Wars Amongst the Stars: Rebellion: Vol. 2

Chapter Forty-Six

Keen sets the ship down on a tall, sand dune, Cody staring out at the arid landscape, confusion evident on his face. He doesn't voice any questions, merely tugging his helmet over his head. Ari'abel stands from her chair, stretching her shoulders with a satisfying pop. She walks to the airlock door, pausing to look at the Clone as it opens. "Are you just gonna stand around looking pretty, or are you coming with me?"

The Marshall Commander starts, before setting off after the Jedi Master. "I leave one desert, and you bring me to another, General. It's very desolate, one might think you bring him here to kill him."

"Oh, come now, Cody. I swore to Rex, and Gregor, that you wouldn't die. I am a woman of my words."

"Yes, well, a lesser man may think that, but I trust you, Sir." He turns, his eyes taking in the barren landscape, mainly comprised of sand. "So," Cody asks, squinting his eyes at the twin suns shining brightly overhead, "Why the heck are we on Tatooine? What is this mission, General?"

Ari'abel smirks, hearing the sand crunching under the feet of them both. The heat is striking, and Keen is glad she left her long grey robe on the ship, and wishes she had ditched her tunic as well. She quickly scrubs her arm across her brow, spying their destination. Cody, even without the knowledge he desires about the mission, still follows her directly to the small hut in the middle of the sandy dunes. The Clone Commander instinctively reaches for his blaster, but Keen's hand gently grips his wrist, shaking her head slightly, "You needn't worry, Commander. You won't be needing your blaster right now. You have your comm, yes?"

"Of course, sir. Can you tell me what's going on?"

She smiles, "You'll know soon enough, Commander, have patience."

Cody sighs, "You'll remember, I was never very good at patience."

The Jedi Master signals for the Clone to stand behind where the door will open, so he's just out of view of the occupants of the hutt. Once she's certain that he's safely out of view, she knocks on the door. Keen can sense the movement, and confusion, from the Jedi inside. Footsteps can be heard, approaching the door, which cracks open to reveal a disgruntled Jedi.

When Obi-Wan's eyes land on Keen, he swings the door open the rest of the way. "Keen! What do you want?"

With the voice of his General drifting to his ears, Cody freezes, seeming nervous, and yet Keen can sense his excitement as well.

"Wow, really, this is how you treat your friends? I fly all the way out here, and there's no, Hey, Keen, how are you. Or, Hey, Keen, long time no see. No, what I get is, What do you want."

The Jedi rolls his eyes, "Hello, Keen, how are you. It's been a while. What do you want?"

"Why didn't you sense me coming, Obi?"

"I haven't been using the Force as often as I could, not with the Tatooine drought. I'd want to help them far too much. Now, what do you want?"

"Well, fine, seeing as all you want to do is be rude, maybe I'll just leave, becayse clearly you aren't in the mood to help the Galaxy."

Kenobi groans, scrubbing a hand down his face. "If you came all this way just to insult me, I recommend just going back to your ship, because I am very much not in the mood."

"Okay, Obi. You're right, I apologize. I came all the way out here, because while searching through uncharted space in the hopes of finding some suitable planet to put a base for our Rebellion. And I happened to stumble upon a familiar face, shared by, well, only a couple of a million people." Stepping from behind the door, Cody steps, meeting the eyes of his old friend.