ℝ𝔼ℂ𝕂𝕃𝔼𝕊𝕊 ➵ o. kenobi {my only hope; book 2}

【 TWENTY-FOUR 】

     ɪ ʜᴏɴᴇꜱᴛʟʏ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛ ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴡᴀꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇɴᴅ. There were only a handful of Jedi left, surrounded by an insurmountable number of droids, with Dooku and Jobal looking down over us smugly from the balcony like we were their prey. Sure, the droids had stopped firing, but it was only a matter of time before we were offered a deal--surrender, or die. All of our reinforcements were gone, no one was coming for us. Keeping my hold on Master Windu, I looked up at the balcony above, glaring sharply at Dooku and Jobal. If we were going out, we weren't going out without a fight.

"Master Windu," Count Dooku called downwards, his voice resonating powerfully. "You have fought valiantly, worthy of recognition in the archives of the Jedi Order."

A couple of droids ushered a few more Jedi who'd been forced to surrender into the center of our circle as well, including Masters Mundi, Koon, and Secura. They shot apologetic looks toward Master Windu, as if regretting not having been able to do more.

"Now, it is over," Jobal finally spoke up, sounding mockingly regretful. "Surrender," she commanded, "and your lives will be spared." Her eerie grey eyes met mine meaningfully, and I looked away.

"We will not be hostages to be bartered!" Master Windu spat.

Dooku shook his head. "Then I'm sorry, old friend."

Just as I'd predicted, the droids raised their blasters again, taking aim. I squeezed Obi-Wan's hand, but refused to look away. When faced with death, I would look it in the face and die valiantly. I hefted my saber, ready to fight until my death, but before the droids had time to shoot, Padmé inhaled sharply, her gaze turned toward the sky. "Look!"

All of us turned around, glancing in the direction she was pointing, and I nearly got the breath knocked out of me again... this time for a good reason. Descending from the sky were dozens of ships filled to the brim with the clone troopers Obi-Wan and I had witnessed back on Kamino, bearing arms and raining fire down on the droids surrounding us. As one of the ships drew close to the ground, I caught a glimpse of a small green figure at the head of one of the ships. Yoda.

The droids surrounding us began to open fire again, but all of us had newfound adrenaline and energy coursing through our veins. This was our chance... our chance to actually be saved. To live. We deflected each of the blasts, working harder than ever now to actually survive.

"Around the survivors, a perimeter, create!" I heard Yoda instruct from the low-flying ship, and in response to his orders, several more ships descended to the arena floor, allowing us to make a quick escape. I hurriedly ushered Master Windu as quickly as I could toward the nearest ship and deposited him carefully on the floor. Then, rushing to the edge of the ship, I held out my hand for other retreating Jedi, helping them hop onto the ship that was slowly starting to reascend.

Droids dropped like flies. And without a second thought, we were out of there.

"Nab--" Master Windu stopped himself in the middle of calling my old name. "Hollbar."

I walked over to the man, who was still sitting, panting, on the ground. "Yes, Master?" My stomach writhed. If he was going to bring up what had happened to Kera back on Coruscant, I was screwed. Nevertheless, I took a seat next to him, trying to reinstate my normal breathing pattern.

He was silent for a couple of moments. Then he looked over at me, annoyance in his eyes, as if this were hard to say. "I know you said you don't need me to thank you. But I do." He closed his eyes, exhaling slowly. "You saved my life. So thank you."

I moved my legs so that my knees were sticking up in the air, and I wrapped my arms around them. "No worries. It seemed like the right thing to do."