The Edge of the Universe

XLIX

Owen's POV

The house was silent and at 10 pm I received a transmission from Eric telling me that he had speeders outside. I left my room and went out into the main area of the house as quietly as I could, I looked up the dark staircase where my parents' bedroom was and the guest bedroom where the Jedi were staying. I was contemplating how to wake up Anakin when I saw two figures descend down the stairs, their feet didn't even make a sound as they hit each step which must've taken years of practice. Anakin and the clone trooper, Rex, came into the moonlight of the main area of the house and I nodded my head towards the door to tell them that the speeders were outside.

"You two go ahead, if you're not back by morning then I'll stall General Kenobi," Rex whispered.

"Good thinking, Rex, hopefully, we'll be back by then," Anakin responded.

"We've got to go," I said with a bit of urgency.

Anakin nodded and we both left the house, quietly closing the door behind us and sprinting across the dirt pathway to the gate where Eric was waiting with two other speeders. 

"You took your time," Eric muttered as I jumped onto one of the speeders.

I ignored his comment and we all started up our speeders before taking off down the wide dirt pathways with tall grass surrounding us on either side. The grass in this direction was taller than me which provided good cover but you also never know what could be hiding in the grass, we rode for two hours until we reached the base that was a little ways from the city. It was hard to call it a base but it blended in well with the rest of the small town, Zara also owned a shop that sold basic weapons so we were using that as our 'base'. I stumbled off my speeder and rubbed my eyes which wanted to give in to sleep, I knocked on the door and I heard quiet footsteps on the other side and then something sliding. We waited for a few more seconds before I heard the locks clicking the door opened slightly, we slipped inside and Zara closed the door behind Eric and locked it again. The shop was dark except for the bright, white light that hung down from the ceiling from a wire, a table was beneath the light and a large piece of paper lay upon it with plans and other stuff that we had gathered throughout the past month. 

"Are you the Jedi that Owen said would help us?" Zara asked with a stern gaze.

"Who else would I be?" Anakin replied.

"Aren't you a bit young to be a Jedi? Most Jedi don't become a Knight until they're in their late 20's," 

"Aren't you a bit young to be leading a rebellion?" he shot back.

Zara glared at the Jedi and the other people in the room looked between Zara and Anakin, no one liked to get on Zara's bad side, she excelled in fighting with a sword/stick and hand to hand combat but she never liked to talk about her past.

"I hope your fighting skills are as good as your wit," Zara snapped, "How do we know for certain you're a Jedi anyways?"

"This is Anakin Skywalker, he's all over the reports so he's pretty easy to recognise," Eric interjected.

I rolled my eyes and Eric fanboyness but luckily he couldn't see me since we were standing in the shadows. Zara raised her eyebrow at the comment and the scar that was over her left eye stood out under the bright white light in the room, her black hair was tied in a loose plait and her clothes were covered in dirt and dust and a sniper rifle was slung over her black. Zara wore the same thing that she always did, a tight black tank top and dark green combat pants, she also had tight black arm wraps that stopped just before her elbow. 

"Why would you, help a rebellion? The king said that Stewjon was a neutral planet and the Jedi said they respected that decision and wouldn't intervene with anything?" she demanded.

"As a Jedi, we try and save as many lives as we can, with the Separatists ruling over this planet hundreds of lives will be in danger and no one on this side of the planet will be free of danger. I could leave this planet and let the Separatists take control but that wouldn't be the right thing to do and I know you don't want to admit it, but you need my help," Anakin explained.

"We'd be just fine on our own, Skywalker," she snapped, "But you're here now so you might as well help instead of arguing with me,"

"I wouldn't dream of arguing with you any longer," he replied, sarcasm laced in his tone.

The whole rebellion crowded around the table as Zara explained everything and everyone's stations and what Count Dooku was planning. It was around midnight when she had finally finished and a few spies came back and relayed new information they had overheard from the droids.

"Count Dooku will be here in 3 hours and they're going to plant bombs around the four main parts of the city, including the temple," one of them explained.

"Blast!" Zara cursed with muttered agreements from other members.

"Does anyone know how to disable a timer bomb?" Anakin asked.

Everyone stayed quiet and Anakin frowned but then looked at Zara.

"I can disable the bombs around the city, the traps should be enough to hold off Dooku while I set off the bombs," Anakin explained.

"We need you to kill or capture Dooku, you could win the war with him dead!" Zara argued.

"Like I said before, my job is to save as many lives as possible. Everyone in the main city could die and the Separatists would take over with the King dead and everything you've fought for would've been for nothing. If I'm lucky, I can deactivate the bombs and if the traps hold him off for long enough then I can deal with Dooku," Anakin reasoned.

"Count Dooku needs to pay for everything he's done!"

Anakin's gaze softened slightly and his eyes flickered to something else and Zara's eye followed to what he was looking at. A cup landed on the floor and Zara looked shaken up about something, I looked between Anakin and Zara and I could tell that something unspoken was happening between them.

"Be prepared," Zara announced before walking off.