morally_cryptic | [fic/rp] across the galaxy

[ooc: Just prompted by a little mental image of Anakin "stargazing" that popped to mind earlier.]

On Coruscant, it was impossible to see the stars, even if one was looking out from the Council room at the top of the Jedi Temple. An unfortunate side effect of so much light from so many buildings and various forms of transport speeding around the airways. Not to mention that there was simply so much starship traffic, one likely wouldn't be able to tell the lights of ships from the field of stars behind them anyway.

Anakin had discovered this unfortunate fact not long after he came to live at the Jedi temple. He'd thought that, surely, so close to the center of the galaxy, the sky would be full of stars to see that he'd never been able to see before on Tatooine. Instead it turned out that perhaps the only thing that was better about Tatooine than Coruscant was that the desert planet was so sparsely inhabited and that the skies were so clear. Even out on the Rim, the sky was full of stars and the spiral arm of the galaxy could be clearly seen arcing across it.

He didn't try to watch the night sky on Coruscant anymore, but he still kept up the habit of at least looking for a moment whenever he found himself on a new planet. At the center of the Republic, however, he has to content himself with substitutes.

Which is why he can be found in an empty classroom surrounded by a holographic rendering of the galaxy. He's been spending all afternoon, so far, carefully marking off different star systems in various designated colors. Technically the entire exercise could be done by a computer but that wasn't Anakin's purpose in doing it. It requires concentration, but it doesn't require him to spend much effort in actually thinking so the whole activity is almost meditative.

The first batch of colored systems is simple: yellow for those that Anakin has already been to. Naboo might possibly be a subtly brighter yellow than all the rest, as if he'd lingered on that one for a moment longer than the others. He'd once told Qui-Gon he was going to see them all and certainly he had a better start on most other inhabitants of the galaxy, but it was still extraordinarily minute compared to the sheer number of systems represented on the map.

The second batch are green, signifying systems where battles of the Clone War have been fought and the Republic retained (or gained) control. Another group are blue, for the Separatist-won battles.

And finally, there's a sprinkling of red dots across the galaxy, mostly concentrated Rimward, and these are for those systems where battles are currently raging. Places he should be where he could be doing some good and making a difference. Staring at those flashes of red, it was almost enough to have him just commandeering a starfighter and heading out somewhere...anywhere. After making sure orders somehow just happened to make it through the system so that Rex and the 501st would be meeting him, of course.

But it wasn't, quite, enough. Contrary to some people's beliefs, he did have enough self-awareness to recognize that any action along those lines would likely not end well. That didn't mean he didn't still feel the temptation and it's that thought that has him swiping a hand through the starfield and systematically clearing everything out again until only dots of yellow remain on the map. He stares at those longest before they're wiped clean as well.

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Obi-Wan catches most of the selection process, as his pause inside to secure Jade and the others gave Anakin a head start. His own feelings in the Force on the matter jive with Anakin's though if Obi-Wan had his way, they wouldn't use any of them.

"Yes, I would hate for something to suddenly go wrong while in flight," he agrees in regards to the diagnostics. "Hopefully that won't take too much longer? Our window of opportunity is starting to shrink rapidly."

He caught that sarcasm, Obi-Wan.

"It won't if you get started on yours," Anakin says as he hops up into the fighter he's chosen for himself.

And really, it didn't take so long at all. They weren't going to go through the full check up they might have in other situations. They were just going to have to take 'good enough'.

The droids won't know what hit 'em.

Obi-Wan's already moving towards the other fighter and going through the same procedure. He really hopes that Anakin appreciates how much Obi-Wan is trusting in his judgement in this these things. If it had been any other Jedi or pilot, Obi-Wan would've been telling them exactly what they could do with these things, and it wasn't anything fit to be repeated in public, or polite society.

He's done with his diagnostic in short order. "Looks functional to me. Any new or further objections on your end?"

Anakin shakes his head, keys in over the comm. "No objections here. Think it's time to go surprise some droids."

Maybe they'd get lucky and catch Ventress in the crossfire.

Probably not, but a guy can dream...

And with that sentiment, he took off, trusting Obi-Wan to follow.

He follows Anakin into the air, trying very hard not to think about how badly his fighter needs maintenance. LIke Anakin said to Jade, however, they just needed to be capable of lighting up a few ships and put an end to this invasion.

And it's here that he finally gets a good look at the compound and its layout and the sheer number of resources at this group's disposal.

"Remind me to sit Jade down and have a serious heart-to-heart about her and her people's real intentions, when this is over," he says over the securest comm channel he can find. "Because this can't be some simple refugee relocation program. I bet Malco probably used it as a means to get on Dooku's good side."

"My favorite sort of conversation," he says with a wry grin as they approach the droid carriers on the ground. They appeared to be in luck as mostly it seemed people were still being rounded up and...organized into groups? Split along some sort of lines that Anakin wasn't even going to try to decipher from his position in the sky. The important thing was that it appeared the droid ships were not yet loaded with living people.

Before the droids can compute what's about to come, he opens fire on the ships, aiming mostly to take out guns and propulsion systems but not actually make anything explode, if possible. At lot of those people might not be on the ships, but they're standing pretty close.

Obi-Wan follows suit, taking up the other side of Anakin's strafing run. When the drop ships are disabled and it looks like the people are going to help by taking matters in their own hands on the ground assault, Obi-Wan angles for space, praying that his ship is as space-worthy as Jade claims they are.

The minimal resistance by way of vulture droids - as in, there weren't as many as Obi-Wan expected there to be - indicated that the Confederacy had no reason to believe that the refugees would be capable of, or stupid enough to mount an aerial assault.

Which is nice, because Obi-Wan hates dog-fighting as much as he hats flying.

That's alright, Anakin can be a little disappointed by the lack of any real challenge enough for the both of them. Even considering the way they're handicapped with these ships.

The one ship he can't catch is definitely not piloted by a droid at all and he has to watch in annoyance as Ventress jumps to hyperspace. Just as well, he knows, but it's still a little galling.

"I think we've done all we can do up here. Time for that chat with Jade?"

Hopefully she'll actually just be straight with them this time. They did just save her life and that of all these people, after all.

"Absolutely," Obi-Wan replies, pulling around to head back to the surface. He can sense Anakin's frustration at losing Ventress yet again, they really need to sit that woman down and have a talk about her abandoning them every time they want to capture her.

It isn't long before they've landed and rejoined Jade, who's managed to procure some better medical treatment for Kista in their absence. She looks up as Obi-Wan re-enters the building.

She opens her mouth to speak, but Obi-Wan stops her with a raised hand.

"Yes, things are settled and your Separatist problems have gone away for the time being," he says, anticipating her question. "Now, we got a good look at your operation here, and I would like a better story than the one you've already given us on what, exactly, is going on here."

Anakin crosses his arms and settles back into the 'bad cop' position, so to speak, backing Obi-Wan up. His expression quite clearly communicates that she should just make with the explaining and they'd know if she was lying.

Jade lets out a deep sigh. There really isn't any point in keeping things from them at this point, she knows that. "We weren't exactly looking for sanctuary. We were looking for a place of our own."

Which might mean taking a place of their own. Maybe pirate wasn't such a bad appellation after all.

"A place of your own?" Obi-Wan echoes. "As in picking an uninhabited world and settling it, or picking a planet with an established infrastructure and taking over?"

He's crossed his arms over his chest and isn't very amused at all this. He ignores Malco's muffled protests.

Jade spreads her hands in helpless defeat. "...Yes?"

Anakin rolls his eyes skyward, "is that the real reason Kista contacted us?"

Everyone seemed to have their own agenda here.

Then again, that was kind of par for the course with missions like this.

Jade's lips thin a little, "you'd have to ask her."

[fic/rp] across the galaxy

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