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Author	Topic: Spirit Warriors of Angharad COMPLETE Link to MS Word version available 8/4
ophelia Title: Ex-Mod Registered: Jun '02	Date Posted: 5/10/04 6:51pm Subject: Spirit Warriors of Angharad COMPLETE Link to MS Word version available 8/4 - Date Edited: 8/4/05 5:06pm (380 edits total) Edited By: ophelia
	New and (kind of) improved! 100% less reader replies in the Word-format version. Chapters and chapter divisions have been marked and the stupidest of typos and spelling errors removed. Sneaky spelling errors will be removed when someone feels like proofreading a 624-page document. (2.25 MB) 10/13/04: SWoA has now been added to the 100,000 Word Club. Woo-hoo! 2/28/05 I actually managed to hit 200,000 words. This is sort of like being able to swallow an entire coney dog at once: impressive, in a way, but my God, why? There is no 200,000 word club, for pretty much the same reasons that there isn't a "Swallowed an entire coney dog at once club." I do have this enigmatic yet strangely adorable image by Arin_Atona, however: 5/26/05 I kind of feel like I shouldn't admit this . . . but I hit 300,000 words last night. There aren't even icons for 300,000 words. I had to make one specially. I just don't know what to say about this. I'd claim that words failed me, but that would so obviously be a lie. Note: This story is tagged Title: Spirit Warriors of Angharad Characters: Anakin, Obi-Wan Incidentally, Obi-Wan and Anakin have a relatively warm-n-fuzzy relationship in this fic. There's some camaraderie, father/son type h/c, etc. It's not a "Geez, I hate that guy!!" Obi/Ani fic. Categories: Adventure, Romance (Obi/Other), Angst Timeline: Pre-AOTC, Anakin is 16 Rating: PG Summary: A group of volunteer philanthropists have vanished on a troubled outworld at the brink of war, and Obi-Wan and Anakin are sent to rescue them. Soon they are stranded deep in the mountain country of Angharad, where they discover darkness, intrigue, and what is even more dangerous for a Jedi: love. Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with George Lucas or Lucasfilm in any way, although I secretly wish I was. No profit is being made by the use of these characters and no copyright violation is intended. Please don't sue me. Author's Note: I haven't read much Star Wars pro fic, and I tend to play fast and loose with the expanded universe. This story is slightly AU in that R2 is with Obi-Wan and Anakin between TPM and AOTC. Look, I screwed up when I was first plotting the story, and now I can’t get rid of him okay?! Author’s Other Note: This is a revised version of a story I began back in 2002. Author's Other Other Note: Thanks, Uncle George. I'll put the keys back on the desk when I'm done driving this thing. ************************************** All was quiet in the Anghara spirit country. Afternoon sunlight shone full into the Vale of Moroara, turning its foliage into a carpet of green, seemingly worlds distant from the overshadowing Akitlán Mountains. Other than the wind that whistled down from the high places, nothing seemed to stir. Perhaps even a Jedi's gaze would have slid past the dark figure crouched in the branches of a xhotha tree. Darth Vengeance was an Illorian, a long, thin humanoid being with a covering of stiff brown body hair over his grayish-blue skin. His race had evolved among the treetops of his homeworld, and he was well-suited to creeping quietly through a forest canopy. He had lain in wait for nearly three quarters of an hour, and impatience was wearing at him. He wondered where Skywalker could be. Frustrated, he sunk his claws into the gray bark of the xhotha's trunk and raked deep furrows into the fibrous wood. Skywalker and Kenobi had taken refuge in the nearby mountain village of Nidawi several days ago, after Coridani blockade ships blasted their Aethersprite out of the sky. Vengeance hadn't even had to orchestrate that--the Coridani had apparently disapproved of Kenobi's stated mission of searching for a trio of lost Freespace volunteers. The Coridani's animosity was hardly surprising--any fool could see this was no time to cater to philanthropist dilettantes. A war was brewing between the native Anghara and the mercenaries hired by the Coridani Mineral Company. Since the Vale of Moroara was the weak belly of the Anghara's defensive position, Jedi "rescuers" were particularly unwelcome here. And yet meddling was in the Jedi nature. Each afternoon Vengeance had witnessed young Skywalker careening along the Vale's footpaths on his modified Landcat speeder, bound for a lookout point that allowed him to spy on the doings of the mercenaries in the Coridani-controlled North. Today, if the Force was willing, would be the last time. Eventually Vengeance tired of shredding the bark of the tree, and he reached thumb and forefinger into a pouch at his waist and drew out his tiny seeker droid. Oblong, black, and little bigger than a human thumbnail, it looked like nothing so much as a metallic bee, albeit one bristling with an unnatural number of antennae. The thing prompted a rare smile from him. This tiny droid, little more than propulsors and a transponder coil, would be the undoing of Anakin Skywalker. As a Sith, Vengeance needed no motivation to hate, but he had ample reasons to despise his unwitting rival. Darth Sidious had an inexplicable fascination with Skywalker and his pitiful Light Side career. Of late, Vengeance had found himself wasting more and more of his time reporting on the trivial actions of a 16- year-old Jedi Padawan--time he should have spent studying the dark arts and growing in power. Worse, Vengeance knew that if Sidious succeeded in taking Skywalker as his pupil, he would not let his rejected student live. There were always two Sith, and never more. Therefore, Skywalker had to be destroyed. Yet Vengeance did not dare kill the boy himself. Bitter experience had taught him that disobeying his master carried too great a cost. He had decided to take a more indirect route to his goal instead, based on the premise that the enemy of his enemy was his friend. Finally, as the sun prepared to slip behind the topmost peaks of the Akitláns, Vengeance heard the whine of speeder engines coming down the footpath below. With grim satisfaction he caressed his seeker, closing the power connection. The tiny droid rose into the air and hovered for the space of a heartbeat, homing in on the sound of Skywalker's Landcat. Then it shot like a maddened insect through the foliage, the wine-colored xhotha leaves bobbing in its wake. **[End 1/?] -----signature----- In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps with your mom
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ophelia Title: Ex-Mod Registered: Jun '02	Date Posted: 5/11/04 11:33am Subject: RE: Spirit Warriors of Angharad (2/?) 5/11 - Date Edited: 5/13/04 11:16am (1 edits total) Edited By: ophelia
	Anakin zigzagged his speeder bike up the steep mountain slope, the landscape a green-and-brown blur on either side of him. The thrill of speed was finally taking the edge off his frustration at spending a good part of his afternoon in a mud-filled hollow with a trapped sherqa calf. He'd pitied the hairy little creature as it wallowed and cried, but mud-wresting a terrified farm animal was not exactly how he'd hoped to occupy the day. This gem of an assignment had come from Obi-Wan, who insisted that since the people of Nidawi were running some risk by allowing them to stay at the village, the two of them ought make themselves useful. Anakin couldn't argue with that. He simply didn't care much for Obi-Wan's definition of the "two of them." At any rate, the sherqa was finally reunited with its owners, and Anakin was free to do a job he considered far more important: checking on the movements of the mercenary troops on the other side of the mountains. Though he was forbidden to actually enter Coridani-controlled territory, he was able to gather some information about their military technology with the home-built scanning device he'd strapped to the barrel of his blast rifle. Its major components were parts of three stardrive diagnostic units, each carefully fastened to the feet of an old transmitter tripod. The idea was that as energy escaped a reactor's exhaust ports, it would interact with the beams of the diagnostic units and provide information about the device it came from. The scanner worked, mostly, although Obi-Wan had pointed out that Anakin would have to get excessively close to get reliable readings on particulate matter. "Close enough to read the serial numbers off the reactor housing," was actually how he'd put it. But the scanner could sense some types of energy emissions from a long distance away. And if you and your astromech droid happened to be able to tell the energy signature of Kuat's LE-50 stardrive from the LE-50a, using the little scanning device was well worth it. Anakin kept an open transmission line to R2 for this purpose, and he occasionally spoke to the droid through a comlink headset that had seen better days. The wind had dislocated the mouthpiece for the dozenth time, and he repositioned it before saying, "Nearly there, R2." The ground beneath his speeder had begun to level off, and he would soon reach the ridge top where he could peer into the Coridani-controlled Honovi desert. The Akitlán Mountains were above the cloud line, so when thunderheads rolled up from the ocean they poured out their moisture as they struck the range's southern face. On the northern side, the Honovi got almost no precipitation at all. The sharp contrast between the two ecosystems was visible from space; it was as if a chunk of Tattooine had been slapped down next to the green and misty ridges of Naboo. The similarity between Mos Espa and the mining town of Turannos ended at the climate, however. While Tattooine's only major commercial product was anonymity, the Honovi was laced with a semi-organic compound used in radiation shielding. For the last 99 years the Coridani Mineral Company had held an exclusive charter to mine the Honovi Desert--a charter that was about to expire under Republic antitrust laws. CMC chairman Keril Sarpedon's motion to obtain an extension on the monopoly had been denied by the Courts. A few weeks later, three civil rights volunteers vanished while trying to substantiate rumors that Sarpedon had hired Auster Perahta, arguably the greatest mercenary general in the galaxy, to gain control of Angharad by force. More ominous still, yesterday Anakin's scanner had picked up a lot of high-frequency energy emissions coming from the desert. The stardrives on massive troop transports could cause this kind of reading. So could the powering up of ion cannons. Anakin hoped to gain more complete information today, particularly since the Anghara rainy season was imminent. If a major assault was coming from the northern side of the Akitláns, it would have to happen before the heavy summer rains flooded Moroara Pass. Vegetation became scarce and the terrain grew rockier as Anakin began his final ascent to his lookout point. Keeping his gaze on the path ahead, he carefully reached back for the blast rifle he'd slung over his shoulder and set its barrel on the speeder's handles. Alternately steering with one hand and with his knee, he turned on the data reader at his belt and flipped a release catch on the tripod, causing its prongs to snap open. Air whistled around the instrument as he sped over the ground. "Powering up, R2," he said into his headset. Three trembling green lines of energy appeared between the modified diagnostic units. "Scanner's on. How's the transmission clarity?" he asked the droid. R2 whistled his approval. "Getting anything?" Anakin asked as he cleared the last rise and began slowing to a stop. The droid's response was noncommittal. After parking the speeder, Anakin carried the blast-rifle-mounted scanner to the verge of the ridge. Hundreds of kilometers of land spread out below him, from the dusty basin on the northern edge of Moroara to the flat yellowish waste of the deep Honovi. Here and there shimmering patches too regular for mirages dotted the desert. These were CMC's open-face mines, metal-walled pits sunk 300 meters into the dunes and then emptied of sand, exposing the valuable rock layer below. Suddenly R2 burst out with a series of staccato beeps. Despite the droid's excitement, a quick glance at the data reader revealed nothing obviously unusual. "Wait a minute . . . slow down. What kind of pattern match?" Anakin asked. He pressed the comlink's receiver closer to his ear as he tried to catch R2's rush of electronic speech. What he thought he was hearing didn't make a lot of sense. "Triple-A rating propulsors? Are you sure? You couldn't possibly be detecting power output from something that small unless it was practically right on-" Anakin's speech was cut off abruptly as a tiny black object shot past his nose. "Hey!" Anakin brought his rifle up, pivoting on the balls of his feet as he tracked the thing. It looped and darted like an insect, but no living creature moved that fast or changed direction that quickly. R2's warning beeps confirmed his suspicions. "Great. A seeker's all we need. There's going to be trouble if Sarpedon finds out we're still around. See if you can find out what frequency it's transmitting on, and jam it," Anakin said. R2's agreement to try didn't sound confident. Anakin opened his mind to the Force as he tried to draw a bead on the seeker. He was peripherally aware of the tracking coordinates in his blaster sights dropping down toward double- zero, only to veer back up again. The thing was maddening, slipping from his grasp like quicksilver. "Come on you little . . ." The seeker danced in the air, seeming to mock him. Then suddenly the double zeroes flashed, and he fired. "Got you!" But the tiny droid rolled under the blaster bolts and zoomed past him. Anakin's second round of shots was little more than a vent for his frustration as the seeker sped toward the tree line. In an instant, it seemed to vanish. He regretted his impulsive actions almost at once. Those shots had certainly been visible in Turannos, if not from low orbit. //Good work, genius,// he thought. R2's squealing beeps echoed his own self-reproach. "I know, I know . . . " He strode back to his speeder bike and grabbed a spool of wire from its utility compartment. With the quickness of someone who'd spent a lifetime "improving" old junk, he attached the barrel of his blaster rifle to the speeder's handles, leaving just enough play to give it about 45 degrees of firing arc. "Not exactly Corellian Engineering, but it'll do," he said, rocking the speeder and finding that the rifle barrel remained reasonably steady. To R2's whistled question, he replied, "I can't come back to Nidawi with that thing following me, can I? You just keep reading the scanner data and tell me if you spot that seeker." R2's whistle sounded almost resigned. "Don't worry, I'm always careful," Anakin told him. **** End 2/? -----signature----- In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps with your mom
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red_rose_knight Registered: Sep '01	Date Posted: 5/11/04 5:13pm Subject: RE: Spirit Warriors of Angharad (2/?) 5/11
	Wow. [face_shocked] I really liked that. Love your writing style and the detail you used in creating the world. You definitely have me hooked. I am so looking forward to more. -----signature----- The beautiful part of writing is that you don't have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon. – Robert Cromier
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ophelia Title: Ex-Mod Registered: Jun '02	Date Posted: 5/12/04 8:09am Subject: RE: Spirit Warriors of Angharad (3/?) 5/12 - Date Edited: 5/13/04 11:15am (1 edits total) Edited By: ophelia
	For a little while I can update daily . . . once classes start again, though, heaven knows. ** He powered up the Landcat and headed in the direction the seeker had gone. Once again the mountain scrub became a blur around him. "Anything?" he asked R2. The droid warbled a negative. In another few seconds he'd be back among the trees, where the visibility would be worse. "This is not going to work," he said to himself. He veered right, heading for the slope that led down into the Vale of Moroara. R2 asked him what he thought he was doing. "I could chase that thing forever back in those trees," Anakin said. "If Sarpedon sent it to spy on us, then it had to come from the desert. That's where it’s going to go back to." R2 was frank in his opinion of this line of reasoning, and Anakin grinned into the wind at his comments. "Nice droids don't talk like that," he said. The western slope of the ridge was far steeper than the southern one he'd climbed on the way to the lookout point. He'd disabled the speeder's guidance system days ago, so its gyros never protested at the hairpin turns he took as he zigzagged down into the valley. Even Anakin wasn't reckless enough to try a straight shot down. The Landcat's repulsors were of barely adequate quality under ideal circumstances, and probably not enough to keep it from colliding with the ground after a free-fall of any height. This particular model also had what the Universal Trade and Resale Guide referred to as an "unfortunate tendency to explode" in the aftermath of sharp impacts. The trees grew closer together and the sunlight seemed to fade as he reached the valley floor. Vines that had thickened into woody, vertical branches created potentially deadly hazards, but Anakin neatly skirted them as he zoomed through the forest. Soon the sound of the waterfalls that formed the wellspring of the Shasti River became audible over his speeder engines. He had yet to spot the seeker droid, but he sensed it would not be far behind him. It hadn't dogged him up the mountainside to let him out of its sight now. The air grew heavy with mist as he approached the falls, and the chill, mineral tang of the river filled his nose. Moments later he could glimpse the Pool of the Three Sisters through the vines and hanging foliage. He burst out of the shadowy forest into the last of the afternoon's sunlight, skimming over the shallow water at the pool's edge. Three massive white cascades of water poured from a hollowed-out cliff a hundred meters above his head. His destination was marked by a vaguely ovoid hollow at one end of the pool, the remnant of a long-dead tributary. "I'm headed into Moroara Pass now, R2," he said. The droid's whistle was almost a lament. The canyonlike groove of the dry riverbed was the last place the missing Freespace volunteers were known to have been. Anakin steered his speeder into it now, easily navigating the relatively gentle curves that an ancient current had carved into the hard gray rock of the mountain. Moroara Pass was the only easy crossing point in this part of the Akitláns. If a mercenary army was going to storm out of the Honovi and into Anghara territory, it would be here. The riverbed's rock walls rose sharply, defining the edges of what had once been a narrow gorge. Soon he was three meters below the canyon's lip, surrounded on all sides by ash-colored stone and a lattice of clinging vines. "All right, little seeker . . . there's nowhere to hide down here," he said, risking a glance over his shoulder. ** End 3/? -----signature----- In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps with your mom
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JediSolo13 Registered: Mar '04	Date Posted: 5/12/04 2:27pm Subject: RE: Spirit Warriors of Angharad (3/?) 5/12
	Alright this is getting really good! Great details and describing everything! -----signature----- "YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE! "- Obi-Wan Kenobi R.I.P Anakin Solo May the Force Be With You I tried to create the future. But instead it created me. And I was trapped by it Paul Atreides
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red_rose_knight Registered: Sep '01	Date Posted: 5/13/04 9:13am Subject: RE: Spirit Warriors of Angharad (3/?) 5/12
	Oh, Anakin, you silly boy! You’re just going to get yourself into trouble! [face_shocked] I am so enjoying all of the lovely details you have woven into this. -----signature----- The beautiful part of writing is that you don't have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon. – Robert Cromier
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ophelia Title: Ex-Mod Registered: Jun '02	Date Posted: 5/13/04 10:59am Subject: RE: Spirit Warriors of Angharad (4/?) 5/13 - Date Edited: 5/13/04 11:19am (2 edits total) Edited By: ophelia
	Thank you! ********** As if in reply, R2 burst into a series of excited beeps. Looking up, Anakin thought he saw a small black streak silhouetted against the sky. Anakin pressed down hard on the Landcat's foot controls and put on a burst of speed, using his momentum to creep up the side of the canyon wall. A second glance back revealed that the little black streak was keeping pace. "That's it," he said. "Come to Uncle Ani." He grabbed the shift lever near the base of the steering column and cranked it down, routing all power to the rear propulsors. The Landcat shot up to the lip of the canyon, where Anakin planted his foot and nudged his free-falling speeder into a nose- downward arc. As he re-allocated power to the forward propulsors, the black speck of the seeker shot past him. "Let's see you get away from this," Anakin said as he drew his lightsaber. It ignited with a familiar snap-hum and he gave it a preparatory flick of the wrist. Speed and careful handling of the speeder’s steering vanes allowed Anakin to slide down the canyon wall at a shallow angle rather than slam into the ground in a shower of sparks, and soon a near straightaway allowed him to open up his engines all the way. Steering one-handed, he held the saber at shoulder height, its blade glowing like a ghostly torch. He rose halfway to his feet as he drew close to the seeker, mentally gauging the distance between himself and the tiny droid. This time, he would not strike too quickly. Anakin and the seeker careened around a bend in parallel motion. He could feel the movements of the tiny droid as if it were attached to him by an invisible thread. R2 was squealing something, but he paid no attention. There was no fear, no anger. There was nothing but the chase and his quarry. The stress on the seeker’s propulsors was growing critical, and he sensed it re-evaluating its decision to run from him. Anakin could feel the microsecond logic lag as it loaded its evasion routine. The coordinates table coursed through its processors; it selected a vector. He was already beneath it as it began a rolling dive. His snap-cut was almost an afterthought--the seeker's own loss of forward momentum had practically carried it onto his blade. Orange sparks showered his hand, but he felt no pain. At the edges of his vision he saw both halves of the droid trailing fire as they fell away behind him. "I got it!" he called. R2's fearful whistle was almost immediately drowned out by a massive explosion. The rush of hot wind made the Landcat lurch to one side, its undercarriage briefly scraping the rock of the canyon. His ears ringing, he barely made out the sense of R2's panicked beeping. "I'm all right . . . it must've had some kind of self-destruct mechanism." That was ominous. Even elite groups of mercenaries generally didn't bother detonating their droids to keep them from falling into enemy hands. That sounded like Black Sun, or the Spynet, or . . . R2's whistling was frantic, and Anakin finally started to grasp what his friend was trying to tell him. "Set up? What are you talking about? Who would set me--" At that moment he rounded a bend, and the canyon seemed to open out around him. After an instant's disorientation he realized this must be the dry lake bed that formed the northern entrance to Moroara Pass. Sarpedon's territory. Even as he decelerated, a half-dozen beings on speeder bikes seemed to materialize from hollows and outcroppings in the rock. Each one of them wore black-and-khaki fatigues and slightly canine-featured helmets that concealed their individual identities. They had to be Auster Perahta's mercenary soldiers. Theirs was a hard look to forget. As he watched, six blaster rifles came up and pointed at his chest. Anakin's saber hand dropped from its upraised position and landed on the handle of his speeder. "Ohh . . ." he murmured, "Not good." ** End 4/? -----signature----- In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps with your mom
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ophelia Title: Ex-Mod Registered: Jun '02	Date Posted: 5/14/04 7:00am Subject: RE: Spirit Warriors of Angharad (4/?) 5/13
	Obi-Wan sat on the floor of Nidawi's meeting lodge, looking across a low brazier at the assembled village elders. Some of the half-dozen men and women sat on woven grass mats, while others perched on low stools. The child Ayita, apprentice to the village healer, sat at her aged master's feet. At the moment, the only sounds were the occasional collapse of charred wood in the brazier basin and the low moaning of the wind in the trees. The meeting had not gone well so far. Obi-Wan tried restating his position, cushioning his unwelcome words with as much compassion as he could. "Evacuation is your only hope for survival," he said. "If you choose to stay, my student and I will help defend your village for as long as we can, but please don't deceive yourselves. We can only delay defeat, not prevent it. I fear there would be much loss of life." Ayita translated his words into the Anghara mountain dialect. The younger generation of Anghara all seemed to speak Basic fairly well, but many of the elders either could not or would not do so. Apa Dar, the healer, seemed to sink further forward on his stool when he heard the words. All of Nidawi's elders were called Apa or Oma, meaning “grandfather” or “grandmother.” These titles seemed to be used with roughly the same attitude of respect as the Jedi term "Master." Apa Dar drew his rough-woven shawl a little closer around his shoulders as he spoke. Ayita translated for him as the old man's thready voice continued in the background. It was a little odd hearing the words of a village leader spoken in the piping tones of a child, especially since Ayita's otherwise-unaccented Basic contained the slightest of lisps over the sibilant /s./ The combined voices had an eerie, otherworldly quality, neither old nor young. "It is hard for us to hear these things, Master Jedi," Dar said. "The spirit country is holy to us. This is the land where our ancestors went to earth, and leaving is not something we can do lightly. Perhaps this is difficult for you to understand." Obi-Wan thought he did understand. After all, the Jedi had their sacred places too. However, the last time the Jedi Temple faced direct attack was in ancient times, before the Sith began their centuries of hiding. To the Anghara, danger was something present and real, not the stuff of distant memory. It would be unfair to draw a comparison. He inclined his head, conceding the point. "You know your people better than I, Apa," he said. Tiny Oma Dyani spoke next, as Ayita translated: "There is some wisdom in what you say, Master Jedi, but I doubt my people will consent to leave Nidawi. You have seen the shrines in the Grove of Martyrs. It would be a betrayal for us to flee the land so many have died for." Obi-Wan had indeed seen the Grove of Martyrs. He'd known beforehand that piles of stones topped with prayer flags were Anghara grave markers, and that red flags indicated the deceased had been killed defending the Akitlán holy land. Yet he had not been prepared for the stand of trees low on the Vale's eastern slope, in which red flag after red flag seemed to declare itself with silent defiance, until a traveler realized he was standing on the site of a massacre. The rough-hewn poles that swayed in the wind were like so many ghostly sentinels, and they'd raised the hair at the back of his neck. "Yes, Oma, I've seen your Grove," he said. "I mean no disrespect to your martyrs. I only want to prevent such mass killing from happening again." The elders spoke to one another in low voices for a few minutes. None of the comments seemed to be addressed to Obi-Wan, and Ayita didn't translate for him. At last Apa Dar turned to him and said, "You will give us some time, Master Jedi, to think on these things. We are sick at heart from this news." "Yes, of course, Apa." He doubted that he'd convinced them, but at least they'd heard him out. He took formal leave of them in the fashion of Nidawi's people, by bowing slightly, touching his fingertips to the floor, and then brushing them against his forehead. Obi-Wan admired these elderly mountain people for their courage, yet they had so much to lose if they kept to their current plan of stoic inaction. For that matter, so did Obi-Wan, if he were honest about it. He was technically disobeying his mandate even by having this meeting. He'd been sent to Angharad to investigate the disappearance of civil rights volunteers, not provide protection to the native population. Yet all the evidence he'd been able to gather pointed to the conclusion the volunteers were dead, most likely murdered by Coridani forces three weeks ago, shortly before all subspace communication with the planet ceased. Even still, abandoning his search for survivors would have political consequences. One of the missing volunteers was Lady Bedegraine, wife of a former senator from Kirillos and an influential proponent of several social causes. If he threw his lot in with the people of Nidawi and failed them as well, he could expect a grim reception back on Coruscant. He would accept the Elders' decision on whether to stay or leave the village, but his concerns preyed upon his mind as he straightened up to go. At that moment, a terrible roar rolled up from the river valley. For an instant he stared at the elders, sharing their bewilderment as the sound split into a series of sharp echoes. A second later he recognized the sound as one he hadn't heard in this peaceful mountain country since his and Anakin's Aethersprite went down: an explosion. As the echoes faded a woman outside began to shout, her voice panicky and shrill. Obi-Wan was at the door almost at once, sweeping his cloak away from his saber hilt. Outside, people were running out of their low stone houses onto the packed earth of the village center. Thick, black smoke was already visible above the treetops, its origin perhaps a couple of kilometers to the northwest. That would make it Moroara Pass . . . //Anakin.// **** End 5/? -----signature----- In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps with your mom
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ophelia Title: Ex-Mod Registered: Jun '02	Date Posted: 5/15/04 9:57am Subject: RE: Spirit Warriors of Angharad (5/?) 5/14
	His first thought was that Sarpedon's troops had already begun their invasion, and that his Padawan had foolishly tried to engage them. Anakin often acted as if his abilities were limitless, and at times his idea of helping people involved taking risks that would alarm even the most reckless of Jedi. Obi-Wan's worst fear was that one day his student would "help" himself into an early grave, or something worse. Yet indulging such worries would get neither of them anywhere. He closed his eyes a moment, seeking the calm, silent place at the core of his being. Once his mind was free of distractions, his anxiety faded like clouds evaporating in a clear desert sky. Moving with the efficient speed of necessity, he went to Hoel Oya's barn, where he and Anakin had been staying in the loft. R2 would be there, and Force willing, he'd be able to raise Anakin over the comlink. The little droid was standing on the lift platform outside the barn's second floor doors, the transceiver dish on his domed head spinning. As soon as he saw Obi-Wan he started squealing and beeping some largely-unintelligible story. "Is he down there?" Obi-Wan called up. R2's mournful wail was as good as an affirmative. "Tell him I'm coming," Obi-Wan said as he headed for the ladder. The droid relayed this message, then started to repeat his warbling tale. This time Obi-Wan caught something about "soldiers" and "trap" or "ambush." This was grim news, but not a total surprise. Using a young Padawan's distress to lure his Master into a deadly position was a classic method of dispatching Jedi. The only puzzle was how the Coridani forces had discovered Obi-Wan and Anakin hadn't perished when their Aethersprite crashed. The Jedi's few belongings were piled along the loft's far wall, away from the mounds of dried grass that filled most of that space. The clothing Anakin had muddied and then hastily washed out after rescuing the sherqa calf was hung over beams and on protruding nails, some of the hems still dripping. Obi-Wan resisted the urge to hang up the sand-colored undertunic that had fallen into a puddle on the floor. "I wish he wouldn't get himself into these sorts of things," he said, as he pulled a rickety comlink headset from a half-unrolled pack. R2's apologetic-sounding series of beeps was probably a defense of his young friend. Unlike Anakin, Obi-Wan wasn't fluent in astromech, but he frequently got an empathic sense of what the droid was talking about. Not that it should have been possible to form an empathic bond with a droid. "At this point it doesn't matter whether it's his fault or not, does it? We just have to get him out of there." Settling the comlink set on his head, he added, "I'll need you to patch me in to his frequency." R2's obedient chirp was nearly drowned out by the roar of someone kick-starting an ancient swoop. Looking out of the second-floor doors, Obi-Wan could see Hoel Oya powering up his formidable rustbucket of a craft. The sherqa farmer and village metalsmith wore a blast rifle slung across his broad back. "Oh, no . . ." Perhaps he'd done too good a job of alerting his hosts to the Coridani threat. Speeder engines began to whine from elsewhere in Nidawi as other villagers apparently decided to join in the action. This was a disaster in the making--his Padawan in danger and civilians getting in the way. **** End 6/? -----signature----- In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps with your mom
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solojones Registered: Sep '00	Date Posted: 5/15/04 11:02am Subject: RE: Spirit Warriors of Angharad (6/?) 5/15
	ophelia! This is fantastic! You've clearly put a lot of work into the details of the situation on this planet and the peoples. Not only that, but so far I love your characterisation of Anakin and Obi-Wan. Not to mention R2 who, though he isn't technically supposed to be there, is a welcomed addition I also like the bits of humour you've added in. Those kind of dry, SWsy things in the midst of dangerous situations. Very cool. This is such a well-written piece thusfar. Can't wait for more! -sj loves kevin spacey -----signature----- 6 x 9 = 42 Proud member of the Colbert Nation My short films: http://www.youtube.com/solojones1138
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JediSolo13 Registered: Mar '04	Date Posted: 5/15/04 12:46pm Subject: RE: Spirit Warriors of Angharad (6/?) 5/15
	Ooh, this is getting good! Great work! -----signature----- "YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE! "- Obi-Wan Kenobi R.I.P Anakin Solo May the Force Be With You I tried to create the future. But instead it created me. And I was trapped by it Paul Atreides
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red_rose_knight Registered: Sep '01	Date Posted: 5/15/04 3:56pm Subject: RE: Spirit Warriors of Angharad (6/?) 5/15
	Yikes! [face_shocked] Missed a few posts! I am so loving this story and all the details. (Of course, I've already said that.) Boy, when Anakin gets himself into trouble, he gets int trouble. And poor Obi-Wan, worried about over stapping his mandate and now having to deal with villagers ready to jump into a fight. As always, looking forward to more. -----signature----- The beautiful part of writing is that you don't have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon. – Robert Cromier
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ophelia Title: Ex-Mod Registered: Jun '02	Date Posted: 5/16/04 10:08am Subject: RE: Spirit Warriors of Angharad (7/?) 5/16
	Ask, and ye shall receive. **** "I don't need this." The stern little voice which represented all the teachers who'd ever instructed him pointed out that it didn't matter what he wanted or needed. As a Jedi, his duty was to accept the will of the Force without question or complaint. He could only hope he would not be made to choose between rescuing his Padawan and protecting Nidawi's citizens. Grimly, he slung his own blast rifle over his shoulder and descended the ladder. Static filled his headset as R2 connected him to Anakin's frequency. "Anakin?" Obi-Wan called out. When he got no reply, he held the earpiece more firmly against the side of his head and tried again, ”Anakin!" The seconds ticked by without a response. Obi-Wan told himself this didn't mean anything; radiation could play havoc with short-range comlink signals. He reached Hoel's farmyard and began scanning the area for a transport. Unfortunately, nothing presented itself. Obi-Wan made the short run to a neighboring farm, only to discover that someone had even taken the listing Landcat Mach I that usually leaned against the stone wall of the house. An oil-stained spot marked the place it had been. "Wonderful," he said, looking around at the deserted property. "I suppose I'll just walk, then." He could feel his pulse rising, and with an effort of will he re-centered his mind on the Force. Where immediate action was impossible, patience must win out. He tried contacting his student on the comlink again. "Anakin, do you read me?" To his relief, he got an answer. "Master! I've run into a little problem." "Yes, I gathered that," Obi-Wan said. "Where are you?" The sound of blaster fire came over the headset and the channel dissolved into static, drowning out Anakin's reply. "See if you can adjust the frequency, R2, I can't get a clear signal," Obi-Wan said. The droid whistled that he'd try. The screech of off-frequency feedback was followed by more static, and then the whine of overworked speeder engines. "Anakin! What did you say? I didn't copy," Obi-Wan said. "I said I'm in the Pass, and I've picked up sort of an escort," Anakin said. "Judging by the uniforms I'd say they're friends of Perahta's. They're--ah . . . not too happy to see me." Obi-Wan ran his hand back over his hair, assimilating the fact that his fears had been justified. Sarpedon had indeed hired one of the galaxy's most bloodthirsty--and fabulously successful--mercenary captains to see to his interests on Angharad. And Anakin, dear, sweet, lightning rod for trouble that he was, was apparently leading some of his soldiers this way. "Hold on, I'm coming after you," Obi-Wan said. Then he added to himself unhappily, "As soon as I can find a way to get there." He returned to the path that led back to the village center, and soon found himself on Nidawi's deserted main street. The center court was empty now except for a lone sherqa, which bleated and scraped its spiral horns against the post it was tied to. Those residents who had chosen to stay had closed the shutters on their houses, perhaps expecting the catastrophe he'd warned them about. The only structure where lamplight still shone through open windows was the local public house. "When in doubt, try the bar," Obi-Wan said to himself. In his experience, bars and temples were the two places that always filled up when things were looking grim. It turned out there was a vehicle on the building's far side, a rattletrap swoop in even worse shape than Hoel Oya's. The brown splotches of rust-retardant on the sides were distinctive, and Obi-Wan recognized it as belonging to Pepik Ketanqa, a man known as the village ne'er-do-well. A quick glance in the tavern revealed that Pepik was nowhere in sight. Within the Republic, Jedi had the right to appropriate civilian transports in times of emergency--not that this was the Republic. Still, his decision wasn't hard. He got astride the rusty craft and flipped its ignition switch. About half of its status lights came on, and its engines made a noise not unlike a vornskr being lightly tossed into a duracrete mixer. //Oh, good,// he thought. //I'm stealing something loud.// **** End 7/? -----signature----- In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps with your mom
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solojones Registered: Sep '00	Date Posted: 5/16/04 11:49am Subject: RE: Spirit Warriors of Angharad (7/?) 5/16
	And Anakin, dear, sweet, lightning rod for trouble that he was That was great. It completely sounds like the kind of wry thing Obi-Wan might think in a situation like this. "When in doubt, try the bar," Obi-Wan said to himself. He would say that, wouldn't he? //Oh good,// he thought //I'm stealing something loud.// Haha, once again, you've pegged Obi-Wans ability to have a dry sense of humour even in the most dire of situations. And along with it, Anakin's ability to understate the seriousness of his sitations. But things really do keep getting more and more tense. Keep up the awesome writing, this is just fantastic! -sj loves kevin spacey -----signature----- 6 x 9 = 42 Proud member of the Colbert Nation My short films: http://www.youtube.com/solojones1138
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Mistress_Renata Title: Manager Emeritus Registered: Sep '00	Date Posted: 5/16/04 12:58pm Subject: RE: Spirit Warriors of Angharad (7/?) 5/16
	Excellent! I really like the characterization of Anakin in this. And I'm not a huge Anakin fan, as a rule. -----signature----- "For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the Guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times." Denizen of the Crotchety Old Mods' Home... approach with caution...
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VadersMistress Registered: Apr '04	Date Posted: 5/16/04 1:29pm Subject: RE: Spirit Warriors of Angharad (7/?) 5/16
	Great job! Really, I mean it. I love Obi-Wan and Anakin together. You have made sure they are in character and I applaud you! Magnificently done. -----signature----- Harry Potter > Twilight Would I rather be feared or loved? Um... Easy, both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me. Persia pwns your face.
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