ℝ𝔸𝕋𝕀𝕆ℕ𝔸𝕃 ➵ o. kenobi {my only hope; book 1}

【 SEVEN 】

     ᴛʜᴇ ꜰɪɢʜᴛ ꜱᴛᴀʀᴛᴇᴅ ᴏꜰꜰ ᴡᴇʟʟ. As soon as Obi-Wan ignited his lightsaber, the droids realized we were intruders and charged, yelling monotonous battle cries as they did so. Obi-Wan and I took out the first several waves easily, and in the background, I could hear Qui-Gon's lightsaber hum to life as he dealt with the droids guarding the ship. Only after we freed the pilots did the endeavor start going south.

As Obi-Wan and I raced back to the ship, we watched as the entire group boarded quickly, leaving only Qui-Gon behind, which was a good thing, because right at that moment, several more waves of droids rushed into the room, shooting madly after us. Qui-Gon ushered Obi-Wan and I up the ramp onto the ship, and as soon as the ramp was safely retracted, I felt the familiar feeling of weightlessness in my stomach as the ship began to ascend into the sky.

Obi-Wan rushed off at once to lead Jar Jar to someplace safe, while Qui-Gon and I followed the captain, who'd introduced himself as Panaka, and the main pilot up to the cockpit of the ship. "There's the blockade," the pilot announced gravely as we made our way out of the Naboo atmosphere. Sure enough, there it was, as clear as we'd seen it coming into the planet--the starry universe dotted with hundreds of menacing Federation ships. Although this time, unlike when we'd arrived, it was exponentially more deadly.

As we started to get shot at, I felt a presence approach from behind me. I knew the familiar Force signature without even looking... after our talk before the droid battle, I'd become thousands of times more attuned to his presence. I almost wished I'd never followed him to free those pilots. Whatever feelings I had toward Obi-Wan were better left unspoken, never acted upon, never mentioned aloud. But the fact that we'd addressed them made it too real for me... so real I almost wished he'd find a different place to stand.

The feeling of the ship lurching brought me spiraling back to my senses. One of the blasts from the blockade had managed to land a blow on our ship, and alarms were blaring as the ship shuddered and lurched, still flying, still intact, but not for long.

The pilot glanced over the dashboard and the flashing screens, trying to make sense of the alarm code. "The shield generator's been hit!" He cried out in horror.

We watched the live security footage as several astromech droids made their way out onto the exterior of the ship, extending tools toward the exposed panel of the ship, beeping in determination.

More shots were fired--one, no, two droids were lost.

"We're losing droids fast," Obi-Wan remarked in alarm, glancing around at all of us. He met my eye, but I looked away quickly, not wanting to get lost in my thoughts or pestering feelings at this crucial moment.

The ship lurched again as Captain Panaka began to speak. "If we can't get the shield generator fixed, we'll be sitting ducks," he snapped.

Another droid was hit then, blasted to hundreds of pieces and sent flying off the edge of the ship. I shook my head sadly. This couldn't be the end, could it? Not after we'd worked so hard to get this far.

"Shields are gone," the pilot announced loudly, messing with several controls as he fought to come up with a backup plan. But merely moments later, a peaceful beep sounded, and the pilot gasped, staring at his controls in incredulity. "The power's back up!"

I turned, aghast, back to the security monitor. One lone blue droid was left, beeping triumphantly, retracting its tools back into its cylindrical metal body.

"That little droid did it!" The pilot cried. "He bypassed the main power drive!" Qui-Gon looked astonished as the pilot flipped a couple more switches. "Deflector shields at maximum."