Chapter Text
Obi-Wan frowned as his little prison spun him around yet again.
It felt like an analogy for his thoughts, right now. Spinning around and around, with absolutely no progress being made.
He went over everything that Dooku had told him again. A Sith Lord on Coruscant influencing the Senate.
Frankly, it wouldn't surprise Obi-Wan if there was a Sith Lord in the Senate. A Sith would fit right in with the majority of politicians, a more self-serving bunch of snakes he had never seen.
But still, it couldn't be true.
Could it?
No. Surely the Council would know if there was a Sith Lord so close. He shuddered as he remembered the Sith Warrior from Naboo.
Sometimes in his dreams he still felt that dark, inky, cruel malevolence reaching for him, trying to destroy him.
Could such a terrible, cruel miasma of darkness such as that really hide in the Force?
He closed his eyes and deliberately emptied his mind. He would come to no conclusions now. And strangely enough, the possibility a Sith Lord on Coruscant was hardly the most pressing issue right now.
No, currently he had to determine how he was going to avoid being executed. Then he could focus on trying to figure out a way to stop the Republic from going to War.
He ignored the quiet voice in the back of his head that told him there was no way to stop this from happening.
There had to be.
Obi-Wan refused to believe that it was inevitable.
The door opened just as he rotated past it and he pulled his focus back to the room around him, mentally preparing himself for anything.
Nothing happened for a moment and Obi-Wan narrowed his eyes, even as his prison rotated him so that he could no longer see the door.
The excited beep of a droid echoed in the room and Obi-Wan furrowed his eyebrows. Yes, he had seen the droids being built by the Trade Federation, Techno Union, and Commerce Guild, but those had all been battle droids…
The rotation brought him back to facing the door and caught sight of the astromech he was positive he had sent along with his Padawan. "R2? What are you doing here?"
R2 beeped happily and rolled forward, connecting to the terminal that controlled his hanging prison. A few moments later the power sputtered and went off and Obi-Wan dropped unceremoniously to the ground as the cuffs around his wrists and ankles unlatched and landed in the red sand.
He kept himself from groaning as he pushed himself to his feet. There were left over tingles of electricity running through his skin and his left leg was completely numb from lack of movement and his right leg was only slightly better.
Still, there was no time to stand around waiting for his body to start cooperating with him.
"Where is Anakin? Surely he didn't abandon the Senator!" A thought occurred to him and he felt slightly horrified. "He didn't bring her with him, did he?" That was all this situation needed, his Padawan running amok pulling the Senator in his wake.
R2 whistled and beeped, his dome spinning.
Obi-Wan didn't understand binary but between the fact that he couldn't feel Anakin's presence anywhere nearby in the Force and R2's obvious pride another suspicion was beginning to grow in his mind. "R2, did you come rescue me all by yourself?"
R2 beeped, and Obi-Wan had never really given much thought to the fact that astromech's could sound smug, but at the moment that was exactly the way R2 sounded.
Obi-Wan blinked and then nodded. "Right, well, thank you R2. I appreciate the rescue." He hesitated, his mind whirling through everything. Decisions and choices running through his mind. "You got the message I sent, yes?"
R2 beeped something that sounded affirmative.
"Did you send the message on to Coruscant the way I asked you to?"
R2 seemed to hesitate before trilling a negative response.
That meant that the Republic had yet to discover the existence of the droid army. This could be either a terrible mistake or a blessing in disguise.
The discovery of a droid army in the Separatists' possession would cause the Senate to rush into war.
Should they go to war there would be no going back, not until the Galaxy had fallen into chaos. Not until things were irreparably changed. He could feel it deep in his soul that entering into war would destroy the Republic, would destroy the Galaxy.
And while the Republic desperately needed change, there had to be a way to bring the Republic back to a place of true democracy without descending into war.
Force, what was he supposed to do?
He could not allow the Republic to be taken by surprise by the droid army. It would splinter the Galaxy further than it already had, planets ceding to CIS control due to fear, rather than any true belief in the values the CIS claimed to hold to.
But the Force whispered against sending word to Coruscant.
His resolve firmed.
"R2, I need your help."
R2 beeped excitedly, his dome spinning quickly. Obi-Wan was going to take that as agreement to lend his aid.
"Can you send a message through the Geonosian's communication system to reach Count Dooku?"
R2 beeped in the affirmative.
"Right. Good." He took a deep breath. "Let's put some distance between us and this cell before we send that message then. After that we're going to have to destroy the droid foundries. Or as many as we can before they catch up to us." He frowned. "I also need you to get into their databases, collect as much information as possible. This cannot be the only droid foundry, and we need to find as many of them as we can. We need to set the Separatists back in production, anything to delay the war as much as we can."
R2 spun around in circles, and then bumped into his legs, pushing him toward the exit. If Obi-Wan didn't know any better he would have described the droid as excited, but surely that wasn't right.
Obi-Wan was practically signing their death warrants. There was nothing about that that was exciting.
Still, it needed to be done. He had to buy the Republic time.
It was remarkably easy to sneak their way through the Geonosian's hive. Apparently they hadn't seen the need to increase security since the last time Obi-Wan had been sneaking around.
Not that Obi-Wan was complaining.
Even when anyone came through, Obi-Wan was the only one who had to hide. No one so much as blinked at R2's presence. It looked like there were benefits to being a droid, even if R2 was an astromech rather than a Trade Federation or Techno Union droid.
They made it to a more secluded area that fortunately still had a data port and Obi-Wan turned to the droid. "Can you create a map of where all of the droid foundries and holding stations are here on Geonosis?"
R2 whistled and quickly hooked himself up into the terminal. Obi-Wan waited to make sure that R2 didn't need anything from him before settling down. This was hardly the best place or time to meditate, but even if Obi-Wan didn't die in the next few hours he was about to upend his whole world and he desperately wanted reassurance from the Force.
The Force was soft and welcoming as Obi-Wan slid into meditation and Obi-Wan reveled in the warmth of the Force. Guide me. He begged quietly. I am doing everything in my power. Please, guide me.
The Force was tender, his perception of it twisting so that it felt like a soft brush of intangible fingers against his cheek.
It wasn't a promise, but it was a reassurance, nonetheless.
He heard R2 beep out in the real world and he pulled himself out of meditation. "What do you have for me, R2?"
R2 beeped and threw up a holo-map. Obi-Wan scanned it and felt a hint of gratitude. A part of him had worried that the droid foundries would be scattered throughout the entirety of Geonosis, and based on the map, there were signs that there were plans for expansion. But for now the foundries were all generally in the same location.
Obi-Wan nodded. "All right. We can deal with this." He pointed to the control center. "We're starting here, and we're going to be as quiet as possible. No chaos. I need you to download as much information as you can from their systems. I need to know where the other foundries were built, they can't all be here on Geonosis; check to see if there are any plans for an initial attack against the Republic; you should also see if you can find anything about a contact in Coruscant." As much as he hated to admit it, he suspected that Dooku was telling the truth about a Sith hiding somewhere on Coruscant, even if not in the Senate. What he did doubt, however, was that Dooku was working against said Sith.
No. Obi-Wan suspected that Dooku was actually working with the Sith. A Sith on both sides of the war that was coming for them.
Though he doubted that either Dooku or the unknown Sith were so foolish as to leave any solid information in such an easily accessible location. But it didn't hurt to have R2 look.
He took a deep breath.
"R2, can you use the communication systems to send a message to Senator Amidala. Coded and shielded in such a way that the Geonosians won't notice?"
R2 whistled uncertainly, but then after a moment gave an affirmative beep.
Obi-Wan nodded. "Excellent. That message first, please."
After a moment a light indicating that R2 was recording lit up and Obi-Wan took a deep breath. “Senator Amidala, I must thank you for sending R2 to aid me in my time of need. The situation here on Geonosis is grave, and I regret what I am about to ask you to do. You must return to Coruscant.” He squared his shoulders. “What I tell you now I tell you in great trust. In my investigation I have stumbled across two separate armies, one a clone army ordered for the Republic ten years ago; the other a droid army created by the CIS. You know as well as I what this means, Senator. We are on the brink of war.”
He let his head dip, a moment of mourning before raising his head again to look to where R2 was holo-recording him. "I have already informed the Jedi Council of the creation of the clone army and they have taken word to the Chancellor. Yet, I fear if I were to send word of the droid army I have found that the first response would be panic, to lash out at this new threat. We both know that such actions cannot be taken back and the Republic would be launched into war."
"I am entrusting you with this information in the hopes that you and your allies will be able to remind the Senate of the terrible costs of war. That you will find a way to bring sense and mercy to the Republic. I will buy you what time I can to stop Count Dooku from beginning the war before the Republic has found another option."
"The rest of my message I leave for my Padawan." He took a deep breath. "Anakin, I cannot tell you the regret that fills me as I leave this message for you to take to the Council. I cannot take action against the CIS as a Representative of the Republic. To do so could be considered the first volley in this war. As such I tender my resignation to the Jedi Order. I do not wish to abandon you, Anakin, but I see no other option." Quite against his will, he felt a knot form in his throat, making the next words difficult to get out. "Anakin, the past ten years with you by my side have been dear to me. I am very proud of the man you are becoming, and have great faith in the man you will continue to become. Trust in the Force, Padawan, and trust in yourself. Do not come to me, Anakin, I know what the personal repercussions of my actions will be, and I want better for you than that."
"I am sorry, Anakin." He let a deep breath escape him. "May the Force be with you, both."
He saw R2 end the recording and closed his eyes. He let himself curl inwards for just a moment, let himself mourn the life he had just abandoned.
R2 whistled softly, and Obi-Wan heard him roll forward quietly, bumping into his left leg in a manner that was almost gentle.
Obi-Wan rested a hand on his chrome dome and then pulled himself back together. "Let's take a look at that map again. R2."