The Negotiator and the Fire Fang

Stranded on Canarath: Crash

"Those birds are coming back, general!" Varo shouted, pointing up into the sky. Kenobi clenched his teeth.

"Try and shoot them down!" Cody commanded, pointing into the sky. They had no heavy artillery, but if they get lucky, they may be able to ground them with their blasters. With his injured ribs, Obi-Wan couldn't move too well, so to take them down himself would be too much. He'd probably end up falling off.

Suddenly, the left one lost a wing and nosedived into the canyon. A billow of black smoke followed a crash. Kenobi deflected a few blasts from the second one before he could figure out what happened. As the fighter whizzed past, Kenobi looked across to the other side. Sahrea Shan had happened.

On her left, she held her orange saber far away from her body. On the right, she leaned against Gheo. Even from here, Kenobi could see she was in bad shape.

Her armor was its usual pale gray in some spots and brown in others. A lock of her long blonde hair was hanging out from under her hood. A splotch of red was on her forehead. There were rusty spots on her arms and legs as well. He pushed all feelings down, deep into the back of his subconscious. He looked up as the remaining vulture droid circled back.

Kenobi decided to try this the Sahrea Shan way. As the fighter came closer, Kenobi pulled his arm back and tossed his saber. The pain in his ribs hitched his aim though and his saber only grazed the wing. It did enough damage to cause it to malfunction, however. The vulture droid lost control and spiraled into the wall. He caught Shan's eye across the chasm as his saber returned to his hand.

"Are we clear general?" Gheo asked. Kenobi finally had a moment to catch his very painful breath.

"I believe so, but not for long. I'll carry you both over." he said into his wrist. "Trust me." Across the way, Gheo and Shan spoke back and forth for a moment. Soon Sahrea, looking grumpy about something, walked over to the cliff edge. He couldn't tell if she was limping. They made eye contact again, having an unspoken conversation. Shan nodded her head before stepping off the ledge into the canyon.

She didn't make it far though. She fell about two feet before Obi-Wan caught her through the Force. He focused intensely as he carried her over the deep ravine.

When she was only an arm's length away, Kenobi reached a hand out to the Gray. Sahrea grabbed it lightly and he pulled her to him. He wrapped an arm around her small waist. His heart betrayed him by doing a little stutter step, right below where her hand was resting. She was close enough that Kenobi could see hints of yellow in her gray-green eyes.

"How are you?" he asked as she stepped away, leaving a ghostly reminder of where her body had pressed against his. She moved to lean on Cody.

"I've been better." she said uncomfortably. Her face was covered in soot. A bloody cut dripped down her forehead into her eye. There were rusted smears over her temple where she wiped it away. Matching stains were on the back of her left hand.

After Vardos, the council has forgiven the Gray for keeping her identity a secret and attacking Garrick Versio (Shan found "attacking" to be too strong a word; she preferred to say she "motivated" him). She was still punished, however, with a week suspension and four extra weeks of probation. Sahrea had found this fair and never said anything more.

She roughly yanked her hood off and tugged the fabric away from her face. Parts of her hair were tucked into her shirt. It was no longer neatly tied back, but falling out and loose in places. Kenobi examined this smudgy, unkept version of Sahrea, wanting to memorize each aspect of her. She never looked more beautiful.

"That saber throw wasn't too shabby." Shan said with as much mirth as she could muster. That released some of the tension in his chest.

"Thank you, but I think I'll leave that to you. Not really my style." he replied with a smirk. He pulled his eyes away from the Gray and brought Gheo over to their side of the canyon. Now that the eight of them were reunited, they headed off.

They started walking. It was only now that Obi-Wan realized Cody was limping considerably. Shan was being assisted by Gheo.

The pilot, Quest, had lost his helmet and made it through the crash with a nasty head injury. There was the obvious gash on the back of his skull, but the trauma was also written on his face. He had a blank expression. His eyes were unfocused. He wasn't walking straight.

Serak was holding his left shoulder and Varo couldn't move his right wrist. They were a sight to behold. Only Ice and Gheo made it through relatively unharmed. The Separatists would certainly be looking for them, but there was no way they would be able to fight off a large wave in this condition.

Kenobi was anxious. There was nothing out here. The red ground was even. There were no stones, no hills, no plants. Nothing. Even the clouds were straight, thin lines. It was unlike any planet he had ever seen. Tatooine, Geonosis, Kamino, they all had more life than this place.

"Where in the galaxy are we?" he asked, breaking the silence. "I'm not sure sir. Master Plo was almost to Scarif when he got ambushed." Cody replied.

"I think we're on Canarath." one of the clones said. Kenobi turned around to Gheo. Shan had dropped her head on his shoulder. Obi-Wan could tell she was hiding her pain as much as she could. "Canarath?" Kenobi asked him. "Yeah." the clone replied with a sheepish tone. "The fellas used to make fun of me in training cause I liked to study up on different planets."

"I've never heard of it." Sahrea muttered weakly. Gheo readjusted his hold on her. "It's a dead planet." Kenobi did not know what that meant, but he certainly did not like the sound of it. "Umm, did you say a dead planet?" he asked. Gheo nodded. "About two hundred years ago, all sentient life disappeared on the planet. They think something happened to a part of the population and the fear drove the others away. That's all we know." he explained. They were silent a moment.

"Well whatever it was must have driven the flora and fauna away too." Cody added. Obi-Wan looked around. He was right. There were no creatures in the sky, no small buzzing lifeforms, no critters pattering across the plain or digging deep below the surface. No plants either, not even the smallest blade of grass was seen. Kenobi looked forward as Cody pointed ahead. There was a dark mass in the distance. No, not a mass. Singular pieces all blurring together into a mass. They were the skeletons of dead trees. Shan made a pained groan.

"I vaguely remember reading about this now." Sahrea added. "It's one of the galaxy's greatest mysteries. Many have come here to discover what happened. Few have left." They all looked behind them as a Separatist gunship appeared in the sky, blocking their view of the battle. Kenobi's heart dropped.

"To the trees. We have no cover here. Hurry!" he yelled. He urged his injured troops forward. They staggered towards the treeline as the ship got lower and lower. He could sense the panic each one gave off, with the exception of Quest. Kenobi wasn't sure if the pilot knew what was going on or not. A cloud of dust enveloped them out of nowhere, which told him the Separatists had landed. Dread draped over him.

"We're almost there!" Serak said, giving a cough. The trees were only a little ways away now. The sounds of clanking droids echoed over the flat. A little farther now. The dust began to settle just as they reached the dead forest. They went a few meters deep before resting in a grove of the wooden skeletons.

"Are any of you trained as a medic?" Shan asked. Ice looked up at her. "I have some training, but I'm no expert." he said. Her head lulled back. "Great. I'm the same." she said dejectedly. "We need to find somewhere to rest and tend our wounds." Kenobi said. "That looks like a good place to start." his commander suggested, pointing towards a large, rocky cliff face. So, that was where they went.