AU: Not Milliways continuity: The Foundry -Reprise

[last_kallig]

Ibani is at a corner booth in Milliways, examining a tactical map of the Kurost sector of the Mid-Rim, specifically the Nanth'ri system.

She's half in, half out of armor, a look worn by many commanders in many worlds and many times. A look that suggests that the Commander was either interrupted en route to sleep or has given up on it entirely.

She has a small stack of holopads set out on the table, listing various groups and their locations, most of them are crossed out. The two on top are for a Major Bessiker and the Sith Hiran Bessiker, his son.

She'd hoped she would never need to enter the Foundry again, but events have conspired against her.

Her stomach sinks as she recalls what she's fairly sure will be Major Bessiker's last message to her or to anyone, that a group of fanatical Jedi had taken the Foundry. She's checked again and again, and there is no one she can send, no one she can spare.

If she can't find an answer here, she'll be going alone into what the data tells her MUST be a trap.

(OOC: dialogue in italics is taken from/adapted from Ibani's canon.)

Comments

[acertainpov]

"Organa," Ben repeats, low. "Alderaan?"

He hopes he's not going to have to kill Bail's ancestor. For now he doesn't move, just listens to the sensation of both Jedi outside their ship.

They feel so different from any Jedi of his own era, it's strange.

[last_kallig]

"House Organa on Alderaan, yes. There are rather a lot of them, and there are a few current Jedi that were born into that House. Nomar should be in his sixties now, I think."

So even in the unlikely event that he IS Bail's ancestor, given the Jedi stance on attachment, he's probably already made that contribution, as it were.

"Don't recognize the other Jedi," she says after a moment. "So they're not one of his former Padawans."

"I won't be able to hide the ship once we move away from it, and I doubt we can count on them being stupid enough not to notice it appearing. One good widespread salvo from the droids and we could kiss any force cloak goodbye in any case. On the other hand, if we approach openly, we might give them pause. Darth Imperious has something of a reputation."

[acertainpov]

Ben nods thoughtfully, rubbing his beard as he continues to listen to their surroundings.

"I'll let you take the lead then, Darth Imperious," he says, because she'll be able to lever that reputation and they may be able to avoid some conflict, although he'll admit that's unlikely.

"When it does come to it, why don't you take the two Jedi we can see? I'll handle the droids and any others."

His hand finally moves, not to his lightsaber, but to the control of the cabin hatch, and he looks at her, waiting for the okay to open it.

[last_kallig]

Ibani nods in agreement with his plan, then gives the okay to open the hatch.

As she steps out, and before she uncloaks, she pulls her anger up, ready to wield it like the lightsaber that ignites in her left hand. But underneath that anger, where these hypocritical Jedi will never see it, burns a bright love and a desire to protect HER people. Ben, of course, but also the people of the Empire in a broad sense.

She ignites the lightsaber in her right hand as she drops the cloak and strides forward, the sound of her armored boots somehow unnaturally loud.

Nomar Organa's head snaps to her as soon as the cloak drops, and the other Jedi, a female Nautolan, follows his head movement only a moment later. "Darth Imperious," Nomar Organa says, moving his blue bladed lightsaber into a guard position. IF they are afraid, they do not show it in their faces or in the Force, for they are Jedi.

"Nomar Organa," Ibani replies, voice turned slightly metallic by the mask. "I'm afraid I don't know the name of your friend, there."

Then the Jedi both notice Ben. Nomar Organa meets Ben's eyes for a moment, and there is a sense in his face and in the Force that he is measuring Ben against some standard and finding him wanting. "I had heard rumors that you had seduced Jedi to your cause, Imperious," he replies, tone still as calm as ever.

"Seduced, really?" Ibani drawls and gives an eyeroll that is palpable in the Force. "Someone has been reading entirely too many holo-novels."

She's never seduced ANYONE, never mind Ben!

The Jedi are hanging back, cautious. Surprisingly cautious perhaps, considering how they outnumber their enemies!

[acertainpov]

There's every reason to find Ben wanting. He looks at least a decade older than his years, he moves slowly and calmly, as if he has not the slightest idea of the weight of the situation he's walked into, and of course he has no Force presence at all - just a silly old man pretending to be a Jedi.

He smiles politely, offers a nod of greeting to Nomar and the woman and then his eyes flicker elsewhere.

It's obvious, when you know what you're looking for. The Force flows through all things, but it doesn't flow through everything equally. Jedi can influence its flow but even that leaves its ripples. And like light passing through a ray shield, the Force bends as it passes through barriers.

He smiles briefly at the place where the Force bends, like light passing through a perfect crystal, and then turns his attention to Organa.

"Hello," he says calmly, "Ben Kenobi. I don't believe we've had the pleasure."

He stands to Ibani's right shoulder, his body positioned slightly at an angle so between them their angle of vision is wider than horizontal and so they both have room to move their arms. His lightsaber held in both hands at his centre, he finally ignites it, the last one in the docking bay to do so.

"Did I miss out on some seduction?" he asks Ibani in a stage whisper, knowing perfectly well that he'll have to answer for any flirtation later, but not caring in the moment.

[last_kallig]

Nomar looks as old as Ben, but age doesn't mean all THAT much when it comes to Jedi. (Look at Master Yoda, for example!)

The place where the Force bends keeps moving, moving to try to position itself behind Ibani. Awww, someone's probably planning a backstab, how adorable!

The female Nautolan catches Ben's smile at seemingly empty space and she's suddenly taking him seriously, or at least more seriously than Nomar Organa.

"You've chosen the wrong side, Kenobi," Nomar replies in answer to his greeting. He's full of the calm, terrible, certainty that he's doing the right thing, the necessary thing for the greater good. Ben's life is just one more that must end to see justice done.

Damn it, Ben! This is why Ibani isn't sure if she should actually try to seduce you or not! Ibani stage whispers back, flirtation in her tone and the Force. "Missed a memo apparently. I could make it up to you later, if you like?"

The female Nautolan introduces herself, the light of her green lightsaber almost matching her skin. "I am called Kell Daree, Ben Kenobi." Ben can sense that she doesn't want to kill him, which is rather ironic considering just how many billions of innocents these Jedi are planning to destroy. "It is never too late to turn back to the light, brother, no matter how long you have walked with darkness."

"Flee this station, or perish," Ibani demands. "I have defeated your kind here before, and I shall again. I destroyed the former Emperor, a walking wound in the Force and the closest thing to a tangible god this galaxy has yet had the misfortune to know. You will spend your blood for nothing, if you stand against us."

Nomar's gaze at Ibani turns contemptuous. "The dark side leeches off the light like a foul disease. It's time someone cut this cancer out."

[acertainpov]

"Sorry, can't agree," Ben says to Nomar. But his eyes meet the warm nebulas of Kell Daree's with a warm smile and a nod of acknowledgment. No one really wants to kill anyone, he seems to imply, despite all the evidence to the contrary.

He stands closer to Ibani, his left shoulder circling and tensing until they are touching, shoulder to shoulder. He doesn't need to face the cloak - he's not following it with his eyes.

"I just really don't think genocide is the way of the Light."

[last_kallig]

"It is a heavy and difficult thing we do here," Kell Daree replies, her voice solemn. "But our actions here will ensure peace for the galaxy, for the Republic." There is the tiniest hint of doubt in the Force from her though, one small enough that only Ben will catch it.

"There is no death, there is the Force," Nomar Organa adds.

"You flarking self-righteous hypocrite," she snarls at Organa. Every droid in the docking bay turns its guns toward Ibani.

[acertainpov]

Ben keeps his eyes locked with Kell's, ignoring everything around them - the droids, the cloak, the growing tension between Nomar and Ibani, everything - and shakes his head. There is nothing in the Force from him, of course, but for a second his eyes carry just a fraction of the regret he has not yet managed to let go.

"If you do this," he tells her softly, "you'll do it to yourself - you'll never find peace after that."

He doesn't lower his lightsaber, which rather belies his talk of peace. It's not true, anyway - that 'never.' He has to believe that even the worst of the Dark Side users can be brought back, no matter what they've done. But it's easier if it happens before that.

[last_kallig]

"What is one life, compared to the lives of all?" Kell asks him. "Even if there is no peace for me, is not peace for my people enough?" But the crack of doubt is widening.

The droids are moving closer now, eight droids encircling the two of them while the droids more distant move into range. (And from the sounds they can hear, there are more coming. A lot more.) The invisible Jedi has stopped behind the encircling droids, not wanting to be in their line of fire.

It is Nomar Organa who snaps first, who breaks this standoff. "Open fire!" he orders the droids. But Ibani is ready with a force shield that can take the brunt of the fire if needed. As she anticipated, none of it is aimed at Ben, yet.

"My turn," Ibani announces. She calls the Force into her, manifests her anger into the universe as force lightning. A sphere of purplish lightning spreads out from her body, enveloping both Ben and any droids in range.

The metal of the droids' bodies blackens, tears, circuits and servos frying as the power of the blast rips into them. The Dark side is very good at destruction and Ibani is a master at Force lightning, with no living equal in its application.

The power rolls over Ben, but it does not harm him. He can smell ozone, feel an electric tingle on his skin, but nothing more. The Force will tell him that he is perfectly safe, that Ibani would sooner turn this power on herself than on him.

In less than three seconds, any droids still standing within the blast radius will be reduced to wreckage. Then, she leaps at Organa planning on taking the fight to him!

[acertainpov]

Ben doesn't appear to move until the first droid moves its trigger finger. Then he steps lightly in a gentle arc, his shoulders sliding along the outside of Ibani's Force shield as he puts himself in the way of the blaster fire. His lightsaber moves sparingly, efficiently, intercepting every blast that aims at Ibani.

And every single blast is deflected square into the area of cloak that had the arrogance to assume they could sneak up on Ibani.

Ibani was right. A salvo of blaster fire destroys the Force cloak, leaving the Jedi underneath - a male Mirialan - entirely exposed and having to deflect the blasts on his own.

As the Force lightning passes over him, he lays off, bringing his lightsaber back to a neutral position.

"What do you think, Kell Daree?" he asks over the crackle of electricity, "Will they have peace? Or will they know fear?"

Only when the Force lightning has passed over them, destroying the droids and removing the threat of the blaster fire, is the Mirialan able to bring the fight to Ben. Ben meets him, green saber met with blue, blocking every attack.

He has not moved a foot away from where he was standing next to Ibani.

[last_kallig]

The male Mirialan is young, he can't have been a knight long, and he is wearing himself out rapidly trying to get a hit in on Ben. Clearly, he was depending on surprise to give him a much needed opening blow!

Ibani is pressing Nomar Organa heavily with both brief bursts of force lightning and both lightsabers. His armor already bears deep marks from her lightsabers and his flesh hasn't gone entirely uninjured by the force lightning either.

Kell Daree moves to support Nomar, to join in the fight against Ibani, but Ibani catches her with a burst of force lightning meant to disable rather than wound. "Didn't anyone ever tell you it's rude to cut in without asking?" she quips to Daree.

Kell Daree gasps as her skeletal muscles contract erratically and she falls prone. She'll undoubtedly get her muscles working properly again in a few seconds, with her Jedi training.

Nomar Organa pushes Ibani with the Force, sends her back twenty feet, keeping Ibani from landing a blow on Kell Daree while she's down.

Kell Daree gets the contractions under control and stands. "The Sith are monsters, Kenobi. They murder, they torture, they enslave wherever they go. They must be stopped, at any cost."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Ibani replies, tone sharp with bitter sarcasm. "You're planning on murdering billions of innocent children, but I'm the monster?"

[acertainpov]

Ben does move eventually - he steps sharply to the side as Ibani is pushed towards his back, and lets her fly past him and his opponent harmlessly. She doesn't need his help there.

He switches his lightsaber to one hand, so he can continue to parry while looking at Daree and gesturing widely towards Ibani at her remark.

She's got a point.

The Mirialan is young, foolish, distracted by his anger enough to misread this as an opening, and when he tries to press it, Ben decides he's had enough. A twist of his own saber and the green lightsaber goes scuttling across the deck, leaving its wielder nursing a hand that's bruised from where Ben's saber hilt hit him sharply in the wrist, disabling rather than severing.

The Force sends the weapon further than it would normally go. Arguably it could be called back to someone's hand, but just once Ben is hoping no one's going to be that stupid.

[last_kallig]

Kell Daree moves to attack Kenobi, seeing that the young knight is disarmed and therefore vulnerable.

Her lightsaber meets his, and she looks in his eyes. "They must be stopped, they MUST." But the crack of doubt is widening, guilt beginning to seep in.

Regrettably, the Mirialan is that stupid, and calls the lightsaber back to his hand. He's more cautious now, having to switch the lightsaber to his off hand.

"Do not allow yourself to be deceived, Kell!" Nomar Organa calls to Kell Daree. "We are doing what must be done, without passion, for the good of the galaxy!"

"Liar," Ibani taunts him. "You're lying to yourself, Jedi," she says, a twist of her voice and the Force turning the word Jedi into the foulest possible curse.

[acertainpov]

Of course he's that stupid. Everyone's always that stupid.

Ben rolls his eyes, not looking around at Ibani, but he snaps at her: "I'm trying to have a conversation here. Turning that word into an insult isn't helping."

He takes a few steady steps backwards, parrying the lightsabers of both the young Jedi - the one held back by injury and lack of confidence, the other by doubt and guilt.

"Search your feelings," he says to both of them. "Really listen to them. Do you feel like you're doing the right thing?"

He's got a good grasp on them now. Nomar - lost to the light side despite what he thinks of himself. The Mirialan who still hasn't given his name - angry and scared and in denial about it. And Kell Daree - guilt and fear and a desire to be right. He knows these three Jedi. He shouldn't be fighting them.

He should never be fighting.

[last_kallig]

Ibani sends Ben a feeling of apology in the Force after he snaps at her. Needling the enemy verbally is just something that's she used to doing. Reasoning with them has never worked for her once the fighting actually started.

She and Nomar maneuver some more, move to where Ben and the other two Jedi can both see them fighting out of the corner of their eyes. And then she springs the trap she's been building for Nomar Organa all this time. Every move she's made thus far has been big, loud, dramatic. This one, this one is very small indeed. A trick Ben himself fell for the first time he and Ibani ever sparred. Nomar Organa swings, then freezes for a crucial second as his lightsaber turns off in his hand. She goes for the kill with both lightsabers, finding the already weakened places in his armor and sliding them home.

Nomar Organa gasps, falls, his lightsaber slipping from his hand and going out as it hits the floor. He's not quite dead yet, but it won't be long.

Then the droids move in on Ibani, no longer afraid of hitting a friendly target. Lightning crackles, sparks through the air as she prepares to deal with the onslaught.

Fear begins to leak into the Force from the young Mirialan when Nomar Organa falls. Kell Daree stills only for a moment. "Barriss," she says, eyes glancing to the Mirialan. "Leave the station and inform the Republic that our position has been compromised."

A useless order, tactically. No help will ever get here in time, not with the distance he'll have to travel. But it will keep him alive.

"Master!" Bariss protests. "I can't do that, I can't leave you here!"

Kell Daree holds Ben's gaze. "That's an order, Barriss."

Bariss holds back from the fight, clearly torn.

[acertainpov]

Ben meets Kell's eyes, the gaze between them steady, understanding. He lowers his lightsaber a few degrees.

"No one will pursue you," he says, addressing Barriss but with his gaze unflinching. "If you go now you may be able to get help, but you'll need to be quick."

He's no older than Obi-Wan Kenobi was when he watched Darth Maul cut his Master down. Ben can wait until he's gone.

Kell Daree holds her lightsaber in a similar position: held in front of her hips, blade pointed up, ready but not attacking. Around them the droids close in on Ibani, ignoring the Jedi Knight running towards the nearest starfighter, and the two Jedi Masters locked in a motionless tableau.

"Who are you?" she asks finally.

"A survivor," he says, raising his gaze to look vaguely around the Foundry, at what they're doing there.

He opens himself up, just a crack in the Force he shields himself with, gives her a glimpse of the pain he still carries. What it's like to lose ten thousand of his siblings: Masters and padawans and children in a matter of hours, cut down by the people they trusted most. He lets her catch a glimpse of that and he lets it go, fixing her in his sights again. His presence is still there, but it's dominated by understanding, compassion for her, and with hope for eventual peace.

Daree inhales slowly, lowers her head.

"I'm..."

"I know."

Barriss is long gone by now - he can't feel what happens next. Kell Daree lifts her head, raises her lightsaber to head level and throws herself at Ben Kenobi. His lightsaber flashes, moves as if to parry again, but slices cleanly into her, piercing her neatly in the heart.

He catches her in his off-hand and lowers her gently to the ground, hoping that at least at the end, she found that peace she needed.

Gently, he closes himself off again.

[last_kallig]

Ibani has been busy while Ben has been preoccupied with the Jedi. Dozens of droids lie strewn about the hanger, riddled with lightning, cut by lightsabers, or torn asunder with the Force. The droid remains are blocking the entrance to the hanger, and the humans can hear the sounds of other droids firing at the blockage attempting to get in. From a distance, in her armor, Ibani looks like a demon, a monster. (There are those on both sides of the War who would agree with that assessment of her nature.)

She jogs over to Ben, goes to put a hand on his shoulder in comfort if he'll let her. The Force is full of sorrow and concern. "I'm sorry, Ben. I would have spared your gentle soul that weight," she says quietly, looking at Daree's remains. "But the youngster is safe and away, and I am glad of it."

Up close, Ben can see the blaster marks, the shrapnel scars on her armor, places where her defense was just slightly less than perfect. She would be bloody and burned now, if she had come here without it.

"If we go through the maintenance passageways we can cut down on the number of droids we have to wade through to get to the control center."

[acertainpov]

Ben rolls Daree over so she's lying on her side, her tendrils arranged smoothly behidn her. He then reaches one hand up to cover Ibani's on his shoulder.

"Don't be," he says. "She died well." He doesn't need to be spared anything.

He drops his hand and stands, glancing over at the blockade of droid corpses and nods at her, setting off at a run towards the best positioned maintenance hatch.

"Not bad work with the droids. Almost as good as my old clone commander."

He misses Cody.

[last_kallig]

He might not NEED to be spared anything, but that doesn't mean Ibani wouldn't spare him if she could.

Ibani runs after him toward the hatch. "Only almost as good, hm?" she asks, but her tone is teasing. "I would have liked to meet this commander of yours."

The maintenance hatch is a tight fight, too small for the droids to operate in it. "I wish I had known where these went my first time here, would have saved a lot of fighting."

[acertainpov]

"You would have liked him; he was a good man. I would have died several times over without him."

And then he tried to kill Obi-Wan. But who hasn't wanted to do that at some point?

Ben squeezes in, and checks over his shoulder to make sure she's following without any problems before continuing through the passage.

"He'd have preferred the direct route to squeezing through maintenance routes, but he wasn't above using stealth if it meant he could get the drop on some droids."

[last_kallig]

Ibani hasn't wanted to kill Obi-Wan at any point! "Then I owe him a great deal," she says when Ben explains that he would have died several times without Cody.

"A difference in training, I expect. I was trained as an assassin, after all."

They reach the end of a passage and can hear droids passing outside of it.

"Preferred tactics?" she asks quietly.

[acertainpov]

"Oh there were plenty of clones who prefered stealth," Ben says. "Personality plays as much a role as training."

The ARC Troopers were very good at this kind of thing. Fives, he remembers, and Echo.

He pauses at the end, and rests his hand on his lightsaber.

"Here's an old trick I used to run with Commander Cody and his men. Get your lightning ready?"

As soon as she gives him the go ahead, he kicks the door open and steps out, clearing his throat loudly to get the droids' attention.

The resultant blaster fire is deflected neatly by his blade, clearing a safe space behind him where she can stand without worrying about being hit.

[last_kallig]

"That would make sense."

Ibani nods, lightning crackling between her hands as Ben kicks the door open.

It is a very nice trick!

The lightning doesn't roll over him this time, as Ibani centers the blast farther back, to hit as many droids as possible.

[acertainpov]

It's a few seconds, but the more droids that go down the less fire Ben has to deflect, and soon they've got the corridor clear.

Ben doesn't continue to reminisce about Cody - it would feel a bit too self indulgent to get lost in his old friend and that particular betrayal. Instead he grins at her and nods his head along the corridor in the direction he assumes they're heading, just to check they're on the same page.