Master Yoda was rarely wrong. It was not for nothing that he was considered one of the greatest Jedi of all time, and now he was completely right. The Clone Wars, which he had mentioned after Asoka's report on her mission with her Padawan, had been tearing the galaxy apart for several months. The separatists attacked whenever they wanted, and it seemed that there was not a single planet left that they had not visited. Armed attacks, shelling of civilians, raids — the brave heroes had seen it all in recent times, and they had seen more weapons than most people see in a lifetime. The Sinister alone was worth a fortune — a powerful cruiser firing ion cannons. Two of them were heading straight for it at that moment.
"I expected anything from them, but this..." Anakin said thoughtfully, keeping his eyes on his mentor.
"Yeah, right, the enemies are sleeping, Tail," Asoka replied, watching the control panel.
"Do you think they're still alive?" he asked a moment later, not even reacting to the childish nickname Asoka had given him when they first met.
"If we hurry, we'll soon find out," his Togrutha reassured him, inwardly unsure that she was telling the truth. They were Master Kenobi and a squad of clones. Or rather, what was left of them when the Master sent the distress signal to the temple. Obi-Wan was on a peaceful mission to the outer reaches, delivering necessary medicines to a medical station, when his ship was attacked by this secret weapon of the separatists, completely destroying all the ships and almost all the clones. Only he and three soldiers managed to eject into escape pods at the last moment. Several more pods hung in the air at various distances, some intact, but most of them...
"Hurry, the droids are cutting our pods!" was the last frantic cry heard on Kenobi's communicator from the clones flying out into open space. The separatists showed no mercy and preferred not to leave any survivors.
"Finish off anyone who's still alive!" General Grievous, the leader of the attack and Count Dooku's right-hand man, shouted loudly into the communication speaker.
"Understood, understood," came the mechanical reply, and the iron servants set to work. Gryvus folded his hands, all four of them made of separate joints, across his chest with satisfaction. Once upon a time, he himself could not remember how long ago, Gryvus was a completely ordinary Kalish, a native of his planet and a peaceful inhabitant named Kimaen Jai Shilal. And he had not always been the commander of the KNS droid army. He had once had another life, just like most people, where he had everything: authority, success, a beloved woman, yes, above all, her, his Ronderu. They had fought together in the Hacks War on their homeland, and she had died in one of the battles. Kimaen took her death as a heavy blow and could not recover from it for a long time, even having to take several wives at once and force them to bear a total of thirty children. But even that could not quell his longing, and the man changed his name to Grivus, which meant "mourning." Then the war ended, foolishly and ingloriously — the Republic declared the actions of the Kalish people illegal and refused to support them, which led to the battle being lost and the peaceful inhabitants instantly experiencing hardship and hunger, which did not spare Grivus' wives and children. At that very moment, the KNS was formed, which took advantage of the opportunity to gain another ally. Count Dooku said that the famine would end if Grivus started working for the KNS. Grivus thought about it and couldn't make up his mind. He had heard about the KNS, but didn't dare join it because of the ambiguous rumours circulating about it. But Dooku did not stop there. He secretly planted a bomb on Grivus' ship, arranging everything so that Grivus would not die but would be injured, preventing him from ever returning to normal life. This event mysteriously "coincided" with an experiment to create cyborgs, and the Count simply presented the unfortunate man with a fait accompli: he would help his people, as well as the surviving wives and children, only if Grivus agreed to become the first of them. He had no other choice, the only condition being that his brain, eyes and some organs be preserved. His organic parts were then placed in a durian shell, and his joints were separated, turning his two limbs into four. However, among other things, Dooku altered his psyche, making him more cruel and insensitive to pain. Later, a new experiment was conducted: they transfused him with Saifo-Dias' blood to see if it would make him sensitive to the Force. It did not. Instead, Grievous' hatred for the Jedi grew even stronger, and as commander of the army, he killed over a hundred Jedi, taking their lightsabers as souvenirs. Even now, the general's mechanical fingers clenched in anticipation of another defeat, which Darth Vader and his ion cannons would handle perfectly. He even began to think he saw Master Kenobi flying out into open space. Fortunately, it was only in his sick imagination, which did not show him that salvation was rushing towards the Master on swift wings.
"I personally doubt that anyone survived this whirlwind," said Asoka, looking at what was left of the squadron.
"The Council agrees," Anakin admitted reluctantly. "We've searched extensively and haven't found any survivors yet."
"Right, we'll be ordered to return soon," sighed Ahsoka, who had already received several messages from her superiors with similar requests.
"No, we can't go back now, they may still be alive. At least he is," Anakin replied unexpectedly sharply, even jumping up a little in his seat. Ahsoka shook her head sadly. The boy had never gotten used to death. He still reacted strongly to the loss of his comrades, probably because it had started when his childhood friend, Dara Tel-Tanis, had died almost in front of his eyes shortly before the war began. Back then, the three of them — her, Anakin, and Ferrus — had been captured by pirates, and only Ferrus had a lightsaber, but it was broken. In the end, when they tried to fight back, the bandits opened fire, and he couldn't block the shots. The first shot hit Dara, and despite the efforts of the medics, she could not be saved. Anakin blamed himself for not being able to help, because all he had to do was take his sword with him. It seems that this feeling has stayed with him ever since. But you can't blame yourself forever for something that happened once.
"You see, Anakin, sometimes situations arise where the outcome is beyond our control. All we can do is accept it as it is and come to terms with it," said the Togruta, looking at her student as gently as she could. "For example, right now, as you know, an ion cannon can easily destroy a ship and its entire crew, and even if you're nearby, there's little you can do to prevent it.
"But it happens that when we completely lose faith, the situation suddenly turns in our favour," Skywalker interjected again. "You yourself have spoken many times about the will of the Force."
"I don't think that's the case," Asoka replied firmly, determined to put an end to her apprentice's complexes once and for all. "Look around you, you can see that all the capsules are open, not a single one is intact.
"But he's not among the dead either, see for yourself." Anakin looked around and saw what he had seen before: flying debris from the capsules and dead clones. Then it dawned on Ahsoka:
"Do you have some kind of personal vendetta against Master Kenobi?
The question caught Anakin off guard and made him blush, unable to come up with a quick answer. Apparently, he was trying to decide whether he should tell her. But his habit of trusting Ahsoka in everything won out, and he confessed:
"You see, not long ago, when we were captured by pirates, when Dara died — at this point, the teenager's voice dropped slightly — it was Master Kenobi who came to rescue us. Thanks to him, I survived and returned to the temple. And now, I simply cannot forgive myself if I don't do everything necessary to save him. I simply cannot forgive myself if I cannot help him.
His voice grew quieter and quieter, and at times it began to ring with painful notes. It seemed that if he was denied permission to continue his search, he would simply break the glass, jump out, and start jumping on the debris, forgetting to put on his spacesuit. The look in his eyes, hard and unhappy at the same time, could turn anyone's heart and soul upside down, especially someone who had known this boy for many years. But orders are orders. Master Plo had already ordered them to return more than once, although... Asoka took the communicator and, pressing the contact of her former teacher, said loudly and clearly:
"Master Plo, we'll be back soon, we're already on our way to the temple.
"What do you mean? Are we just going to take off like this?" Anakin was simply disheartened and completely devastated when Tano turned the ship around.
"Well, I didn't tell him exactly when we'd arrive," the Togruta smiled slyly and made another turn, towards where several more capsules were visible in the distance.
"Are you sure?" Skywalker grunted incredulously. "It's a big risk. Darth Vader could still be there."
"You know I always follow orders," Tano replied, increasing speed. "But how exactly I do that is a big question!" Asoka raised her right index finger meaningfully. "I was told to come back, so here I am, and we have a few more passengers with us!"
"Make sure you don't grab Grievous with them!" Anakin grinned, accepting and approving the Togrutta's plan.
"No way, we don't need any extra scrap metal!" she exclaimed cheerfully and, flying closer, activated the capture beam, pulling the capsules one by one into the ship's cargo compartment. Before doing so, she carefully examined each one to make sure they were intact and uncut, as survivors could still be inside. There were only three in total. The first contained three clones, wounded and completely exhausted. The second had four, also in poor condition. But in the third, to the relief of both Jedi, was Master Kenobi, completely unharmed, only slightly bruised, and two ERC soldiers.
"I'm so glad you're alive, Master," said Anakin, moved. "We had lost all hope.
"We didn't expect to succeed," said one of the clones, named Bust. "After all, who are we but clones, cannon fodder, expendable material?"
"Not for us," replied Obi-Wan. "I was sure they would find us. The Force would not let us die."
"It's all thanks to my Padawan," said Ahsoka with a smile, placing her hand on her student's shoulder.
"No, not mine," Anakin objected, placing his hand on top of hers. "It's ours!"
"Are there any survivors?" the Togruta asked, coming to her senses when the moments of joy subsided.
"Alas, they are all here. The rest are dead," Kenobi said sadly, lowering his gaze.
"But how can that be?" Asoka's eyes began to fill with tears. "This can't be happening."
Unable to hold back, Tano sank into her chair and covered her face with her hands.
"Believe me, it's possible," said Obi-Wan, sitting down next to her. "And I'm afraid this is only the beginning. The Dreadnought is heading for the medical station near Abregado.
"That's where our fighters are being held," Anakin guessed, assessing the scale of the potential disaster. "If it's destroyed, we'll suffer significant losses."
"That's right, let's go there immediately!" Asoka commanded, rising. The order to return was instantly forgotten.
"We need to contact the temple and send someone to help," Obi-Wan agreed. "In the meantime, let's help the survivors."
With that, Kenobi summoned a medical droid, which immediately got to work, as this was its programming, just as destruction was for the KNS combat droids.
"He survived! Jedi scum!" Grivus commented on what he had just seen on the tracking satellite. "Destroy the medical station!"
"Got it, got it," the mechanical servants responded in unison, aiming all four guns at the large round structure glowing against the blue sky. All that remained was to press the Start button. Just one. But then...
***
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