Back in the Game (COMPLETE)

9.11.1

Quite a bit of discussion in the Jedi Council had followed the funeral service for Master Gallia. They had a seat to fill, and there was quite some discourse as to who should fill it. Multiple Jedi Knights had been nominated, but no one had really expected Master Windu to nominate Anakin. While people like Obi-Wan did not disagree with him, even he had to admit it came out of nowhere. Mace presented a well-thought out argument for it and many of the members had considered it after listening, but not enough to the point where he had a majority. 

Obi-Wan had decided to neglect to tell Anakin about his nomination. He didn't want to disappoint him with the result, and he didn't need his ego to be inflated. Overall though, Obi-Wan was quite proud of the nomination. Not only because Anakin had been his Padawan, but because it was now apparent that Master Windu trusted the Chosen One much more than he had over the past few years. It's amazing what happens when you remove a secret Sith Lord from the Republic.

Still, no decision had been made about who would be made a Jedi Master, and it had been weeks since the service. There were plenty of good nominees, but no unanimous agreement. At least they were actually having a conversation now, instead of bickering for hours on end like they had about the Inquisitor. Obi-Wan never wanted to do that agai-

"Hey! Obi-Wan!" 

He jumped before remembering that he was on mission, and he was supposed to be doing stakeout with Anakin and Rex, not daydreaming about the Council. Both of them were staring at him, and Anakin had a slight grin on his face. Obi-Wan assumed Rex did too, but he couldn't tell while he had his helmet on. 

"Sorry, I've been a bit distracted lately," he apologized. He looked back out at the street they were hiding above. "Did I miss something?"

Rex pointed down the street. "We found our guy, he's heading North down that way."

Standing up, he pulled out his lightsaber and asked, "Then what are we still doing here?"

"Waiting for you," Anakin teased, earning a glare from his master. All three descended to the street level and chased after their target, weapons hot and ready.

They had tracked a particularly notorious bounty hunter down to the Lower Levels, where they were hoping to find his hideout. He had gotten his hands on some sensitive intel, and the Republic had assigned them to retrieve it. Anakin, who had spent some time recently in the Lower Levels (although for what, no one had asked), was helping them navigate as best as he could, but it was still an uncertain terrain for them. They had received more than a few nasty looks already.

After a few minutes of running around, they tracked the hunter to his spider-hole in a run-down area. It kind of reminded Anakin of the black-market dealer he had busted with the Sister, way back when, but he wasn't after holocrons this time. 

Obi-Wan activated his lightsaber and approached the door. "I'll get to work on finding that intel. You two will be better off fighting that hunter than I would."

"Yeah, especially if you keep staring off into space like earlier," Rex commented, and when the Jedi gave him a look, he shrugged. "What? You're more likely to get shot if you're that distracted."

"I'm assuming we ought to try and talk to this guy first?" Anakin asked, looking to Obi-Wan for approval. "Just in case he doesn't try to shoot us first?"

For some reason, Obi-Wan just sighed. "Yes, I suppose we should."

Now that was off. Anakin glanced at Rex, who just shrugged. He didn't know what was going on. "Are you sure you're okay?" He asked his master, but he had already gone to the door and opened the lock. That wasn't a comforting answer to either of the other two men, but they followed the Jedi Master in and stuck to the plan.