Kenobi Chronicles

Episode 1 (Part 2)

"The Princess has been WHAT?"

The old general's words echoed off the sides of his cave and back into his ears—and yet he still had trouble believing them. Two figures sat before him, both of their heads hanging low. When he received no response, Kenobi stood to his feet and began pacing, his insides screaming within him.

"Of all the—" he muttered, his hands stroking his beard nervously. "Stupid!" The word was spat out like poison. "One thing for you to do!" He threw his arms out wide open. "One thing, Senator!"

To be honest, Kenobi was not thrilled to see that the two dots on his radar had come to be his old friend Senator Bale Organa and one of his lackeys that had been planted on Tatooine. The Senator and the General had agreed over a decade ago that they should not maintain contact and only under the worst of circumstances was this promise to be broken.

"She had the best security, Obi—" Organa began, but the General held up his weather-beaten hand.

"Ben."

The old Senator in his panic seemed to have forgotten the basics of survival. Kenobi noted it was probably his grief that clouded his mind, but it didn't matter. One missing child was enough, but two would be catastrophic.

"Ben," Senator Organa addressed shakily. How far they had come, he thought to himself. "We gave her the highest form of security that my people could give. Only the Emperor himself was guarded more closely. Whoever took her was no common kidnapper."

"And what have you done to get her back?" Kenobi asked, turning his back to them in order to hide the pain on his face. If this kidnapping was more than just a political crime—if it was any way connected to—

"We've tried everything." The Senator said, his voice shaking a moment. He continued. "For two weeks we sent out our own teams. The only information they could bring back was a rumor among the systems."

"Rumor?" Kenobi asked. Organa hesitated. It seemed that to utter the rumor would unlock a great dam of grief that he held back. "What is the rumor, Senator?" Organa took a deep breath in.

"My sources say that she was kidnapped by—by the bounty hunter Cad Bane."

Kenobi's eyebrows shot up in surprise. He turned to look at the Senator. There was no trace of uncertainty or lying hidden on the old man's weary face.

"We've set a reward on her return and a bounty on his head, but no one will touch him."

Kenobi turned his back to them again, and looked out at the dark wilderness desert. The three moons of Tatooine stared down coldly on the grey expanse of sand. Kenobi resisted a chill that ran through his limbs.

The boy must be protected, he said to himself.

"So why come to me? I don't want to touch Cad Bane, either." Kenobi said, finally breaking the silence.

"But you must help me, Obi—" Organa caught himself. "You must help her, Ben. We are afraid she was taken—for the Sith."

"For the Inquisitors? That's what you believe?" Kenobi asked doubtfully. Organa's senses really were clouded. Organa and his companion looked at each other knowingly.

"What is it?" Kenboi asked suspiciously. Then following his intuition he said, "Cad Bane left something behind, didn't he? What was it?"

Organa looked up at Kenobi in awe—the same look the old Jedi had seen many times before. Organa reached inside his cloak and brought out a slip of folded paper, handing it to Kenobi. The old general took it and tilted it towards the faint light of the moons.