F a r R e a c h : A Star Wars Story

• part four • quest

23 BBY - Pre-First Battle of Geonosis

OBI-WAN

A strong dry wind blew across the arid planet's surface, choking the life out of everything it came across. Everything except the infuriating bug-like locals of Geonosis. To say that the Geonosians pissed Obi-Wan off was an understatement.

If they got out of this alive, he was going to chew out his padawan, and then he was going to strangle him.

The insectoid creatures had chained Anakin, Padme, and himself to large stone pillars in the center of the main arena. The stands surrounding them glittered in a mess of wings and hummed with enough force to shake the ground beneath his boots. The Geonosians chattered until the Archduke, Poggle, stepped forward and demanded silence.

"Settle down, settle down..." he croaked out in his native language. "Let the executions begin!"

At this declaration, the stands once again erupted in sound. This time, it was with the sound of squeal-like cheering rather than the toneless hum that irritated the Jedi so much.

On the far side of the arena, three metal gates began to raise. From the first, stepped a three-horned beast that had scales of red and green. The Reek gave a thundering roar which renewed the cheers that had began to wane. From the second came a more graceful creature- an Acklay. It was covered in light green scales and walked on six legs. It cried in anger as it's handler shocked it with a staff, exposing its maw of serrated teeth. Finally, from the third gate, came a furry creature that stood about a meter tall. It's split, whip-like tail lashed back and forth in agitation. A Nexu; one of the most feared and hunted predators in the known galaxy. Upon being shocked by its handler, the Nexu pounced on the unsuspecting Geonosian and devoured him. Eventually, the three beasts began to make their way towards the center of the clearing.

"I've got a bad feeling about this..." Anakin muttered beside him.

The beasts came even closer.

"Just relax. Concentrate," he responded.

"What about Padme?" his padawan asked, worry evident in his tone.

Obi-Wan looked in the senator's direction, before smirking.

"She seems to be on top of things."

Anakin's gaze snapped back towards the woman, who had by then finished scaling her post.

Obi-Wan faced the Acklay, which had decided to come for him. The six-legged alien bounded forward with a snarl, severing the chain holding the Jedi back with its raw strength. The Acklay continued to stab at him with its large pincers. Its powerful jaws were also put to use as it snapped them about his face. Meanwhile, the Reek had charged at Anakin, who flipped into the air and onto the creatures back.

Obi-Wan continued to dodge his own creature's attempts at killing him when a cry of pain rang out from his right. The Nexu had climbed Padme's pillar and swiped at her, clawing her back and shredding through her clothing. Red splotches began to seep from her wound as she winced in pain. He supposed this upset the senator because as the Nexu began climbing towards her for a second time, she leaped from the pillar. Using the momentum from her swing, she kicked it back down to the ground below with a thud. He then looked out to the center of the arena to where his padawan was currently being dragged along the ground by the raging Reek. If his hands hadn't still been bound, and he wasn't currently avoiding attacks from his own beast, Obi-Wan was sure he would have facepalmed.

'What the hell Anakin,' he thought, rolling to the side to avoid a pincer through the gut.

He was brought out of his thoughts when the pillar in front of him began to fall. Rolling just before it crashed to the ground, Obi-Wan leaped to his feet and ran to one of the Geonosian supervisors. Grabbing the far end of the bug's electrostaff, he threw the insectoid from his mount and swung it towards his head, knocking him to the ground. The Acklay turned around, finding the Jedi once more, and charged forward. As it did, it's front left pincer pierced the Geonosian's torso, killing him immediately.