At Mos Bina

by TwinEnigma

Chapter 4:

there is no resting yet (though you are tired)

It is quite the crowd that returns to the Lars homestead.

They come in the early hours - slowly, for many are walking - and the speeder lags in the middle, loaded to capacity.

Beru stares openly and C3-PO lets out a very distressed "Oh my" while she attempts to compose herself enough to even speak.

"What have you done?" she shrieks, at last. "What were you both thinking? Luke!"

Owen looks a bit dazed, murmuring about Jedi curses and ghosts, of all things, and, if Obi-Wan is not imagining things, he has sprung a fresh set of white hairs on his head.

It is not at all surprising to Obi-Wan, really, given that there are Skywalkers involved. Their father more than gave him his share of white hairs over the years.

"In our defense, it all happened really fast," Luke says, raising his hands.

At that, Obi-Wan let out a deep sigh, dipping his head and pinching the bridge of his nose.

I am the best, R2 blats, happily scooting out from around Luke.

Leia, her smiling face framed in the light of first dawn, agrees.

Later, when all are introduced and settled in some fashion, it is time to talk seriously about what really happened and what comes next going forward from here. There are many things that they need to discuss and there will be many choices to make, none of them easy.

Most immediately, the survivors of Mos Bina are in desperate need of care and shelter which are beyond the capacity of the Lars homestead to provide alone and everyone knows it, even if they do not want to admit it. Most need medical treatment of varying degree. All are deeply traumatized and the Alderaanians, in particular, have the secondary trauma of losing their homeworld.

No, Obi-Wan knows this is far beyond their capacity to handle alone.

They need help.

"We'll have it, don't worry," Beru tells him and they move on.

"I want to keep looking," Leia says and Obi-Wan sees the ghost of Padmé in her. Even as she explains how her people were separated, he cannot help but see the echo of an old friend.

It is truly heartbreaking that neither she nor Luke ever got to meet their parents as he had known them, before the Sith, before Mustafar and Polis Massa.

But that is neither here nor there. Obi-Wan cannot turn back time and the general he once was is needed here, in the now. General Kenobi, not Jedi Master Kenobi (and certainly not the Wizard of the Wastes), knows how to organize supply chains and mobilize the kind of forces Leia would need to continue searching. It is General Kenobi who knows that the Hutts will not let their liberation efforts go unpunished – as with the Zygerrians, Hutts have no issue sacrificing the lives of their slaves to put down any attempt at rebellion and he has no desire to relive the horror he endured on Kadavo.

"Going forward," he reminds them all, "will not be an easy task."

"Anything worth doing rarely is," Leia states with conviction.

It is Bail he sees now in her and he is reminded that he has lost yet another old friend. How many more can they take? How many more can he bear losing?

He has already lost nearly everything that ever mattered - his family, his friends, his home, everything he'd ever known. Even the Republic he'd once vowed to serve and protect is gone, consumed by Palpatine's cruelty and warped into the Empire; and in their eyes, he is not even a sentient being, just something other, something to be mistrusted and hated, something good only for dying, a traitor for simply existing.

No, he truly has nothing left to give, save perhaps his knowledge and his life.

And yet, if it came down to it, he will give that life away to protect the twins without hesitation.

"General," Leia prods, narrowing her eyes in concern.

Obi-Wan starts a little, blinking, and brings his attention back to the matter at hand, which is how they will go about finding the survivors of Alderaan.

"Well, you know," Luke pipes up with a mischievous smile, "Everyone's probably heard about what happened by now. And a lot of people around here don't like slavery very much."

The "and they might feel inclined to do something about it" is left unsaid, but blatantly obvious.

Aunt Beru closes her eyes and sighs very deeply.

But Leia's eyes glimmer and Anakin is there in the way her lips curl into a grin of approval, one that promises only a hint of chaos to come; and with that, Obi-Wan is at once reminded that Bail has raised her to be a spy and a rebel and a good one at that.

The Hutts have no idea what's coming, he realizes.

"Oh dear," C3-PO responds reflexively.

Far away, in the slave quarters of the towns and settlements near Mos Bina, a story spreads.

With it comes a storm.

Notes:

It's not Uncle Owen's fault that the kyber crystals are OBVIOUSLY HAUNTED. That's his story and he's sticking to it.

aka "Darth Vader is 100% correct - these are the luckiest vaporator jockeys on Tatooine", aka "Leia deadass murdered that Hutt the second she got close enough; Luke is in awe and terrified, news at 11", aka "Beru is Tired(TM), let her rest", aka "Obi-Wan should have karking known."

So, this chapter got the most heavy edit, really, and only few things survived. Obi-Wan, as a result, is a lot less introspective.

Still, he recognizes the parts of things that are more logistical about the situation and he also recognizes not just Anakin and Padmé in Leia, but Bail as well (and that Bail has raised a Force-damn terror, thanks Bail, you absolute madman).

Unlike everyone else in previous chapters, Obi-Wan does not say "there is no other way forward." While he explicitly states that going forward will not be easy and he does acknowledge that they must move forward, he remains open to how to do so. This is the critical difference to the other chapters: in the first chapter Leia sticks to one way forward out of survival, Luke in the second chooses one way forward because he has compassion for Obi-Wan's situation and in the third Vader sees no other way of existing at all than to simply continue on the way he's been going (until he can't). But the final chapter? There are choices. There are options.

And then there's Leia, ready to bring the whole system down, bless her heart.

Anyway, that's it for this puppy.

I do apologize again if you were a fan of the original version, but the situation was of the sort where I felt it for the best to keep a courteous resolution. I do also ask that if you do indeed follow the other party involved and are truly their fan, don't bring me or either version of this story up with them (or even any of the concepts you liked from either version of this story). They've made it pretty clear they don't want to talk about it or be contacted about it, so do me that one favor.

Any questions or concerns about the situation, please contact me privately through tumblr (daddywarbats) or here on FFnet.

also, good lord, the whole Zygerria/Kadavo arc is so monumentally not for kids what the fresh karking hell

Slight Edit: ahaha the situation with the Detention Centers/Concentration Camps and the angry orange asshat has got me So Completely Not Okay, so Obi got a little more clarification because guess what the Jedi Order was wholesale Othered in a massive propaganda campaign which continued well into the Imperial years in which this fic is set and oh yeah since they were all declared traitors, that slid the genocide into "legally acceptable" territory (as is what happens with these sorts of things when a party in power decides marginalized or othered groups are The Enemy). And as much as Obi-Wan has the privilege of experience and education, he's really in no way got much left beyond that, thanks to Sidious's concerted efforts to completely eradicate the Jedi Order in every conceivable way possible.