into a wild arc as Anakin's cannons vaporized the last tri-fighter. Once clear, he fired his retros to stall the craft in the blind spot behind the cruiser's bridge.
"Thanks, Anakin. That was--thanks. That's all," he said shakily.
"Don't thank me," Anakin replied. "I told Ani I'd bring you back in one piece, and I intend to."
Obi Wan smiled at the statement, warmed by the thought of his son waiting on the planet below--waiting, he knew, with an absolute confidence in both of them. Ani had been the balm that finally soothed their tattered friendship, the force that brought them a unity more complete than they had ever experienced as Master and Padawan. He inspired the best in both men, much as his mother did, but unlike Padme, little Ani had never been a source of tension or resentment. After Anakin had saved the boy's life, Obi Wan felt nothing but pride and gladness as he watched them together. Ani saw the young Knight almost as a second father now, and that relationship lightened Obi Wan's heart in a way that few things could.
"And I promised him I'd keep you out of trouble. Don't forget that part," he bantered. Their promises had, in fact been opposite, with Obi Wan assuring the boy that he would bring Anakin back in one piece and Anakin responding that he would keep the elder out of trouble. They amounted to the same thing, though, and knowing that was part of the enjoyment of the wordplay. Obi Wan's tone quickly became serious again, though, and he asked, "Does your droid have anything? Arfour's hopeless. I think that last cannon hit cooked his motivator.
"Don't worry. If his beacon's working, Artoo'll find it. Have you thought about how we'll find the Chancellor if--"
"No. There's no need to consider it. Until the possible becomes actual, it is only a distraction. Be mindful of what is, not what might be," Obi Wan told him. The words were out of his mouth before he realized that he was speaking them, and he closed his eyes, remembering too late that Anakin was no longer his pupil.
Anakin, however, was too focused on his own guilt and worry over Palpatine. His voice was tight, and he fairly spit the words as he spoke. "I should have been here. I told you. I should have been here."
"He was defended by Stass Allie and Shaak Ti. If two Masters could not prevent this, do you think you could? Stass Allie is clever and valiant, and Shaak Ti is the most cunning Jedi I've ever met. She's even taught me a few tricks," Obi Wan said, hoping to still the boy's self-blame without seeming to reprimand him.
"But General Grievous--"
"Master Ti had faced him before. After Muunilinst. She is not only subtle and experienced, but very capable indeed. Seats on the Jedi Council aren't handed out as party favors," said Obi Wan.
"I've noticed," quipped Anakin.
"Put yourself in the moment, Anakin. Focus," Obi Wan said. He knew that appointment to the Council was a sore subject with Anakin, and the younger man's rampant ambition bothered him. He suspected that it had its roots in their friendship, or rather, in their rivalry. From the moment they'd met, they had been competitors--for Qui-Gon's attention, in their practice of the Jedi arts, and for Padme's affection, although this last had never been intentional on Obi Wan's part. However, this was not the time to rehash that, and both men knew it.
"Copy that," Anakin said dryly. "Focusing now."
Obi Wan couldn't resist a smile. He shook his head, offering no further commentary.
In another few moments, Anakin spoke again. "We've got him. The cruiser dead ahead. That's Grievous's flagship--Invisible Hand."
"Anakin, there are dozens of cruisers dead ahead!" pointed out Obi Wan.
"It's the one crawling with vulture fighters," Anakin explained.
"Oh. That one," the general ran a hand over his face and took a breath, realizing again how much he despised flying. "Oh, this should be easy..."
"Easy? No. But it might be fun. Lunch at Dex's says I'll blast two for each of yours. Bring Ani, too. He hasn't met Dex yet, has he?"
"I haven't had a chance to take him," Obi Wan replied. "But--"
"I doubt that Padme would want him in Coco Town," said Anakin easily. "We'll have to think up a cover story."
"We don't need a cover story. Listen, Anakin, no--"
"Artoo can keep score," the Knight's voice cut him off, and Obi Wan could see the mischievous grin already.
He grit his teeth. "Anakin--"
"All right, dinner. And I promise, this time I won't let Artoo cheat," Anakin interrupted.
"No games, Anakin. There's too much at stake," Obi Wan said firmly.
"I know what's at stake," Anakin replied with a sudden quiet seriousness that surprised his former teacher. "You feeling better?
Obi Wan's eyebrows rose. "Yes. Now, have Artoo tight-beam a report to the Temple. And send out a call for any Jedi in starfighters. We'll come at it from all sides."
"Way ahead of you," his partner replied. There was a moment's pause, and then, Anakin said ruefully. "There's still too much ECM. Artoo can't raise the Temple. I think the only reason we can even talk to each other is that we're practically side by side."
"And Jedi beacons?" Obi Wan asked.
"No joy," Anakin responded. "Looks like it may be just us and the clones."
"Then we will have to be enough. Switching to clone fighter channel," said Obi Wan grimly. He quickly switched frequencies, asking, "Oddball, do you copy? We need help."
"Copy, Red Leader," came the response.
"Mark my position and form your squad behind me. We're going in."
"We're on your tail, General Kenobi," the clone's voice came over his speakers again. "Set S-foils in attack position."
"This is where the fun begins," Anakin remarked with an almost childish glee. "Ten vultures inbound, high and left to my orientation. More on the way."
"I have them," confirmed Obi Wan with a glance at his own scanners. "Anakin, wait-the cruiser's bay shields have dropped! I'm reading four--no--six ships incoming."
"Tri-fighters first. The vultures can wait," said Anakin decisively.
"Agreed. Slip back and right, swing behind me. We'll take them on the slant," directed Obi Wan.
"Negative, General. Your left control surface is blown, and Arfour's been compromised. I'm going head-to-head. See you on the far side," Anakin said.
"Take it easy. Wait for Oddball and Squad Seven. Anakin--" Obi Wan broke off in frustration as Anakin's fighter surged past.
"Sorry we're late," Oddball spoke again as the squad arrived. "Where's Red Five?"
"Anakin, form up!" Obi Wan ordered to no avail.
"Incoming!" the Knight warned, not stopping in his race to meet the Trade Federation ships.
Obi Wan flew after him, and the next few minutes passed in staccato bursts of com traffic and cannon fire. He and Anakin moved through the battle in a perfect unison of Force-guided motion, relentlessly blasting at the droid fighters. Then the vultures began to target Anakin. Obi Wan's threat display showed twelve of them on his partner's tail.
"Watch this," Anakin's voice was steady. He flipped his starfighter again and dove, spinning, directly through them. "I'm going to lead them through the needle."
"Don't lead them anywhere. First Jedi principle of combat: survive," Obi Wan reminded him.
"No choice," Anakin replied. "Come down and thin them out a little.''
"Nothing fancy, Arfour, just keep me steady," Obi Wan said, slamming his control yoke forward. He reached into the Force and felt for his shot. "On my mark, break left-now!" The shutdown control surface of his left wing turned the left break into a tight overhead spiral that sent his guns across the paths of four vultures.
They exploded in quick succession, but that still left eight in pursuit of Anakin. Knowing that there was nothing he could do, he watched with a mix of helplessness and astonishment as Anakin flipped his fighter down into the same service trench that he had led the tri-fighter into earlier. He knew that with eight droids on him, there was no way that he would be able to pull off a slant up the bridge-tower as Obi Wan had done. With a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach, though, the elder man realized that Anakin didn't intend to try.
"Don't try it, Anakin," he warned. "It's too tight."
"I'll get through," the Knight assured him.
"Use the Force. Think yourself through, and the ship will follow," Obi Wan told him worriedly.
"Copy that. Thinking now," Anakin's voice came back sardonically.
Cannonfire blazed past the little ship, impacting on the bridge tower's support struts ahead of him, but Anakin came on fast. The fighter snapped onto its side, clearing the narrow gap between the two struts with bare centimeters to spare. The first two vultures exploded against the sides, and Obi Wan fired down on the others, forcing them into the path of the explosion. Anakin's fighter shot away from the cruiser into a victory roll.
"I'll give you the first four," the Knight's voice crackled through the speakers. "But the other eight are mine."
"Anakin--"
"All right, we'll split them," allowed Anakin. "But lunch is still on you."
"Fine," Obi Wan agreed. "But if Padme finds out, you can explain it."
"Deal--" Anakin started to say, then broke off. "Oddball's in trouble. I'm going to help him out."
"Don't. He's doing his job. We need to do ours," Obi Wan reminded him.
"Obi Wan, they're getting eaten alive over--"
"Every one of them would gladly trade his life for Palpatine's. Will you trade Palpatine's life for theirs?" asked Obi Wan.
"No-no, of course not, but--"
"Anakin, I understand. You want to save everyone. You always do. But you can't." The words burned through his chest like a lightsaber blade as he spoke them, but Obi Wan pushed the pain aside. Now was not the time to allow his personal life, his fears, to distract him. Palpatine's life was at stake, and he and Anakin appeared to be the only chance that the Supreme Chancellor had of being rescued.
He focused on the battle, on guiding his damaged craft through turbolaser bolts and flak from the Trade Federation cruisers, moving toward the command ship where Artoo had identified the Chancellor's emergency beacon. They had almost reached it when Anakin gave a sudden warning.
"Missiles! Pull up!"
He broke left, and two of the missiles followed him. He saw the streak of an ion trail and let out a breath of relief. "They overshot us…"
The second missile flew close enough to trigger its proximity sensors, and detonated in a spray of glowing shrapnel. The fighter continued on through the debris, and Obi Wan realized that the shrapnel was tracking him. Little silver spheres latched onto the fighter, then split and sprouted spidery arrays of jointed arms that pried up hull plates, exposing the fighter's internal works to the ravages of serrated circular blades.
"I'm hit," he almost growled. "Anakin?"
"I have visual." Anakin confirmed, and Obi Wan saw him swing his fighter back, closing the distance between the two ships. "Buzz droids. I count five."
"Get out of here, Anakin. There's nothing you can do," he told his partner.
"I'm not leaving you," the Knight countered with stubborn finality.
"Anakin, the mission! Get to the command ship! Get the Chancellor!" he said urgently.
"I'm not going to go down there later and tell Ani that I left without you," Anakin insisted.
Obi Wan closed his eyes, managing through sheer strength of will to maintain the calm he had learned as a Jedi. Again he felt the piercing heat of a blade through his heart. "You'll be able to tell him that we both did our duty. Go, Anakin. They're shutting down the controls."
"I can fix that."
Obi Wan watched in shock as the other fighter moved toward him, almost literally touching his wing. "Anakin--"
"Steady…steady…" the Knight muttered as he triggered his cannon, blasting the buzz droids away. Unfortunately, along with them went most of Obi Wan's wing.
"Whoops," Anakin said.
"Anakin, that's not helping," Obi Wan said as the fighter jolted hard, sending his head clanging against the domed canopy. His ears rang, and the cockpit began to fill with smoke.
"You're right, bad idea. Here, let's try this. Move left and swing under. Easy…" instructed Anakin.
"Anakin, you're too close! Wait--" he broke off, gaping as Anakin's wing dipped and physically swiped the buzz droid off. The impact rocked both fighters, shattered Anakin's forward control surface, and left a deep dent in Obi Wan's craft.
"You're going to get us both killed!" cried Obi Wan.
The droids still attached to the fighter were beginning to peel away the hull enough so that the saw blades could penetrate deep inside, releasing streams of gas into the vacuum of space. It crystallized, hanging around the fighter and making it impossible for Obi Wan to see.
"Blast," Obi-Wan muttered. "I can't see. My controls are going."
"You're doing fine. Stay on my wing," Anakin told him.
"I have to accelerate out of this."
"I'm with you. Go."
Of course he was. That was the heart of the relationship between Obi Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker. It was a relationship far beyond the bounds of Master and Padawan, beyond friendship. Despite the difference in their ages, these men had grown up together. Obi Wan had learned as much from Anakin as the younger ever had from him. He had learned what it meant to accept another without condition, to temper his own intensity and drive for perfection according to the needs of a fellow. He had come to see that while rules and order were valuable, they were not sacrosanct. Anakin had taught him flexibility and understanding without ever realizing that he had done so. In large part, it had been his relationship with Anakin which taught him to find humor in the midst of war. Whatever differences might exist between them, Obi Wan and Anakin would both be exactly where he other needed, every time, without fail. Anakin had proven it when he saved Obi Wan from Asajj Ventress four years ago--proven it again by saving the child who had become his namesake. It had taken little Ani's birth to remind them, but Obi Wan knew that neither would forget again. They were brothers.