If Hate Leads to Suffering... | Obi Wan Kenobi

Act I. viii

Kamino was a stormy planet whose surface was a vast ocean and the only indication of life were the stilted stations that sat over the sea line.

Still drenched from outside, Obi-Wan and Xaela looked in awe at the sheer amount of clones in their view. An army's worth of fighters all ready for the Republic, it was impossible to imagine unless you were standing in front of it. And Xaela was.

Her Master did the talking, like he always did. One last mission as his Padawan didn't mean that he would be treating her like a Knight as she had hoped - at least not yet.

They spoke to Jango Fett - the presumed bounty hunter they were looking for. Obi-Wan told Xaela to inform the Council of their findings while he went to go capture Jango.

When they met back again he had a few sore muscles and bruises and no bounty hunter.

"Looks like you took a beating." She remarked as she strapped herself into her chair.

Her Master closed the top of the ship and started it up, groaning a bit.

"I don't want to talk about it."

They used a tracker Obi-Wan had placed on the bounty hunter's ship to follow him to a ringed planet the database called Geonosis. Jango must have caught on that he was being followed because he dropped seismic bombs behind him, leaving Master Kenobi to maneuver the ship around the exploding debris.

Jango was an excellent pilot, he tilted around a large asteroid to come behind the two Jedi and started firing at that them.

"Oh, Blast! This is why I hate flying!" Obi-Wan grumbled.

They got hit. Not too bad, but enough for the bounty hunter to send a heat tracking missile at them.

"You sure you don't want me to take over, Master?" Xaela rocked slightly due to her Master's flying.

"Patience, Xaela." He only said.

He tried flying through and over and around the asteroids, but nothing could stop the missile.

"R4, prepare to jettison the spare part canisters." Obi-Wan commanded. "Fire them now."

The little droid beeped and released them. A couple seconds later they were met with an explosion behind them and they were safe for now, docking on a large rock to let the bounty hunter fly down into the planet's atmosphere.

As they flew down, there were an unusual amount of federation ships docked, and Master Kenobi had a bad feeling about what was going on. Xaela admitted that she would be concerned if he had a good feeling about it.

The two Jedi snuck into the main building - it turned out to be a factory. Whirring of machines and enormous conveyors revealed the construction of thousands upon thousands of droids. Obi-Wan lead Xaela down a small corridor he found, both of them on the lookout for anyone passing or searching for them. They didn't know who - if anyone - was here, and they didn't want to be ill prepared when they found out.

Xaela was about to tell her Master that she felt someone approaching but he clasped his hand over her mouth. He brought her closer to where he was and she heard a multitude of footsteps and distinct conversation regarding the assassination of Senator Amidala.

Obi-Wan and Xaela shared a look.

When the party left out of earshot, her Master released his hold on her mouth and instead grabbed the sleeve of her robe to pull her quickly down a path. They trailed behind the party into a conference room where the two Jedi took an aerial vantage point to listen. Count Dooku and the trade federation we're recruiting allies.

"Follow the Count, I'll inform the Council of our findings." Obi-Wan told Xaela. "I'll come find you after."

"Yes, Master." The Padawan nodded and watched him leave.

The Count didn't do much. He checked in with the assembly of a certain type of droid, and mostly Xaela just followed him around as he walked. Until he was informed that they caught a Jedi. Xaela cursed, knowing who it was, and followed Dooku to a room heavily guarded from the outside. The species were thin and non-human, some with cloths wrapped around their faces.

Xaela could not find another way into the room so she was forced to stay outside. But as the door closed she saw her Master suspended in a beam looking displeased and slightly annoyed.

She couldn't leave him there, if he had gotten a signal out, the Council would be sending back up if only just to confirm their findings. So Xaela hopped down silently from her perched hiding place and stuck along the red rocks. She glided towards two of the guards and took off her belt, holding her lightsaber in her teeth. Hiding behind the corner, she waited for one of them to leave. Once they did, Xaela swung her belt around the guards neck and tightened it, their cries silenced. She pulled them back around the corner and pinned them to the ground, waiting for them to lose consciousness. When they dropped, she checked for a pulse - still there - and took their blaster, tunic, and head scarf, putting it on.

She tied up the unconscious guard and rounded the corner where they were before, trying to act natural. She couldn't hear anything going on inside the room Obi-Wan was in and didn't know if Count Dooku left or not. Xaela waited and waited, but nothing happened.

After a while, someone came up to the round of guards (including Xaela) and spoke in a foreign language she didn't know. Only going by their gestures, Xaela guessed that her and another guard were to accompany him somewhere, so she went.

She knew she couldn't be recognized under the scarf, only her eyes showed. Xaela had no idea where she was going, but pretended to be a good soldier and followed.

She was lead to a coliseum-like dome, through a back entrance. There, another guard and a wagon waited for the two of them and spoke something she didn't understand. But the motion he made towards the vehicle had Xaela see that it carried Anakin and Padme of all people.

She nearly dropped the blaster and the guard yelled at her, Anakin and the Senator looked back, but no sign of recognition crossed their faces. How did they get here?

Xaela went to the front of the wagon as she was told and started checking the creature that would pull it, but she was focused on the two prisoners who were whispering to each other. She couldn't make out what they were saying, but the looks they gave each other held too much emotion for her to understand. And then they started leaning in.

Xaela's eyes widened and she wanted to yell at Anakin for kissing her. At least to say 'don't do it! yemember the code!' but she bit her lip so hard it bled a little and nudged the creature in front of her to start pulling the wagon forward. They didn't stop kissing as the sunlight danced across all of them and they entered the coliseum. They only let go as the applause and chatter from too many people to count had them look at their surroundings.

Xaela followed them to the centre where four erected poles stood, one of them occupied by her chained up Master and she breathed a sigh of relief seeing him again. The two guards with Xaela brought Anakin and Padme to separate poles, chaining them both up, and Xaela tried not to run to Obi-Wan.

He glanced up at her for a second with a death stare, then looked at her again with hidden confusion. He stared into her eyes and she went to stand beside him as the other guards did with the two prisoners.

"I do hope you haven't switched sides." Obi-Wan whispered and Xaela was in shock that he recognized her.

"Of course not, Master." She whispered back. "Now, what's the plan?"