The Duchess and The Jedi.

Chapter 2

         Dawn on the republic cruiser came 10 clicks after dusk. Obi-Wan woke and looked down. Satine had wrapped herself in his Jedi robe for warmth. He smiled down at her. not wanting to wake her, he gently pulled his robe off and allowed Satine to pull it in closer for warmth. He smiled at her and kissed her forehead and rose from the sleep couch. He walked over to the door and pulled his boots on and headed for the door."Obi?" Satine said in a sleepy voice "Obi? Where are you going my dear?" Obi-Wan turned to see Satine standing by the bed wearing nothing but his robe.
"Oh I-Um I'm just...Um" he stammered, and tried to get words. It was not his first time sleeping with Satine, but it was also not something that happened every day.
"You weren't going to leave without saying goodbye weren't you?" Satine asked "You know how much I hate it when you do that." she began advancing on him, allowing the robe to fall open.
"I thought you were still sleeping so I, well I thought I would go meditate for a while." Obi-Wan said. He looked away from Satine as he did so fearing that she would become angry at him. "Had I known you were awake I would have stayed."
"Well you have not left yet, so thats a start." Satine said smiling "You know something Obi-Wan? You don't need to leave every morning before I wake, you can stay longer than dusk till dawn. It's not a crime." Obi-Wan turned to face Satine. Half of him expected her to be angry, the other half, hoped she would ask him to come to her.
"I'm sorry, It won't happen again." Obi-Wan said smiling
"Oh it better not, or else there might be some consequences."
"What kind of consequences?"
"The kind no one likes my love."
"And that kind might that be? Who knows I might not mind them."
"Might you?" Satine said walking closer to Obi-Wan, "We'll see about that won't we." Satine walked closer to Obi-Wan and grabbed him by the undertunic and pulled him down closer to him. She looked into his eyes. Obi-Wan leaned down and kissed her, The forbidden love burning between them.
    Clothing was strewn across the floor leading up to Obi-Wan's sleep couch. His lightsabers were on the bed stand and one of his boots was at the bottom of the bed. Satine had fallen back to sleep and Obi-Wan lay awake in his sleep couch, Satine had taken to sleeping half on him to ensure that he would not leave again while she was sleeping. Suddenly the ship rocked shaking Satine awake.
"Obi-Wan, what's going on?" Satine said grabbing him. "What's going on? What was that?" Obi-Wan hurried and dressed himself.
"I don't know, let me contact Anakin." Obi-Wan called out to the force and called him comlink over to him and typed in Anakin's contact info. "Anakin, what in this galaxy is going on down there?"
"I'm not sure yet master. Ahsoka and I are looking into it as we speak." Obi-Wan broke the communication and walked to the door. As the door hissed open he reached out to the force and grabbed both the lightsabers, one from the bed stand and the one from Satine's bag, he pinned them to his belt and walked out the door. Satine hurried to dress and follow Obi-Wan out the door. Just as Satine came to the cockpit the ship came under heavy fire. "What is going on?" she asked. "This is crazy, who is shooting at us?" Obi-Wan looked at Satine and he almost laughed.
"Do you expect me to know why pirates wanna attack us." Obi-Wan laughed then turned to Satine "Sat-Duchess, you should get to the safe room," he said looking at her. "I would never want something to happen to you. Now hurry take Ahsoka with you."  Ahsoka turned to Obi-Wan and looked him in the eye.
"I'll protect the duchess with my life master Obi-Wan." I know how much she means to you. Ahsoka and Satine hurried down the hallway and to the safe room. "You are close to Obi-Wan aren't you?" But how close? Ahsoka asked.
Satine looked at Ahsoka, "Ahsoka, I have known Obi-Wan for many years, He saved me on Mandalore years ago. He has been a good friend and he has never let me down." Satine smiled she seemed to be remembering something. "I remember this one time back on Mandalore, we were running from bounty hunters and I slipped and fell into a nest of gundarks. Obi-Wan jumped in to save me but when he landed he slipped and fell. Obi-Wan came and grabbed me, he was able to carry me to a higher ground. But just as we thought we were clear, Obi-Wan fell and dropped me. When he came back a gundark cut his back, that's where he got that nasty scar." Satine laughed, even though in this memory Obi-Wan did get hurt, it seemed to be a good memory.
    The sound of battle droids filled the hallway, Obi-Wan hurried down a corridor and turned a corner, Anakin was close on his heels. "Obi-Wan, there are too many, let's go around them." Obi-Wan drew his lightsaber and stood, "You go around them, I'm going through them!" Obi-Wan drew Qui-Gon's old lightsaber and it illuminated Obi-Wan's face. He charged in and sliced through the first 3 battle droids he flipped over 3 rows of droids and landing in a perfect star jedi used as a landing meathead. Obi-Wan flipped and moved quickly round the droids. He pressed closer to the droids and swiped down on 3 of the super battle droids. They clattered to the ground and Obi-Wan used them to take out some droids. He force lifted some of the broken droid parts and threw them at the droids. Anakin had never seen Obi-Wan fight so well, he had also never seen Obi-Wan fight with two lightsabers. Obi-Wan moved in a fluid motion and took out the remaining droids.
"Wow, Obi-Wan, I never knew you fought with two lightsabers so well." Anakin said looking at Obi-Wan in amazement.
"Yes well, It took a lot of practice, and also it was Qui-Gon's way of fighting." Obi-Wan answered as he deactivated his lightsabers. "Now, let's get to the bunker shall we?" Obi-Wan trotted down the hallways and stopped short in front of Ahsoka's room. Ahsoka was on the floor holding her stomach.
"I'm sorry masters, he was too fast." She said looking down. "He was coming for the duchess. Hurry master Kenobi." Obi-Wan rose and begun to run in the direction of the bunker.
"Obi-Wan, stop!" Anakin called out to him. "We can't leave Ahsoka." Obi-Wan stopped in his tracks.
"No Anakin, you can't, but I can." and with that Obi-Wan continued to run down the hall. Anakin turned back to his Padawan.
    Obi-Wan reached the door to the bunker at the same time as this attacker did. He was tall and had horns. He had light brown skin and long legs. When he saw Obi-Wan he drew a vurber blade. Obi-Wan drew one of his lightsabers and begun to engage the intruder.
Back at Ahsoka's room Anakin tried to help Ahsoka to her feet. "I can't believe Obi-Wan just left like that. He has never done that before." Anakin said. "I'm sorry snips."
"That's ok master, but I did find out something last night." Ahsoka said, "So master Obi-Wan didn't stay in his room last night, or tonight as I should say. I thought I would follow him for a while. So he had dinner with the duchess and us, but instead of going their own ways last night the duchess went back to master Obi-Wan's room. I stayed outside the room for a few hours but she never came out. So this morning when the alarms went off, I hurried out to see if the duchess had spent the night, and I was right, she and Obi-Wan came out of the room and she was half dressed." Anakin looked at his padawan, he was shocked at the news, and had very little to say. I mean what can you say when you just find out your master spent the night with a duchess.
"Look snips, maybe they had a meeting." A half dressed meeting. Anakin said trying to reassure himself that nothing was going on. "I'm sure Obi-Wan has a logical explanation for all of this." I hope I can muster up a logical explanation. A loud explosion shook the ship and sent Anakin and Ahsoka to the ground. Both Jedi hurried to pull themselves back onto their feet.
"What was that?" Ahsoka asked wide eyed. "That sounded like a force push on a large scale. Is Obi-Wan capable of that?" I had no idea you could hear the big ones! She looked at her master yearning for answers to all her questions.
"All in time Snips." Anakin said, "But first let's get to Obi-Wan." The two Jedi raced down the hallways and rounded the corner to find Obi-Wan deep in battle with a masked man. Obi-Wan had only one lightsaber and had the man on the run, but just as it seemed that the battle would soon be over, five more men in masks just as skilled as the first cam out of the bunker with the duchess.
"Unhand the duchess you pirate scum!" Obi-Wan said taking his stance, Lightsaber over his head and his hand extended. "Unhand her and you will get to live." Obi-Wan's eyes blazed, Anakin had never seen Obi-Wan this angry before, and to say the least, he was almost scared of his own master. "Master, we don't have to attack them." What's gotten into you Obi-Wan? Who have you becomes sense I last saw you? Anakin said, turning his attention to the pirates "Let the duchess go, and we won't arrest you." The pirates laughed loud and obnoxiously.
"And why should we trust you Jedi?" the lead pirate asked pointing his vurber blade towards Anakin. Anakin looked at Obi-Wan and smiled,
"Turn her over, and I won't send master Kenobi after you." Obi-Wan turned to Anakin and smiled, he knew the pirates would not want to tangle with him again. But Anakin was quickly proven wrong for all six men drew their weapons.
"We accept that challenge master Jedi." the lead pirate said stepping forward, "Send you best warrior forward." Anakin was about to step forward when Obi-Wan activated both of his lightsabers and attacked. Ahsoka was mesmerized she had never seen Obi-Wan fight like that before. I had no idea he had this kind of fight in him. I always saw master Obi-Wan as a very dignified man. He did flips and other movements she never knew he was capable of. It was very clear that he was the best of them. Obi-Wan quickly took out the pirate leader and headed for Satine, lightsabers swinging. "Unhand the duchess." he roared, and to Ahsoka's surprise he hissed at one of the pirates as he raised his lightsaber high to take out the two pirates holding Satine. Obi-Wan did a series of flips and jumps to avoid the vurber blades. Both Anakin and Ahsoka stood speechless and unable to move. Neither of them had ever seen Obi-Wan fight like he was now. Soon Obi-Wan had defeated all six pirates and they lay on the ground unconscious or injured.
"Master I have to say, I have never seen you fight like that." Where did that come from? Anakin admitted, "I had no idea you had that in you." Obi-Wan cut the handcuffs off from Satine, and turned to Anakin.
"Every Jedi has their secrets." he said smiling, obviously back to his old cheeky self. Satine turned to Anakin.
"I think it is past time I spoke to you master Skywalker." She smiled and walked down the hallway with Obi-Wan.
Anakin walked into Obi-Wan's personal room to find both Obi-Wan and Satine waiting for him. "Thank you for coming master Skywalker." Satine said gesturing Anakin to have a seat. "I know that master Obi-Wan is your former master, but there will alway be something about someone that you will never know about. Long ago when I first met Obi-Wan he always had two lightsabers. When he left Mandalore he gave me something, something that sometimes symbolized a jedi's life." Satine pulled a lightsaber from in her sleeve. "I have kept this all these years knowing that one day I would return it to him. It has come in handy many times, but it also raises suspicion that I am a Jedi, but we all know that to be false." Obi-Wan stood revealing master Qui-Gon's old lightsaber attached to his utility belt.
"I have had Qui-Gon's old lightsaber sense he passed away. I meant to give it to you, but I knew that would not really be something you would want." Obi-Wan said, "After I gave one of the lightsabers to Satine, I chose not to make another one. Partly because I felt like the one I had was enough. Much like your padawan, I too fought with one lightsaber backhand and one regular, I found that I was stronger, but in time I found that fighting with both up made me a formidable opponent." Obi-Wan looked at Satine and smiled.
"Wait, because you knew you could easy beat anyone you laid down your weapon to make beating you easer?" Why is blazes would you do that you big idiot? Anakin asked in shock. "I don't understand, your telling me you could have beat General Grievous, but you laid down the only weapon that would allow you to do so?" Satine stood, she was obviously angry.
"Obi-Wan laid down his greatest power so that he would not become greedy and have lust for power. He was capable of taking on all of Hando's men at the age of 12." Satine turned her back to Anakin, "Is that a sacrifice you are willing to make General Skywalker? Give up your greatest power for the better of the galaxy?" Satine took her seat by Obi-Wan who looked at Anakin. Obi-Wan knew that it was going to be hard for Anakin to accept that he had done it for the better of the galaxy.
"Anakin, I'm not willing to pick up my past and begun this war as one of the most powerful Jedi, You must understand that with this power comes great responsibility, and a great temptation for more power. Yes I could easily take out Grievous, but would it be worth it?" Obi-Wan stroked his beard, "You must know something Anakin. There was a time when I was not a Jedi, I was rouge, I left the order or aid people in a war, that's when I had these weapons. The war was easy to win because of who I was, but I killed so many people, I could never go back to doing something like that, and this time I won't have Qui-Gon here to bring me back to my path if I am to stray again." Anakin looked at Obi-Wan in shock, all this time and I had no idea you had gone rouge? How did this happen? I thought Obi-Wan and I were friends, master and Padawan at least. Obi-Wan looked at Anakin sorrow was in his eyes.
"Master, why did you never tell me?" Anakin asked "Why did you hide yourpast from me?" Satine looked at Anakin, she was not sure if Obi-Wan was ready to tell Anakin this part of his life.
"Anakin, Obi-Wan.... He never liked attention and when I met him, he was very dependent on master Jinn, but as time passed I came to know that it as not master Jinn who was the most powerful of the two, it was Obi-Wan. He had so much power he was afraid of himself." Satine said. "I know you think Obi-Wan has lied to you about who he is, but believe me, it's for the better that you don't know the full extent of his powers. Sometimes it's too much for people to take." Full extent? Does that mean we only saw a sample? Anakin looked from the duchess to his former master.
"If it's too much for me to take, then why did you tell the duchess?" Why do you trust her more than you trust me? Anakin said angrily, "If it's too much for me, why tell her? Do you trust her more than me? Is that what this about? Duchess did you want to make it a point that my own master trust you more than he trust me?" it was obvious now that Anakin was angry, he began pacing the room. Walking from one side to the other. "I don't understand, I trusted you!" Anakin begun to yell at Obi-Wan. Most people would have yelled back but Obi-Wan simply raised his hand and Anakin fell into his seat, unable to move.
"You want to know how powerful I am?" Obi-Wan asked him. "Fine, I'll show you, come with me." The two Jedi walked out of the room, the duchess on their heels. Suddenly Obi-Wan turned drawing both of his lightsabers on Anakin. Obi-Wan moved faster that the eye could see, becoming a blur to Anakin. Anakin tried to focus the force to see what Obi-Wan's next move was going to be but that only made Obi-Wan seem to move faster.
"Don't use the force, that's what feeds Obi-Wan's power." Satine yelled to Anakin. "You will have to do this on instincts." The fight only lasted a few minutes and soon Anakin found himself on the ground with Obi-Wan's lightsabers to the back of his head. Obi-Was had taken him down faster than anyone had ever seen a Jedi defeat another lightsaber wielding person. The battle was over before it even begun.
"There, now you know." Obi-Wan said deactivating his lightsabers, "That's what I am capable of. Any other questions Skywalker?"
"Yeah, Why did you tell the duchess and not me?" Did you think I was not important enough? Anakin said standing. "I mean, yes she was your "girlfriend", but I was your Padawan!" Obi-Wan looked at Anakin, it was clear that he was sorry for lying to Anakin for so long but how would he explain that it as for the better if no one knew of his power.
    Obi-Wan sat in his room meditating, He felt like he had done something wrong, he felt like he had betrayed Anakin's trust. The sound of the door opening broke Obi-Wan's meditation. Satine walked in and saw Obi-Wan's condition. "Obi, things will be just fine. Don't worry about it. Anakin will come around I know it." Satine sat next to him and leaned in resting her head on his chest. Satine looked up into Obi-Wan's eyes and saw sorrow. She knew what he was feeling and she knew that she had to at least try to help him. "Obi, look at me. Please, you know that if you make this sacrifice that we will be able to be together, it's the only way." she pleaded. Obi-Wan looked down at his lover, he looked into her eyes and knew that it hurt her to see him like this. But he knew what he was doing was for the better.
"Satine, I have done everything except facing the trials." Obi-Wan said, "What if I don't make it out alive? I know that sounds crazy, and yes master Qui-Gon will try to help me but that can only go so far. I mean it Satine, what happens if I fail?" Satine could see that Obi-Wan was really worried about his upcoming trial, and in her heart she knew that he would pass.
"Well, it's too late to turn back now Obi-Wan, we are committed. Even if we wanted to turn back now, I know that it is too late and so do you." Satine said standing, she walked over to his bed stand and picked up one of his lightsabers, she activated it and waved it around. "I know that we will be able to do this, I will be in the temple with you, don't worry my dear." Satine waved the lightsaber in circles, it's blue glow warming anything in it's path. Kenobi's lightsaber was long and the hum was loud. Obi-Wan knew he was going to have to say goodbye to his blue lightsaber and pick up the yellow lightsaber, those held by the Jedi sentries.
"Your right, Satine, We will make it through this." Obi-Wan said smiling at his lover, "And do you know why?" He asked, Satine shook her head, "Because we love each other, and that's what is going to save us in the long run, that is what is going to keep us on the right track. I still feel bad about lying to Anakin but it is for the better, I know
that now."  Obi-Was lowered his head. "He will understand one day."