Dreams

Chapter 24.

Obi-Wan's POV

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I tapped my thumbs on the control stick of my starfighter, still full-flight in the mental battle that had commenced the moment I had spoken those words: I'm going. I had gone against the Council's wishes. They had told me they needed me, and I had left. They had wanted me to stay, but I had gone. But was it for a good reason? I hoped that whatever the Council had wanted my advice on wasn't critical, my mind replaying the scene that had led me to my decision.

I sat quietly beside Anakin, just holding his hand, waiting for him to zone in again. I glanced up as a couple of nurses walked past the ward, wondering what the concern on their faces and the worry in their voices was about.

"Yeah, it started just a few minutes ago," one was saying to her friend. "I hope she's alright. That'll be really sad if she isn't."

"I think so, too," the other one agreed. "Mandalore is a nice planet. I hope they stay neutral."

My heart leapt into my mouth. No. Surely not.

I stood up hastily, going to the doorway and calling after the girls. "Excuse me, ladies, but I couldn't help overhearing your conversation. Could you tell me what's going on?"

They stopped, exchanging glances with each other. "We saw an article on the media," one of them explained. "Mandalore has been bombed. The Duchess was quite badly injured."

No.

"Th-thanks for that," I responded as steadily as I could, then went back into Anakin's ward, my head whirling. Grabbing a datapad off one of the cabinets, I paced the floor as my fingers flew across the screen, searching for the latest on the Holonet. My heart nearly stopped when I saw the article.

Media droids were humming excitedly around, watching as Pre Vizsla stormed the throne room with half a dozen men behind him. They marched around in front of him, each holding two hand-sized bombs, and I watched Satine's eyes widening as she realized what was happening. She stood up suddenly.

"Don't do this!" she pleaded, and her guards started to approach on Vizsla, but he put up his hand.

"Nobody move." He opened his fingers, revealing a shiny black detonator. His thumb tapped the red button. "This will detonate all the bombs simultaneously. Give up Mandalore. If you don't cooperate, my men will throw these bombs to the ground."

"Vizsla, don't!" Satine begged. "Please, don't do this! Can't we come to some arrangement? Please!"

"Give up Mandalore!" he growled, getting angry and impatient.

"Put the detonator down, and then we can talk!" she tried again, her voice desperate.

"NO!" he shouted, and everything seemed to slow down. I watched, utterly mortified, as he turned and ran. Then he pressed the button. Everyone in the room fled as fast as they could, but the bombs that his men had just thrown exploded, wiping them all off their feet. The blast sent the media droid tumbling, so the footage cut to a couple of minutes later, where another droid was recording Satine and some of her guards being taken off on stretchers. Satine didn't look very well.

That was when I commed the Council. The discussion that followed ended with me leaving.

I shook myself out of my memory as my ship entered Mandalore's airspace. My heart sank at what I saw. Destruction abounded, the pavement leading to her palace was cracked and broken, and fires burned across the shrubs and all throughout the town. People ran through the streets, fleeing to the comparative safety of the Duchess's palace and running from those wearing Mandalore's unique armour. Laser shots were being wildly hurled left, right, and centre, though, thankfully, with little accuracy. There was a lot of devastation, but it appeared that I had arrived before there had been too much bloodshed.