May The Force Always be with Obi-Wan Kenobi
Part II: May the Force Always be with Obi-Wan Kenobi
It took a few days for the trio to find Tahlar. More than once after their escape from Mandalore, they had landed on a planet only to discover the Empire had already taken control of it, forcing them to flee one more time. Ahsoka seriously thought about returning to Coruscant multiple times. She wanted to go back to the temple and to Anakin… It took the concerted efforts of Rex and Bo-Katan to convince her that the city-planet was too dangerous, but the voices she had heard on the Venator just before the clones’ attack, the pain she had felt… It still haunted her. She had desperately tried to reach Anakin through the Force. In vain… After a while, she had finally come to accept the obvious: her master was dead. In a way, it was easier to believe. It was the evidence Maul had lied.
They ended up Tahlar on the third day. It was a fairly small planet near the Kessel sector whose main economic activity was furniture manufacturing. The Empire didn’t seem to have taken an interest in dinner tables production (not yet, at least), meaning that Tahlar could serve as a good hideout for a while. The trio had settled in a city called Kaleek, mostly inhabited by poor factory workers. They had found a cantina on the edge of town where you could eat for cheap, and rented a small room on the second floor only to use the shower. None of them was feeling safe enough to sleep anywhere else than onboard Bo’s Gauntlet starfighter. The cantina was frequented by workers who were coming at the end of the day to spend their paycheck, as well as many petty criminals who were trying to lie low. It was the kind of place where nobody would ask where you were coming from.
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“What can I get you, ladies and gentlemen?”
Bo looked up to the protocol droid, trying not to reveal her face too much. All of them were wearing long hooded cloak to avoid drawing too much unwanted attention. Both Rex and Bo-Katan had very distinctive armors and Togrutas were not common enough in that part of the galaxy for Ahsoka to go unnoticed.
“The three of us will take the daily special.”
“Excellent choice! Today we serve an excellent mynock roast with…”
“Yes. We’ll take that, thank you.”
The droid bowed and walked away from their table.
“Droids…”
They were sitting in the cantina, waiting for their meal to be served. The place was fairly empty at that time of the day, but a few workers had come to have lunch. The sound of their chatter along with the noise of the giant screen behind the bar were sufficient to cover Bo, Rex and Ahsoka’s own conversation. Not that they were talking much. Rex was visually scanning the room to identify any potential threat, while Ahsoka was silently looking at the small hologram portraying the faces of various wanted people that was spinning in the center of their table. “We look terrible,” thought Bo. Rex had not shaved for days, and a dark shadow was beginning to grow on his cheeks. Ahsoka’s montrals and lekku seemed like they were beginning to lose their color, and even though Bo didn’t know what it meant for a Togruta, she was certain it was not a good sign. As for the young Mandalorian herself, the dark circles under her eyes made her look like she had aged ten years since they had left Mandalore. “That’s perfect to fit among those people, I guess,” she told to herself.
“What is that?” Rex suddenly asked.
Ahsoka and Bo-Katan turned towards the direction Rex was discreetly pointing at. On the street, a small crowd was gathering at the door of the cantina. It was highly unusual in this part of the city normally empty during the day. The Mandalorian frowned.
“Wait for me here. I’ll see what’s happening.”
She rose from her chair and made her way to the entrance of the bar. The group was relatively small but people were speaking with great animation. They seemed to be looking at some kind of poster on the wall. Bo spotted a Quarren that was standing aside, a cigarette in his mouth.
“Hey, you!”
The Quarren turned to her.
“What’s going on, here?”
“You don’t know? The mayor made an announcement this morning.” He tried to mimic a Coruscanti accent. “All the jobs are to be converted to arms manufacturing on the Emperor’s orders.” He sneered. “Yeah… The men are worried. They don’t know who’s gonna pay for the reconversion process, y’know? Most of them have never touched a weapon before.”
Bo glanced at the poster on the wall. She couldn’t get a good look because of all the people standing in front of it, but she could definitively see the sigil of the new Empire on the poster’s upper part. That was no good news.
“Thank you,” she said to the Quarren without listening what he was still talking about.
She got back inside the cantina where Rex and Ahsoka were waiting, an anxious look on their faces.
“So…?” Asked Ahsoka.
“The Empire has ordered that all Tahlarian facilities switch to weapon production.”
“I have a bad feeling about this,” said Ahsoka. “This most likely means imperial representatives will soon come to Tahlar to oversee the transition.”
“We should leave tomorrow while we still can,” added Rex.
“I agree. We could…”
Bo-Katan paused. The waiter droid was coming back with their meals.
“Here you go. Three delicious pieces of meat for you.”
“Thanks,” Ahsoka said as the droid put their plates on the table.
“The pleasure is mine, enjoy!”
The droid gone; Rex grimaced in disgust.
“That looks like anything but meat,” Bo-Katan said.
“Well… It’s all we have,” Ahsoka answered.
She took a first bite and swallowed it with difficulty.
“What does it taste like?” Rex asked.
“Bad.”
The three of them chuckled, and as Rex and Bo-Katan were dipping into their own plates, the room suddenly fell silent. The holograms at the center of the tables turned off, as well as the giant screen behind the bar.
“What’s happening?” Ahsoka said with a frown.
The response came quickly as a voice filled the cantina.
“Citizens of the civilized galaxy, on this day we mark a transition.”
Rex and Ahsoka tensed up. They had both recognised Palpatine’s voice. Sidious’ voice. A broadcasting of his speech appeared on every screen of the cantina.
“For a thousand years, the Republic stood as the crowning achievement of civilized beings. But there were those who would set us against one another, and we took up arms to defend our way of life against the Separatists. In so doing, we never suspected that the greatest threat came from within. The Jedi, and some within our own Senate, had conspired to create the shadow of Separatism using one of their own as the enemy's leader. They had hoped to grind the Republic into ruin. But the hatred in their hearts could not be hidden forever. At last, there came a day when our enemies showed their true natures. The Jedi hoped to unleash their destructive power against the Republic by assassinating the head of government and usurping control of the clone army. But the aims of would-be tyrants were valiantly opposed by those without elitist, dangerous powers. Our loyal clone troopers contained the insurrection within the Jedi Temple and quelled uprisings on a thousand worlds. The remaining Jedi will be hunted down and defeated!”
Ahsoka and Rex were in shock. And as if this was not enough, the hologram in the center of the table reappeared; only this time, it showed the face of a Jedi. In the background, Bo could hear Palpatine’s speech continuing, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the hologram. The face was that of a male Zabrak and below it was a small inscription in Galactic Basic. Wanted: Zubain Ankonori, Jedi knight. Bo glanced at Ahsoka. She didn’t seem to recognize the Zabrak, but she was slightly shaking. After a few seconds of spinning in mid air, Zubain Ankonori’s face disappeared and a new one materialized. This time it was a male Iktotchi. Wanted: Ferren Barr, Jedi knight. Next was a young boy called Caleb Dume, followed by a certain Selrahc Eluos, and then Kirak Infil’a. The names and the faces kept appearing one after the other. At some point, Ahsoka began to mutter something under her breath. A prayer of some sort, the Mandalorian guessed. But then she saw him. The three of them did. Ahsoka abruptly stopped whispering and Rex gasped.
Wanted: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi master.
The man they had spoken with only a few days ago was there, spinning in the center of their table like a criminal to be fed upon by bounty hunters. They were all looking at him. It seemed as if time had stopped; but the image eventually faded away, leaving them with a weird mix of hope, joy and worry. Ahsoka turned to Rex.
“Do you think Cody…?”
He shook his head, sadly.
“No. He didn’t know about the chip. And I’ve never seen Cody disobey an order.”
He paused.
“Can you sense him? I mean… through the Force?”
“No… For all I know, he might be dead and the Empire didn’t find his corpse yet. Or…”
She seemed to hesitate.
“Or he might be hiding and concealed himself in the Force. I’ve only heard rumors about such abilities, but master Kenobi has always been very skilled in the Force. He might have been able to achieve it.”
“I’m sure he’s alive,” Bo said. “That man survived a Mandalorian civil war. Twice. I know how to recognize a great warrior when I see one.”
“I agree,” Rex said. “He’s one of the best generals I have fought alongside with.”
“Yes…” Ahsoka added with a smile. “He is a great Jedi and a great man.”
Bo raised her glass.
“To Obi-Wan Kenobi, then. May the Force always be with him.”
The other two imitated her.
“To Obi-Wan Kenobi!”