Chapter 34 - Saving Private Obi Wan

(Just wanna make sure everyone knows, the time that passes is in game time which is four times faster than IRL time. I might have fuċkėd up the ages of our MC so imma fix that. HAPPY NEW YEAR MOTHER FUCKERS!)

Almost immediately, Tyler was already at a crossroads. 'UGHHHHHH WHAT SHOULD I DO?!?!?'

On one hand, he can go and take part in the arena battle. There was a fourth empty pillar after all and he has no doubts that he is the only one Dooku would be happy to string up in there.

On the other hand, he could do what he is supposed to do as a General of the Grand Army of the Republic and ride in on the valkyries with Grand Master Yoda.

However, he came to a realization quite quickly. 'Since when do I actually do what I'm supposed to do? Fuck it. I can pass it off as saving a close friend and important General.'

Tyler quickly called up Anakin. A hologram of him and Padme popped up. "Padawan, where are you?"

Anakin froze for a moment. Tyler outranked him so lying would be insubordination. He sighed. "Senator Amidala and I are on our way to Geonosis to save Master Obi Wan."

Tyler nearly choked. "I see you're still trying to keep up the facade with Padme."

Anakin nearly choked. "What do you mean, Master Draco?"

Tyler gave him a playful look. "I know, but I won't tell. Don't worry. Anyways, I'll be joining you shortly. Don't start the party without me. You know how much I love causing trouble."

Padme rolled his eyes. "This is so like you Draco."

Tyler laughed. "You know me so well. Anyways, see you soon!" He then hung up and summoned Kai.

By the time Kai arrived, Tyler was in his penthouse getting dressed and having a preflight drink. "Master, you called for me?"

Tyler downed his whisky and nodded. "Indeed I did. Go meet up with Master Yoda. Tell him that I was in the neighborhood and decided to go help Obi Wan. You are to go with him to acquire the clone army from Kamino."

Kai pouted. "Are you going to go have fun without me?"

Tyler rolled his eyes. "How bad of an influence have I been on you?"

Kai shrugged. "We have been together for almost 10 years now. How could your bad side not rub off on me."

At this point, Tyler was walking out the door towards the hangar. "Just shut up and go see Yoda will ya? OH! And tell Lama Su I want the purple one. He will understand what I mean."

Tyler quickly boarded his Eta-2 Actis-Class Light Interceptor. He instantly took off and sped towards orbit. While he was in transit, he sent out a guild wide message. As soon as he docked with his hyperspace ring, he jumped into hyperspace. It would take him a few hours to reach Geonosis.

*Guild Message Received: ALL NEARBY AVAILABLE FLEETS JUMP TO NABOO! STANDBY FOR FURTHER ORDERS!*

There were already 11 Acclamators being filled up with troops on Kamino. In addition, 36 Venators were ready to escort the ȧssault ships to the battlefield. They would also end up partaking in the space battle.

As Tyler was in hyperspace, he thought about the coming battle. He doubted that either side had any concept of how large the scale of this battle would be. It would make the original Battle of Geonosis look like a small skirmish.

As soon as he exited hyperspace, he was welcomed by a fleet of Federation "cargo" starships. All of them were missing their command spheres so they were essentially sitting ducks. There were also at least 20 CIS frigates. He somehow slipped past the blockade. Even if they did contact him, he would have told them he was Darth Zagan. They probably would have just let him pass in order to avoid aggravating a Sith Lord.

After disengaging his hyperspace ring, he pinged Anakin to receive their coordinates since they had already landed. Tyler landed inside the exhaust vent next to the one that Padme and Anakin landed in.

Tyler did a flip out of his ship. Anakin and Padme were waiting for him. "What's poppin'?"

Padme stormed over. "Draco, what is this I hear about a massive Limitless Fleet forming over Naboo?"

Tyler shooed away her worries. "Nothing you need to be concerned about. They are reinforcements for the coming conflict."

Padme scoffed. "There is no fighting yet. We can still have a diplomatic solution to this."

Tyler rolled his eyes. "Padme, come on. We covered this in the senate."

Padme started walking away. "We'll see about that."

Tyler turned to Anakin and shrugged. "Well, let's not keep your girlfriend waiting."

Anakin just rolled his eyes and the three of them began moving into the droid factory. The catacombs were very dark and had ancient carvings in the stone walls. Through the force, Tyler could sense countless life forces all around them.

Tyler turned to Anakin. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

Anakin sighed. "This whole ordeal is a bad feeling."

Tyler nearly choked. "And that's coming from you. From what Obi Wan tells me, you love launching yourself ȧss first into danger."

Anakin shrugged. As he did, his shoulder hit the hanging leg of a sleeping Geonosian. It almost immediately woke up startled. Must have been quite the light sleeper. It slowly opened its eyes and then screeched after seeing the intruders.

Tyler sighed as he unsheathed his lightsabers and ignited the purple blades. "I'm getting a weird sense of deja vu."

Anakin nodded as he ignited his blue lightsaber. "Sorry Master Draco. I didn't see the leg hanging there."

Tyler scoffed. "Now is not the time for excuses, padawan. Let's get ourselves out of this mess."

Anakin stayed next to Padme as they backpedalled to the end of the hallway. Tyler stayed in front of them staving off the horde of geonosians, his twin sabers leaving streaks of purple light as he cut down the humanoid insects.

Suddenly, a rogue geonosian jumped out of a cavity in the wall and caught Padme. In a fit of rage, Anakin aggressively cut down the captor. A wave of dark energy permeated off him as he protected his love.

Tyler felt the wave and immediately rushed forward. He had to calm Anakin down quickly. Tyler spun, letting his sabers fan out like the blades of a helicopter. In doing this, several geonosians were bisected. After seeing this, the remaining ones ran away.

Tyler quickly turned around. "Anakin, remember what we learned on Mustafar. Balance is key. Use your emotions to fuel you but do not let them control you."

Anakin sheathed his lightsaber looking slightly embarrassed. "Yes, master."

Tyler nodded. "You are still young so it is important to not let the force cloud your mind. Forget light and dark, just try and keep true to yourself. Remember the reason you joined the order."

Anakin nodded. "Thank you for the advice. If you are so wise, why are you not yet a Jedi Master?"

Tyler sighed. "I'm quite young and I'm also inexperienced. I've been in the order for just a few more years than you, afterall. I should be one soon. My padawan is nearly a Jedi Knight. Maybe you two will graduate, quote on quote, at the same time."

Anakin smiled. "That would be fun. It has been a while since I have seen Kai. Is he doing well?"

Tyler smirked. "You will see him soon, I am sure. Might have quite the sight in store for ya."

Anakin rolled his eyes. "Always the showman, aren't you?"

Tyler shrugged. "Anyways, we have a job to do." He then nodded towards Padme.

Anakin nodded. "Indeed, master."

Tyler walked forward and waved his hand. Using the force, he bypassed the security panel and opened the door. What he saw brought joy to his eyes. "This should be fun."

Before them was the droid factory. Loud machinery and hot metal littered the humongous space.

Tyler turned back to his companions. "Well, no time to waste."

Padme rolled her eyes and walked past Tyler and Anakin followed. Tyler then followed them through the door.

Suddenly, the door closed behind them and the platform they were standing on began retracting into the wall. Tyler and Anakin quickly grabbed hold of a cutout in the door. Unfortunately, Padme didn't share that reaction and fell down onto the conveyor belt.

Anakin panicked. "PADME!"

Tyler extended his other arm to block Anakin. "She will be fine. I ȧssure you of that. They wouldn't dare kill a senator. Let's figure out our next move."

Anakin suċkėd in a deep breath of air. "As long as that plan involves recovering Padme, I am all for it."

Tyler nodded. "It will. Afterall, her ship is our way out of here. Anyways, we should find something to stand on that isn't an ȧssembly line."

After saying that, they both jumped down and ran in the direction that Padme was being pulled by the conveyor belt. Anakin flinched multiple times as Padme rolled underneath presses.

Tyler pointed off to the side. "Look, there is a catwalk that follows alongside this conveyor belt."

Anakin nodded. "Let's move."

(That is what it's called. Look up "ladle metallurgy" or "foundry ladle". It looks just like the cups from the droid factory.)

Tyler sighed. "Of course it couldn't be easy."

The two Jedi ran along the catwalk, following the path of the ladle. Up ahead, liquid metal was being dispensed into the ladles. Padme was just a few moments from being deep fried.

Anakin shook his head. "What are we going to do?"

As he said this, they heard the sound of small jets behind them. Turning around, they saw R2 land on the catwalk and rush towards the interface panel.

Anakin sighed in relief. "Thank the force you're here R2."

Tyler chuckled. "We are blessed with our astromechs, eh? Mine hasn't been able to do anything crazy yet but I have a feeling that he will be very useful during the coming war."

R2 jacked into the interface and began spinning the dial. As the spout was about to dump liquid metal on Padme, it closed and pulled back. However, in classic R2 fashion, he released the ladle and it fell to the ground.

Anakin and Tyler dropped down to ensure Padme was alright. Unfortunately, they were almost immediately surrounded by a squad of armed geonosians and droidekas. Then, a surprise guest landed in front of them.

The man flipped his oversized hat and spoke in a raspy, robotic voice. "Freeze, Jedi."

Tyler scoffed. "Cad Bane, in the flesh."

Bane smirked. "So, the all mighty Lord Draco knows of me."

Tyler rolled his eyes. "Of course I do. There are few things that go down in this galaxy that I don't know of."

Bane shrugged. "As expected of a Guild Leader such as yourself. Take them away."

The droids and geonosians stepped forward aggressively.

-GE-

There were two transports pulled by beasts. In the front one, Anakin and Padme stood next to each other. In the back one, Tyler was being a third wheel.

Anakin turned to Padme. "Don't be afraid."

Padme turned back with a sombre expression. "I'm not afraid to die."

She paused dramatically then continued. "I've been dying a little bit each day since you came back into my life."

Anakin looked confused. "What are you talking about?"

Padme looked at Anakin with dėsɨrė in her eyes. "I love you."

Anakin looked slightly surprised and then looked away. "You love me? I thought we had decided not to fall in love, that we would be forced to live a lie… and that it would destroy our lives."

Anakin looked back and Padme locked eyes with him. "I think our lives are about to be destroyed anyway."

Padme began slowly moving in towards Anakin. "I truly… deeply… love you, and before we die, I want you to know."

Anakin returned the gesture and slowly moved in before passionately locking lips with Padme. They shared a sensual kiss that would rock the galaxy if seen.

Tyler rolled his eyes. "Guys, I'm right here, you know?"

Padme quickly pulled away blushing. She looked away as the transport was pulled out into the arena.

Anakin sighed. "Couldn't you just let us have the moment, master?"

Tyler shrugged. "No one is dying today. There will be plenty of time for that."

As they were pulled out into the arena, the bright sun nearly blinded them. They were led along the wall counter clockwise towards the four stone pillars in the center of the arena. Obi Wan was already restrained there. He visibly rolled his eyes as he saw the three of them being brought towards him.

Being the curious guy he was, he decided to check everyone's levels.

*Obi Wan Kenobi, 35 years, Jedi Master (Revanite)*

*Level 112*

*Stewjon Human*

*Anakin Skywalker, 19 years, Jedi Padawan (Revanite)*

*Level 81*

*Tatooine Human*

*Padme Amidala, 24 years, Republic Senator*

*Level 72*

*Naboo Human*

All around them, geonosians filled the stands. Several levels were packed to the brim. They loved seeing stuff like this.

The transports stopped and they were escorted off of the chariots towards the pillars. Padme reached inside her utility belt and pulled something out before hiding it in her mouth. She felt a gaze upon her and looked to her left. Tyler was staring at her and nodded when they made eye contact. She smirked as she was chained to the pillar.

As Anakin was led to his pillar, Obi Wan turned to him. "I was beginning to wonder if you'd got my message."

Anakin looked dejected. "I retransmitted it just as you had requested, master. Then we decided to come and rescue you."

Obi Wan scoffed. "Good job."

As he said this, the crowd began to roar. Looking up to a platform that stood high above the arena, Archduke Poggle the Lesser, Cad Bane, Viceroy Nute Gunray, and his aide came into view.

Poggle waved to his people as they cheered. "[Speaking Geonosian] Let the executions begin!"