Author's Note: I forgot to say this in the last chapter, but Amatakka and the Tatooine Slave Culture were created by Fialleril. :)
~ Amina Gila
Obi-Wan senses the disturbance in the Force immediately. Danger. Something is very wrong.
He doesn't have to wait more than a few minutes to find out what.
Several palace guards rush into the room only moments later, their worry and fear pouring into the Force. "A Separatist fleet has just come out of hyperspace above the planet. They're blockading it and preparing to land," reports one of them.
Of course. He should have known this would happen eventually. Well, he did suspect it, but it isn't something they're ready to deal with, not right now.
They don't have any sort of air force, and they're still working on trying to rebuild the planet, so they don't have much in way of military force either, though it will be enough to defend the palace if things come to it. Most people on Tatooine can use a blaster, so if the droids start going after the civilians, they should be able to defend themselves, to a point.
But he's not going to take any chances. "Lock down the palace," Obi-Wan orders. That's likely exactly where the droids are heading, already. "Warn the people not to engage the droids in the city unless they have to."
They don't need to start a senseless massacre, because he knows that's exactly what the droids will do if they think they have a reason to.
The guards hurry from the room to do as instructed, and Obi-Wan immediately moves to his long-range transmitter. The Separatists will likely block transmissions any moment now, so he needs to make this fast.
He uses the emergency frequency, and Anakin picks up the call immediately.
"Obi-Wan?" Anakin asks, worry clear in his gaze. He knows something's wrong, of course, or Obi-Wan wouldn't be calling him this urgently.
"The Separatists are attacking," he explains, getting right to the point, "See if you can get Republic assistance."
Anakin's reply is abruptly cut off as the line goes staticky. They jammed the transmissions. But he already got the call through. It doesn't matter.
Outside, Obi-Wan can hear the muffled sound of blaster fire.
The droids are here, already.
He hurries from the room, making his way up to the upper levels of the palace, where they have balconies overlooking the surrounding area. He finds Shmi first, positioned on one of the balconies, sniping down at the droids below. Numerous others are already taking up positions to join her.
"There's hundreds of them," she observes, as he moves to join her, expression grim.
There are regular and super battle droids, swarming all around the palace now. There's only way to get through, though.
Through the main entrance door.
And it's totally sealed off. The droids themselves will never be able to get inside.
"They won't be able to break through like that," Obi-Wan observes. The door is literally several feet thick for a reason, after all. Jabba intended the palace to be secure in case of attacks, and that certainly works to their advantage right now.
"Unless they bring in something bigger," Shmi calls, shooting several more times down at the droids. The blasts strike their mark, and the droids collapse to the ground. Some of them try to shoot up at the balconies, but it's too high above them, and the shots miss completely.
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Liberator
FanfictionAnakin refuses to leave his mother behind in slavery if she'll never be freed. Qui-Gon never comes back, but Obi-Wan does. When he does, he's... different. Darker. Fallen. Even so, he carries through with his unspoken promise to train Anakin, though...
