morally_cryptic | for soresumaster

for soresumaster

[ooc: continuing from this thread]

Anakin frowns and crouches down by the device, running the fingertips of his recently re-attached prosthetic over it (he didn't bother putting the glove back on).

"I didn't mean actual cracking, Obi-Wan. But...the construction is strange. A lightsaber's overkill but some kind of blowtorch might work."

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The piece falls right through the vacuum, and right through the magnetic shields like they aren't. Even. There. Obi-Wan gets a very sudden, very bad feeling-- almost a real precognition, and he lets it roll through him, because it might be the only real warning they have that will let them survive this, because it's bad--

--moss, or something like it, vividly green, eating away at the deck and sides of the hangar bay--

--a chittering like insects--

--the vast, indomitable cityscape of Coruscant overrun with green, and fluttering, iridescent wings--

--he has his lightsaber in his hand in the next breath, reaching mentally for Anakin, for their easy synchronisation--

[ooc: dumb me forgot about the shields keeping it from touching the floor. oh well, it still works!]

Artoo rolls over to them, burbling simultaneous apologies along with trying to convey what he found out but too quickly for even Anakin to follow. "Slow down," Anakin says sharply, "start over." At the same time he's backing a little away from the pod and settling into that shared connection with Obi-Wan.

The droid projects another holo for them, showing an ancient rendering of a probe eerily similar to the device before them. The information is sketchy but it seems to corroborate Obi-Wan's vision.

Anakin swears once more as the probe starts unfolding itself again. The motions are still a little jerky but it's moving.

[It worked with what I was thinking of anyway, so no big. :3]

"Damn," Obi-Wan breathes, eyes quickly taking in the details of the holo. "Damn, damn--" He bites off something that would have been much worse, and gives a little shake of his head.

"I was hoping that we could keep the pieces intact for study," he says. "I am beginning to think that that would be inadvisable."

"I'm beginning to think I should have just suggested we pack it away into a shuttle and send it into the sun," Anakin says.

Something, Anakin realizes, has awakened. He can feel the sense of it flickering through the Force. Surely they could just smother it out here and now?

Not a very Jedi-like thing for him to think and yet...

And yet, he is not the only one thinking it; for all his dedication to the ideals of the Jedi, Obi-Wan can be ruthless and practical when the need calls, capable of drawing back and performing the cold calculus of loss and gain, of life and death and everything in between, and what it comes down to is the fact that there are billions of sentients, and trillions of other life-forms, of Coruscant, and while some could be evacuated, if the contents of the probe escaped, most would be trapped here, to be consumed and transformed, and that, he could not abide.

He doesn't glance at Anakin, only because he doesn't need to.

"I'm afraid that that would have been by far the wiser course of action," he admits.

They don't actually have a lot of options. There definitely isn't time now to do the 'send it off to the sun' plan. It already appears the magcon shields aren't as effective as they'd hoped so there's no moving it to anywhere else secure (and again with the not really having time). Any sort of explosion or fire here would likely just serve to help spread it in ways they couldn't predict.

Smothering it is.

Gritting his teeth, Anakin reaches out with one hand (and the Force) to squeeze out the life they'd sensed before it could gain a foothold.

Here. The thought comes with Obi-Wan's skill and power joined to Anakin's, and it hurts a little to do something like this, but he knows enough of healing, and thanks to growing up as Qui-Gon's Padawan, the Living Force, to be able to direct them--

He hopes.

It's a little like trying to figure out unfamiliar circuitry, trying to find the right way to bring the Force to bear even with Obi-Wan's help.

No, Anakin thinks, a more apt comparison might be trying to keep up with a rapidly morphing automated piece of malicious code. The thing was definitely aware enough, somehow, to resist going out this easily.

For a moment an image flashes in his mind of 500 Republica covered in greenery and vines creeping through Padme's apartment. His lips twist in a grimace as he reaches more deeply into the Force and draws on more power to wipe the contagion out.

[ooc: I feel like if Anakin had ever really learned how to properly harness what he had access to ~~along with his emotions and insecurities, etc~~, Palpatine would've been obliterated. Probably just as well Obi-Wan's there to temper what he's pulling in though if Anakin had his way it'd probably end up a little like a rather localized supernova there in the hangar.]

And just like that, Obi-Wan shifts to focus on containment, holding it in, holding what Anakin is doing in. He, too, can feel that odd almost-awareness working to overcome--

A moment later, his breath catches, as it surges, and Obi-Wan contains it-- everything-- as hard and tight as he can, and frees Anakin to whatever he needs to do to make it stop.

[Oh yeah no fucking doubt. *sigh* We can but dream.]

Anakin snarls. Oh no you don't. And he clenches his fist tight and the whole world seems to fold inward a moment before that intense pressure centers on the probe and its contents trying so desperately to escape.

Explosion might have been a bad idea but an implosion that destroys the probe's mechanisms and literally smothers its payload will do well enough for the moment. When Anakin is done the hunk of metal in front of them looks nothing like the probe Obi-Wan had brought him here to see. It looks, in fact, like a solid piece of misshapen ore taking up far less volume of space than it had previously. Not one speck of material that had been removed is still lying around, presumably it's mashed in with all the rest along with a few of the tools Anakin had been using on it.

"There."

If the Force weren't still flowing so strongly through him, Anakin would likely be rather unsteady at the moment but at least for now he can stand.

"Back to that shuttle-into-the-sun idea..."

"Regrettably, I find myself agreeing with you," Obi-Wan says, a little breathlessly. He can't feel anything left of the all-consuming life-forms inside the probe, and that-- That is what he concentrates on, instead of the strange rush of Anakin's power.

"I don't... sense anything left," he says, speaking his observation aloud. "Do you?"

Anakin shakes his head slowly, "I don't think so...still, better safe than sorry."

He glances over at Obi-Wan and a wave of vertigo comes over him at the movement. Unthinkingly, he braces a hand on the other Jedi's arm to steady himself. "...you take care of that part.

Just as unthinkingly, Obi-Wan slings an arm around Anakin's waist, offering his support.

"As soon as I make sure you're not going to collapse on me. That was quite a thing you did, Anakin."

[ooc: Hope you're feeling better!]

"I did what I had to," he says. "Couldn't let that get out. Sure any other Jedi would've done the same."

As if just any other Jedi could but he's not thinking about that right now.

"And fine. I sit, you do the thing. I'm not leaving until it's done."

[ooc: I do, thank you!]

"We both did what we had to do," Obi-Wan agrees, as he leads Anakin over to the bench at the side of the bay. "I'll get it finished, and then we can both take a well-deserved break."

Anakin sits a little more heavily than he'd be willing to admit to and settles in to watch Obi-Wan deal with disposing of the mangled probe. He can't quite help flexing the fingers of his hand as he takes in its appearance and thinks about how it felt in that moment when he refused even the chance of something getting free.

When Obi-Wan's done, he looks up and tilts his head, "does a well-deserved break include a drink?" He pauses. "And something to eat?"

Nevermind that he just ate a little while ago.

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for soresumaster

My thoughts exactly. 8D

Re: My thoughts exactly. 8D

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...sorry I've been so slow, everything broke at work and I'm the only tech and then I got sunstroke

it's okay! I've had visitors all week and been playing tour guide. :)

oh, that's fun!

it was! but I'm glad I get the weekend to recover :)