The Delusions of Dreamers

Twenty Three

They had been fighting for a week, and every day, Obi-Wan was in more pain.  His wounds from the blasts and lasers didn't bother him—instead it was the mental ache that tore the Padawan apart.

All he could think about was how he had betrayed Satine Kryze.  Deep down, he knew he did it for her, but his brain and his heart seemed to ignore that part.  Deep down, Obi-Wan knew that it would have been selfish to stay with Satine at the base, to value their relationship over Satine's life.  Yet he still cried every night because he knew that his duchess would never accept him after he fought.

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan had been split up so that they couldn't be attacked at one time in the same place.  The Padawan was on the east side of the capital city and Qui-Gon was on the west side.  The plan was to push the Old Mandalorians back until they were trapped between the New Mandalorians, and it was working quite well.

Ever since the two Jedi joined the New Mandalorians, the civil war had progressed swiftly.  Previously, the New Mandalorians had barely been in the lead, but now they were winning by a landslide.  Unfortunately, the Old Mandalorians still refused to surrender.  

Obi-Wan just wanted it all to end.  He was tired of being away from Satine.  Tired of obeying General Digenbrow's orders as he sat all nice and cozy at the base with the duchess.  And the Padawan was exhausted of all the deception.  It was obvious that the captured Old Mandalorians were not being treated with care when they arrived at the underground prison, even though everyone insisted the opposite.  They were probably being murdered instead.

Most of the soldiers and New Mandalorians that Obi-Wan fought with seemed alright.  None of them were absolutely awful like Rolf, but they didn't seem to realize that they were practically servants and slaves.  Mindless robots bending to the general's will.  They believed in peace, yet they were unnecessarily murdering Old Mandalorians when they could simply be exiled or locked up until a better solution presented itself.

Obi-Wan wished that solution would come a lot faster as a bomb was hurled at him.  "Look out!" he roared before launching the bomb into the air with the Force, where it exploded with a loud BOOM.

"Thanks, Jedi!" a woman with a jet pack grunted above him as she fired off a few shots.

"My pleasure," the Padawan replied.  Then he dragged an unconscious Old Mandalorian behind him to be picked up and taken to the prison.

This was how his day went every day now.  Slash his lightsaber around, save some soldiers from a bomb or two, and dump off some unfortunate Old Mandalorians.  Obi-Wan hated it.

And he continued to loathe all of the fighting for the next two days.

"Why aren't they surrendering?" a scrawny New Mandalorian named Lonan groaned.  Over the past couple of days, the New Mandalorians had trapped their enemies in the middle of the capital, right where Satine's old palace had been destroyed.  It still wasn't rebuilt.

Now, there were still thousands of New Mandalorians and only hundreds of Old Mandalorians.  So why weren't they surrendering?

Suddenly, a huge hologram appeared in the sky above the Old Mandalorians.  Their leader, Obi-Wan realized.  He had an average build and appeared to be around forty, old enough to remember the Old Mandalorian ways.  He had a huge scar running along his jaw to prove it.

"New Mandalorians!" the speaker boomed.  "We have one of your Jedi, Qui-Gon Jinn." The Padawan's eyes widened.  "If you do not want him to die, you must surrender!" Then the hologram flickered to reveal his Master, clearly bruised and wounded badly.  No.

The soldiers around Obi-Wan came alive with chatter.

"What should we do?"

"We need that Jedi."