The Negotiator and the Fire Fang

Stranded on Canarath: Crash

"Well this went very poorly, very fast!" Obi-Wan Kenobi yelled as he gripped onto the handles above his head for dear life. The ship lurched as they descended towards the planet's surface at an alarming speed.

It was supposed to be a simple mission; Go reinforce Master Plo, who had been ambushed by General Tal Rohna and the Separatist fleet. Easy.

Then Grievous came to reinforce Rohna. Not so easy. Then Plo's capital ship got boarded. A little more difficult.

So they hopped in a LAAT gunship and headed for the ship, but were shot down in the process by a Vulture droid. Not good.

Now they were they were aflame and about to crash on an unknown world. Poorly indeed.

"Hold on everyone!" Sahrea Shan screamed over the whine of the damaged engine. The back end of the ship was radiating heat from flames that were dancing sporadically by the hull.

A large jump of turbulence as they entered the atmosphere threw all of the soldiers amuck. As the gunship took a sharp dive downwards, a few clones slid down towards the cockpit.

Cody stood steadfast next to Kenobi, absorbing each knock of the floor. Shan was holding on fine until one of the clones fell into her. The handle was yanked from her gloved fingers and she lost her footing.

The Gray went airborne as the LAAT gave another buck and she was tossed to the front of ship. Kenobi and Cody reached out simultaneously and caught her before she slammed onto the metal wall.

"Thanks for the save you two!" she yelled. She grabbed onto Kenobi's handle, two of her fingers gripping tightly to his hand. She braced herself against the side of the ship. There were no windows, so they had no idea how close they were to the ground, just the feeling of endless falling.

"We're getting close to the surface!" the pilot called. "It's not gonna be pretty! Prepare yourselves!" The ship gave another heave, roughly sending Shan into Kenobi's side. Their eyes caught each other as something solid hit the starboard side.

Then things happened too quickly for Obi-Wan to process thoroughly; There was the loud shredding of metal. A flash of gold and white armor. The smell of something burning. A blinding light above him. A feeling of flight. No, not flight. Him being thrown. Kenobi reached out instinctively.

He landed on a ground that was hard and rocky. His body rag dolled across the terrain, his legs flopping, arms getting flung everywhere, his vision of blur of various shades of orange. As he came to a standstill, the Jedi laid there for a moment, assessing his body.

His ears were ringing, even with the protective implants. Eyes still closed, he started by wiggling his fingers. They took the least amount of energy. Then he rolled his ankles. They were fine.

Opening his eyes, he adjusted his elbows to push himself up. His wrists and shoulders argued irritably with the movement. His knees did as well. He stared down at his armored hands. They were spread out over red clay soil. A few drops of blood splattered into the dirt from his left cheek, a deep scarlet drop over the orange-red terracotta.

He took a deep breath and subconsciously gasped at the pain, which in turn created another stab. Broken ribs. Great. He remembered the last time he broke them. This time he could tell it was worse. A hand landed softly on his lower back.

"General, are you alright sir?" CC-2224 asked. It was Cody, his ever unwavering, unflinching commander. Always Cody.

Geonosis. That's where they were. He snapped his head up in panic, his neck barking back. He calmed a little as he realized this was not the planet he had initially thought. The land was too red, too flat. There were no droids, no flying Geonosians. Nothing but a memory. He began to stand up.