Attack of the Clones part 2
Quinlan grimaced at the rain. He was going to get soaked. At least he was on Kamino. It was actually a real place. Now for some answers. He pulled his cloak on and flipped up the hood for a little protection, but he doubted he'd make it to the door. He took a deep breath and darted for the door. He was soaked through by the time he reached the door. He really hated being wet like that. Wet clothes felt miserable.
“Hello, Master Jedi, we've been waiting for you. I'm Lama Su, the Prime Minister of Kamino.”
Quinlan shook himself off a little, sending water flying. He used that to hide his surprise and compose himself. “Hello, I am Jedi Master Quinlan Vos. I'm afraid I was sent here with little information aside from the need to urgently check up on things.”
“Oh, that's quite alright, everything has been quite secret since the order was placed. They're coming around quite well, our best work in fact, and we've made quite the improvements to our processes.”
Quinlan smiled. “It is always good to take pride in one's work. What is the product?”
“Clones, of course,” Lama Su gestured as they reached a window where Quinlan could see the clones.
He stiffened in surprise, but didn't say a word even as he consulted the Force. Each clone was quite unique in the Force despite appearing identical. There was a sense of Dark around, more the Dark of evil being done than the actual Dark side, but that didn't mean that Quinlan shouldn't be cautious.
“How many clones are there?” Quinlan asked as they continued walking. He thought he was taking this rather well because he really would like to freak out.
Lama Su named off some numbers- how many were combat ready, how many above the age of five but not combat ready, how many between decanting and the age of five... and how many clones were still growing in tubes.
Quinlan stared at the growing tubes, feeling how the clones were growing, their fledgling presences already flickering. All as unique as their older brothers. There were so many clones. So many. An army. Why? The Jedi wouldn't have placed the order. They couldn't have; Qui-Gon would have protested the moment he found out, and he had been on the Council for six years.
Lama Su took him to some room to talk. They sat down, and Quinlan listened further, trying to ask a lot of questions, without seeming too overwhelmed and confused. Yes, he had already established he'd been sent with little information, but no need to show how appalling this was.
Finally, there was an opening that would allow him to follow through on his mission, the actual reason he was there. Quinlan had almost forgotten why he'd ended up on Kamino.
“The only thing he asked for was an unaltered clone of his own, curious isn't it?”
Quinlan tilted his head. “Sometimes people find blood important when raising children of their own. You said he is a bounty hunter? I think I would like to meet him before I report back to the Council.”
“Of course.”
Along the way, he listened while trying to work through the knowledge he had. Someone had gone ahead and created a clone army, supposedly for the Jedi, posing as a Jedi. Considering when the order was placed, and when Sifo-Dyas went missing, Quinlan rather suspected someone else was behind this. But why give the Jedi an army? What was the goal?
And why lead him right here? The bounty hunter had been living here for ten years, and had never given a thing away. Quinlan had found evidence of him, of Jango Fett, having taken missions sporadically over the recent years before he left Coruscant, based on the armor he'd seen. But this time, on an assassination attempt on one of those against the war... He had a dart from Kamino that led them straight to an army? ...oh no.
This could be bad. Very bad. And who could be behind it but the Sith they had yet to find any information on. The only things they had to go off of were Naboo, and that time on Hades. Quinlan was one of those who knew the most about the Sith situation currently as a result and he really wasn't liking this. They had to be careful.
He smiled and shook Jango's hand. “You must be very proud of your clones. They are very impressive.”
Jango nodded back, smiling, faking. “I am, although I am happy with my son.”
Quinlan took note of that comment. So he didn't really consider the clones his. He considered his next move carefully, then spotted the armor in the corner. “I see... although I find it strange that you seem to have the armor of the bounty hunter who killed the person I was trying to interrogate on Coruscant. How about we talk about that?”
Jango scowled. “How about no? Boba, go start the ship.”
Boba took off.
Quinlan tilted his head. “Are you expecting violence? I just wanted to talk because this is a strange coincidence for a man who is supposed to be spending most of his time here, keeping an eye on his son and the clones.”
Jango crossed his arms. “Either way, now that the Jedi are here, my contract is over. I am free to leave entirely, the Kaminoans have enough of my blood and data to keep making clones for years. So we are going to leave.”
“How about some answers first?” Quinlan smiled sweetly.
Lama Su just seemed confused, and stayed out of it.
“Maybe I was hired by the Separatists to delay the bill so they can do their thing.”
“See, that would actually make sense, which also means you're delaying me on purpose. But that also is interesting because that puts you on the other side of your clones. You really don't care about them do you? Just a means to an end.”
“You have no idea.” Jango punched him.
Quinlan let him go, pretending to take a bit to recover. He had a feeling that if he let Jango and Boba go, they would lead him somewhere else.
He waved off any help. “I'm terribly sorry, it seems I have to go wrap up a different mission of mine. I will ensure someone from the Jedi Order will be in contact soon. I am very impressed with all you have done here.”
“Oh of course.”
Quinlan ran out and tagged their ship with a tracking beacon without them noticing, then quickly reported to the Council about everything that had happened before taking off after the bounty hunter. This was a lot to deal with, and he was wet again, after being almost dry.
But at least he was reaching the end of his goal. Finding out who hired Jango Fett to assassinate Padme. Geonosis? Interesting. They were one of the systems looking to leave the Republic.
Once he had the information needed (and far more than he bargained for), he had to send it to Aayla on Naboo to get it to Coruscant, but before he could confirm that it was sent off, droids came and dragged him off. Quinlan was not impressed, but there wasn't anything he could do besides wait. He trusted Aayla.
.
Aayla had her hands full trying to convince Padme they didn't need to go to Geonosis. And then Obi-Wan called. She sighed in relief when she answered.
“Hi Obi-Wan.”
“Hello, Aayla. Are you still on Naboo?”
“Yes, though I'm having trouble convincing Padme not to go herself. She thinks because I care about Quinlan that it means I should be rushing to his rescue. She's also saying that if she goes, then I have to go, I mean yeah, Quin and I discussed this possibility, but considering his message...”
“Get her to stay there for one day. Ani and I just left Kiffu. We will be at Naboo in a day, and pick you both up. We have authorization to investigate and decide preliminary strategies before a full rescue mission can be put underway, and unfortunately, it's going to be the start of war, it sounds like.”
Aayla slumped. “That's not the news I wanted to hear, but with what Quin found... We will wait and prepare. May the Force be with you.”
“May the Force be with you.”
“What was that about?” Padme asked, having returned for another round.
“Obi-Wan will be picking us up tomorrow. His and Ani's business on Kiffu has concluded and they're scouting Geonosis, and taking us with.”
“So we have to wait one day, but we will have two more Jedi as backup. That is a fair trade off.” Padme still seemed a little disappointed, then she straightened, narrowing her eyes. “Ani? As in Anakin Skywalker?”
“Oh, that's right, they found him on the mission involving you, didn't they? Ani's almost a Knight, I think his Trials were scheduled for next month.”
“What were they doing on Kiffu, then?” Padme asked, curious. Not much was known about Kiffu, after all.
“Oh, Ani's mom married a Kiffar, and he adopted Ani as his son, naturally, and so Ani was just following a cultural rite of passage for adulthood, I believe. He must have finished.”
“Oh, I see. You know Ani well?”
“Of course I do, he's Obi's padawan, and Obi is Quin's brother. Hard not to know him.”
“I look forward to meeting him again. I always wondered how he adjusted to such a huge change.”
.
Quinlan really did not ever like it when he got captured on a mission. None had ever come close to that time he ended up a slave as a padawan, but that was always the first thing that came to mind. Thankfully, no one even seemed interested in torture this time, so he was just slowly spinning around around, hanging in the air. It gave him time to compose himself.
“Quinlan Vos, hero of Naboo.”
“That was a decade ago, Kycina,” he responded, not even surprised. She had been one of the biggest supporters of the Separatist movement lately and had started to take charge of uniting the systems.
“And I have hated you for your part in my son's death since.” She pulled out a red lightsaber.
Quinlan sighed. “Well, you're not the Sith we fought on Hades.” He filed the information away that the Sith Obi-Wan fought had been her son. She might have said something about it when they were being kicked off of Hades but both he and Obi-Wan had been too injured at the time to take everything in.
“He was looking to recruit me and succeeded. I want you dead, but since you showed up here on Geonosis, the Geonosians get to choose your death.”
“Wonderful. Is that why you're here? Just to tell me that, or do you have somethi-” Quinlan cut himself off with a yell of pain when lightning jumped from her hand to him
Kycina smirked cruelly. “I can do whatever I want to you so long as it doesn't spoil their fun in the arena.”
Quinlan stared at her defiantly. “Sounds like fun. Gonna give me information while you're at it or are we going to do this silently?” He had spun so that his back was to her. He got a split second of warning in the Force and then the lightning struck again. This time he was more prepared and grit his teeth against the pain
“I was more thinking you should be silent and let me do the torturing and talking.”
“You know, I'm not much of the silent type.”
“I will ensure you can't talk if you don't. Shut up.”
“With what?”
“We'll start with the easy ways, and maybe make it permanent.”
“Huh. Okay then.” Quinlan fell silent, letting her continue to taunt and torture him, mentally trying to keep track everything she was saying. He already had a lot of things to relay to the Council, but there were a lot more questions than answers, and everything just seemed to bring up more questions. If he could figure out anything from what she was saying, it would be good.
.
“Anakin, you seem troubled.” Obi-Wan had been watching his padawan pace for more than an hour and they were just about to reach Naboo. It was time to deal with it.
“I'm a little nervous about seeing Padme again,” he admitted. “Last time I was just a little kid who helped her get off Tatooine, a little slave boy, and she was a Queen... Now I'm a Jedi padawan, almost a Knight, and she's a senator, and I don't know? I want to be her friend, and we were not really in any place for that ten years ago and now we kind of are?”
Obi-Wan chuckled. “She'll be happy to see you. She asks about you a lot, worried about how you were fitting in. I'm sure you'll be great friends. You're closer in age than her and I.”
“Oh, yeah, that's true.”
“And that's not the only thing bothering you.”
“Do you have to know me so well?”
“I'm your master, of course I do, Padawan.”
Anakin collapsed on a chair, frustrated as he ran his hands through his hair. “I keep having this nightmare about Mom dying on Tatooine. She's been safe and Free almost as long as I've been Free, why would that suddenly be popping up? Why am I having that sort of nightmare after the Hunt when I really should be having nightmares about that?” He poked at his still healing shoulder. It would be good enough to fight by the time they got to Geonosis, especially if Obi-Wan helped the healing along but it was still sore.
Obi-Wan frowned. “That is unusual. Anything else you've noticed?”
“I wake up weirdly terrified, and the only thing that calms me down enough to get back to sleep has been cuddling with mom. And sometimes I'm angry? I don't want to be, and I can't let it go, not right after the nightmare. In the morning it's easier, mostly because there's no reason to be angry?”
Obi-Wan hugged Anakin, then ruffled his hair. “Let me know if it happens again, and keep an eye on it. We don't want that to get out of control.”
Anakin leaned in. “Definitely not. I'm supposed to have better control than that.”
“I'm not too concerned. If it's better in the morning, and you can let go, that's far better than holding onto it anyways. Of course you're going to be scared and even angry directly after a nightmare. As long as you don't have anything to act on at that time, then it's not going to be a big deal, okay? Just keep doing what you've been taught.”
Anakin nodded, breathing in and out slowly. “You're right... you're always right. I'll start... journaling, I think. Keep track of patterns, maybe I can figure it out.”
“Good plan.”
.
By the time they reached Geonosis, Obi-Wan, Aayla, Anakin, and Padme had worked out a plan. They would scout out the situation and see what they had to deal with, find good places for Jedi to land and hide until the perfect moment to strike. No rescuing someone who was caught. The Geonosians needed to think they showed up alone.
The three Jedi quietly agreed that Padme was most important, so if there was a chance that she was about to be caught, the other three would ensure it didn't happen, even if it meant purposefully being caught and killed. She was oblivious to that quiet plan.
Padme was not impressed by learning more about the Separatists and Kycina's plans. It made her reckless, and Obi-Wan and Anakin quickly put themselves in the position to be caught while Aayla pulled her back to safety to report to the Council what they had found so far, especially since the Jedi were nearly there.
Kycina was quick to go to Obi-Wan and Anakin. She looked them over as they stood in front of her defiantly. Then she smirked viciously.
“Obi-Wan Kenobi... the other Hero of Naboo... I get to watch the two who killed my son get executed in the arena. Excellent. And your padawan... Anakin Skywalker. Such potential... wasted in your hands. Pity. But he will die as well. Right along with your brother.”
“Oh, wonderful.” Obi-Wan smiled calmly. “That will be great fun.”
Kycina glowered at him. “You and your brother, such Jedi, so calm and collected and uncaring of what you do to those around you.”
Obi-Wan was not prepared for the lightning, and since he wasn't being held up by anything, he collapsed on the ground with a yell. Kycina smirked in vicious satisfaction. She stopped the lightning, then struck again with a stronger stream of lightning. Obi-Wan twisted with the pain, but didn't make a sound this time.
“Master!” Anakin exclaimed, eyes wide as he watched, frozen and unsure of what to do.
Obi-Wan pushed himself up, shaking slightly. “I will be alright, Padawan. Do not worry about me.”
“Oh, he should worry about you, but there's a lot of preparations to be done for the execution and my continuing work with the Separatists, so I have to go.” With a quick burst of lightning, she left.
Obi-Wan groaned but stood and walked anyway.
“Are you... are you going to be okay with whatever this arena is?”
“I will be fine. I can numb my nerves enough to fight.” Obi-Wan assured him.
“Sometimes I wish I had more of an aptitude for healing because that sounds awesome,” Anakin muttered.
“You would abuse the ability a bit too much, Ani, though it does come in handy.” Obi-Wan chuckled.
They didn't have to wait too long until they were transferred to another area, then another... and only then, finally, were they brought to the arena, where Quinlan was already chained to one of the poles.
Quinlan sighed when he saw them. “So how did you get roped into this?”
“Scouting gone wrong,” Obi-Wan replied. “So. Kycina seems particularly fond of lightning. She a Sith?”
“Ah, yeah, it's painful.” Quinlan had the slightest tremble. “She's the apprentice, apparently the Sith had used his attack on us as a recruitment pitch.”
“Seriously? Well that makes things trickier. No one's prepared for a Sith.”
Anakin groaned. “Must you two have a calm discussion instead of working out how to get out?”
Obi-Wan smirked at him. “You know how to escape, come on Ani, you don't just have a pretty head,” he teased. All three of them hid small things that could double as lock picks in the Kiffar hair decorations they kept in their hair. Quinlan had already mostly picked the cuffs on his hands, while Obi-Wan had just pulled his out of his hair.
“I don't know how you think I'm ready for my Trials when I keep forgetting things like that,” Anakin complained.
Obi-Wan laughed. “Maybe because your career path as a Jedi should see you getting caught less than the average Jedi? And it's up to the Force.”
“Discuss this later, looks like we're about to find out what execution looks like,” Quinlan warned.
“You up for fighting, Quin?”
“Yeah, just gotta take a moment.” Quinlan closed his eyes and breathed, numbing his nerves even as he finished picking the lock.
“...Oh, so set some starving oversized predators after us, that's the execution plan?” Ani complained. “...but that actually kind of works out for us.” He grinned triumphantly when his hands were freed and he dropped to the ground.
“Thoughts?” Obi-Wan asked his padawan.
“The Reek is mostly herbivorous, could use it as a mount. The Acklay would be easy if we had our lightsabers, it doesn't hold up, and the Nexu... Hmm... Master Quin should take the Reek, even with numbing that's probably better than having to run from the other two. I think... I think I'm better off with the Acklay, the Nexu is reminding me a bit of the jagliar and Master, you're better with that than I.”
“Good assessment. Especially knowing that there are Jedi ready to spring to our aid.” Obi-Wan grinned.
“I agree. Let's do this.” Quinlan braced himself.
Anakin was very pleased with himself. Maybe he was about ready to be a Knight after all if they both agreed to his plan. He quickly got the Acklay's attention on him and started drawing it away from the poles, to give the two masters a little more room for fighting the Nexu and Reek.
Quinlan climbed his pole and waited for the perfect moment to jump down on the back of the Reek, then used the Force to connect with it to help calm it down. It wasn't going to work forever, but it would do the job for now. He watched Obi-Wan dance around, with the Nexu for a while, weaving between poles, bouncing between them to get to the top, then an idea hit him. He started pulling two of the poles down, then waited, and waited, until the Nexu was between them. Then he collapsed the two on top of it.
Obi-Wan jumped down behind him. “Nice work, Quin, now let's go rescue Anakin from his problem.”
The Geonosians were not happy that they were not getting to see the execution they had planned. There was about to be a riot. The other Jedi would have to show themselves soon, as it sounded like the Geonosians wanted more sport.
Anakin was doing a pretty good job of dancing around the Acklay's limbs and dodging all attempts to actually grab him. All the training in Kiffu's jungles had paid off. He could definitely see why Master Obi had wanted him to do the Hunt first. All those skills could be applied outside of Kiffu, aside from the ones that actually relied on Kiffu's energy. And they would make him a far better Jedi.
The Reek rammed into the Acklay. Anakin didn't hesitate and jumped behind Master Obi-Wan. As Quinlan steered the Reek to face down the Acklay again, all three Jedi trying to come up with an effective strategy, Kycina stood, boiling with rage.
“Well, Master Jedi, and padawan, it seems I underestimated your ability to adapt to the situation. So why don't we make this more difficult!” She raised her arms and droids appeared.
“Of course, why wouldn't they send the droids after us to execute us, it's not like they got armies.” Obi-Wan sighed.
“Hold on.” Quinlan had the Reek run straight into the first group of droids.
Kycina was still talking. She stopped abruptly when Mace confronted her. “Ah, the other Jedi to the rescue. Jango.”
Jango attacked Mace, but Mace was faster, jumping down into the arena and joining in the fight down there, as did all the other Jedi around the arena.
Quinlan, Obi-Wan, and Anakin accepted the lightsabers tossed at them. Quinlan continued focusing on the Reek, not quite trusting himself to fight yet, not so long as he could mostly stay out of it. Obi-Wan squeezed his shoulder then jumped down and joined the fight himself. Anakin wasn't far behind, and Obi-Wan lost track of his padawan and brother in the chaos that followed.
Droids upon droids, at some point the Acklay and Reek ended up dead, and then they were surrounded. Obi-Wan was horrified by how few Jedi were left. He knew the numbers of the Jedi who were coming to Geonosis. More than a hundred had died. He took a moment to spot Qui-Gon and Idris, the sixteen year old wide-eyed, but holding his ground, there was Quinlan back to back with Aayla, Anakin with Padme, there was Kit, Nahdar...
And then as Kycina was about to issue some sort of ultimatum, her hatred for the Jedi obvious in her voice, Yoda arrived with the clone army and they had ships to get them out of the arena. Obi-Wan was relieved, scrambling into the same ship as Kit, Quinlan, and Anakin. Aayla and Padme ended up on a different one.
They took off, and Kycina took a speeder to flee the scene.
“After that speeder!” Quinlan yelled. “We need to at least try to catch her.”
Obi-Wan put a hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay, Quin? You look a little shaky.”
Quinlan slumped, leaning in slightly. “Just a bit shaky, I'm better off as a back up than a main fighter right now.”
Kit nodded, leaning out to see how well they were keeping up. He turned back to them. “Obi-Wan and I can handle the main fight, you stick with Anakin.”
Quinlan nodded. “I can do that. Ani is a good partner in a fight.”
Anakin ducked his head. “I'm not that good. And... I picked up new tricks on Kiffu. I don't know how to use them efficiently yet.”
“Fortunately for you, I know exactly what you're talking about. We'll be able to handle it. Yeah, it'd be better if you had more practice, but that's okay.” Quinlan moved to the side with Anakin to discuss possible strategies while Kit and Obi-Wan did the same.
Finally, they landed at the place where Kycina had landed. Kit directed the troopers to secure the area while the four Jedi went to confront the Sith.
Obi-Wan had his lightsabers out, ready to fight as they ran into the hangar to find Kycina tossing some boxes into a ship with the Force. She froze when she saw them, then a snarl twisted on her face.
“So the Jedi have come after me. Let's see what you can do... Savage, Feral!”
Two zabrak appeared, one with a saberstaff, one with a single saber. Obi-Wan noted that they resembled the zabrak killed on Naboo, though they were not nearly so well versed in the Dark side.
Quinlan darted forward. “Go for Kycina, we'll hold these two off.” He blocked the saberstaff.
Anakin was wide eyed. “We will? Right we will.” He jumped in to save Quinlan from a strike to the side.
Obi-Wan and Kit acknowledged that and rushed to meet Kycina, who was not amused. But she was quick to start with the lightning. Obi-Wan and Kit fought well, taking turns attacking and defending, not giving her any breathing room.
Obi-Wan noticed that she didn't fight like her son, or the Sith. No, she seemed to have developed her own style and then incorporated Sith styles into it. It was more difficult to fight than he could have expected, especially with her added lightning attacks, and the more blatant use of the Dark side than the time on Naboo.
It was nothing like they had trained against, so it was hard to find the flow and counter. She used two sabers like Obi-Wan, which made her particularly dangerous. But they were keeping her on her toes and getting ready to cut her off from the ship.
Quinlan and Anakin fought against the zabrak brothers. Years of training helped Anakin keep up, especially since fighting with Quinlan was like fighting with his master, though Quinlan only had one lightsaber to Obi-Wan's two. They switched off frequently between Savage, the one with the saberstaff, and Feral, with the single saber.
Quinlan picked up several things from that fight. Savage was drawing heavily on rage and hatred, more tuned to the Dark side, but uncontrolled. That made him a bit more predictable even as the strength of his feelings made his attacks more powerful. Feral on the other hand was more timid, drawing on fear, was in control, and generally seemed unwilling to harm them.
Savage was the real danger here. Feral was just there for his brother. So Quinlan focused more of his effort on Savage, urging Anakin to do the same, only countering Feral when the younger zabrak attacked. Then Feral took offense when Quinlan scored a hit on Savage's arm, attacking with greater fear, and a bit of fury. Quinlan turned his attention to Feral, fighting off the attacks easily. Feral was in control, but it was clear he hadn't actually had much training yet.
Anakin had been doing well, well beyond the average Knight for the fight, even against such untrained Sith. But then he blocked Savage's attack, and a simple spin and twist of the saber staff took off part of his arm. He screamed.
Quinlan's eyes widened. He lifted his hand and used the Force to shove Feral back into the stacks of boxes, and then dove in front of Anakin to protect him from Savage. He almost lost his own arm for his effort, the blade grazing his arm painfully. He grit his teeth against the pain and stood firm against Savage.
“Master Quin, take my lightsaber,” Anakin gasped, using the Force to send it Quinlan's way.
Quinlan didn't respond, just used the Force to pull it into his left hand, shifting into his usual Jar'kai stance. He had been practicing since that fight against the Sith on Hades, and he was far more ready this time.
Savage had practice against duel wielding, but not against someone of Quinlan's skill. He was on the defensive, barely holding off Quinlan's calm barrage of attacks. Feral joined in after a bit and turned the tide, but he was injured, limping a little and had switched hands. He wasn't much of a threat, but added just enough that Quinlan's attention had to be split.
Kit and Obi-Wan meanwhile had continued to fight Kycina, though Obi-Wan was starting to slow down, thanks to the lightning from earlier. It was finally hitting him. Anakin's scream had him checking on his padawan quickly, just enough time for Kycina to spot an opening and deal a blow to his chest, almost stabbing him. He staggered back, dropping his second lightsaber as he placed a hand on the wound. He started the healing process and numbed it before jumping back into the fight.
Kit glanced at Obi-Wan worriedly, but didn't protest. Both knew it was only a temporary fix, a risky fix. But it was necessary if they wanted to capture Kycina at all. She was proving far tougher than they had expected.
Quinlan ducked under Savage's wild swing and stabbed his saber into Feral's shoulder. Feral let out a cry and stumbled back. Quinlan quickly disarmed him and flung the lightsaber far out of reach.
Savage let out a roar and attacked more furiously. Quinlan barely held up under the attacks, and knew he wasn't going to last much longer. But he still had a job to do. He leaned into the Force more than he usually liked to and let it guide his moves entirely. He cut the saberstaff in half.
Obi-Wan let out a cry as Kycina shoved him into a pillar. Kit continued focusing on the fight, accepting Obi-Wan's offer of a second saber to keep up with the Sith apprentice's dual wielding. They were relatively even, neither getting the upper hand for a while, and then Kycina saw an opening and lunged forward with both sabers. Kit only noticed the first and stumbled when the second stabbed into his chest. The first came back, and entered his shoulder, mostly cutting off the headtail resting there. Kit screamed at the sharp pain.
Quinlan froze at the eerie sound, grateful to have already removed Savage's ability to fight effectively. Kycina smirked and advanced on him. And then Yoda appeared. She froze, stared at the Jedi master. She knew he was supposed to be one of the best duelists in the Order, despite how old he appeared.
“Savage, come, it is time to go.”
Savage moved to help Feral.
“No, leave him,” Kycina snapped. “He's useless, let him die.”
Savage hesitated, but the call of the Dark side and more power was stronger than his love for his brother and he followed his mother onto the ship.
Seeing that Kit and Obi-Wan were helping each other, and Yoda was joining them, Quinlan turned to check on Anakin.
Anakin sat up, cradling the stump of his arm. “Sorry I couldn't help.”
Quinlan shook his head as he started doing the initial care for a lost limb. “It's okay. You did well, considering we don't really train against saberstaffs. Not many use them, so it's not usually necessary.”
Anakin stared at Obi-Wan and Kit. “I still lost my arm, Master Quin. What am I going to do?”
“Adapt, and come back better for it,” Quinlan replied firmly. “You're good at adapting, and you're good at mechanics. I'm sure you'll be making and modifying your own prosthetic in no time. Maybe you'll even make breakthroughs no one has ever made.”
“Oh. I... I hadn't thought about it that way... but it's still going to be hard.”
“I never said it was easy. There you should be good until we can get to the healers. I need to take care of Feral. I'm not about to let him die because he was abandoned.” Quinlan hurried over to Feral and started taking care of the wound. He was bandaging it when Feral opened his eyes.
“Why?” Feral asked weakly. “Why would you help me?”
“I don't like killing if I can help it. You were abandoned.” Quinlan finished the bandaging. “Anyways, you're not a threat right now. No point in letting you die.”
He sat back and started looking over the burn on his arm. It was worse than he thought, even with how painful it was. He really had been lucky the blade just grazed his arm rather than actually pass through it.
Feral just stared at him, thoughtful but confused. He wasn't used to such kindness. Dathomir was generally ‘keep your head down or else’. And with Kycina, it took a lot to earn her praise. This... this was new, from someone who wasn't Savage.
Kit and Obi-Wan were half bickering over who had the worst injuries while they started taking care of each other's wounds. Obi-Wan really just had a wound in the chest, and a couple of fractures from hitting the pillar.
Yoda smacked both of them in the shins. “Time for bickering, it is not. Need help, you both do. Let me.”
As they let him start taking care of them and rested, they were finally joined by others, including Aayla and Padme.
Aayla ran to Quinlan's side. “What happened?”
“Kycina got away, and she had two apprentices. One's here, she abandoned him.” Quinlan pointed at Feral
“And you're hurt!” Aayla took over bandaging it, fussing over him. Quinlan let her. Exhaustion hit him as the last few days caught up to him. Besides, it was hard to take care of the burn with one hand.
Padme knelt down next to Anakin. “Are you okay, Ani?”
Anakin was sitting up, cradling his arm. He offered her a small smile. “I'll live. I think I'm lucky it wasn't worse. I'm glad you made it out without injury.”
Padme blushed. “Thanks to you and Obi-Wan. You were brilliant.”
Now it was Anakin's turn to blush. “So were you... way better than all the sand in the arena.”
Padme giggled. That was adorably dorky. “Come on, let's get you on the ship so that we can leave.” She stood and offered her hand.
Anakin took it, smiling, and let her help him to the ship, though he didn't actually need it.
The next few weeks were a whirlwind of activity as the war got underway. As restructuring happened. Both Depa and Qui-Gon resigned from the Council, neither entirely comfortable with the war to begin with and uncomfortable being in charge of the war. Anakin had a few of his Trials declared completed due to the fight with the Sith acolytes and the loss of his arm and just had a few left. He refused to let them be rescheduled, though he was relieved he wouldn’t have to face the full run.
No one was sure what to do with Feral, but as he had not actually done any crimes yet, and he had been abandoned, they were waiting on him to make a decision. But he wasn't talking to anyone, quiet in the Healing Halls as he healed.