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“If you’re following me, you must leave this place. Just— get out! I repeat, fall ba—” Master Unduli’s holocall fizzles out abruptly, the sound of alien screeching dying with her image.
Anakin looks to Obi-Wan, already on the balls of his feet, ready to go if only Obi-Wan would just stop overthinking for three seconds—
”She must be close by,” his Master states the obvious, as though this deep in the tunnels there’s any other way to receive a signal. “Come on.” With a tilt of his head, Obi-Wan finally finally leads their squad through the claustrophobic tunnels of Geonosis.
They’re running at a risky pace, the troopers' helmet-mounted torches that light their path rattle with every step, but it’s still not fast enough. Anakin feels like he's running hobbled, the Force beckoning just under the surface, calling to him, coaxing him, promising him swiftness and speed unparalleled if only he would just touch it—
He can't. He mustn't. The clones would fall behind. More importantly, Obi-Wan would be disappointed.
Even without the Force’s aid, though, the impact of a dozen grown men sprinting through the catacombs is enough to shake dirt loose from the ceiling and it doesn’t shake loose alone. Memories, unbidden, unwanted— flashing lights, saber hums, red red red dirt, and blaster-scorched flesh.
Anakin hisses and shoves the memories away. He hates Geonosis. Loathes it. If it were possible, he’d turn this planet into an asteroid field. Geonosis and Tatooine and—
He feels it before he hears it. The Force ripples and roils, uncomfortable, oil-slick globules bubbling to the surface. Again, the Force calls to him but this time She's angry and pained.
Anakin skids to a halt and so does the rest of the squad. Is the Force so nauseous that even the troopers can sense Her discontent? Oh— no, there's a sound. A dull clicking?
Instinctively, Anakin's eyes seek Obi-Wan, but his Master’s gaze is trained on a darkened corridor. The clicking continues, bouncing off the tomb-like halls irregularly, seeming to come from all sides at once.
Danger!
Swiftly, Anakin turns on a heel to protect Obi-Wan’s back, raising his saber even as he interrogates the Force about the threat. She responds ravenously, launching Herself at him with the force of a tidal wave, pulling him under with the tenacity of a rip tide. He lets Her, falls into Her, immerses himself within Her.
In Her depths, Anakin can feel the troopers, all 212th, separate but so close to each other that they shift and shimmer as one, like a school of fish. Behind him Obi-Wan stands as a pillar of rock and earth, a jetty Anakin can cling to in the storm of the Force’s might, and beyond that— what is it lurking there? Some form of sickly, unworldly light? From under the waves?
A raspy scream scrapes through the corridor and Anakin whirls to find milky-eyed Geonosians sprouting from the very walls, each one preceded by that unnatural light in the Force.
Obi-Wan takes a cautious step back. “I don’t like the look of—”
Another screech and Anakin turns his attention to their rear again to see another collection of Geonosians crawling out of the pockmarked walls and into their exit route. They lumber and hiss and shuffle— then, one lunges.
“Look out!” Commander Cody calls and the troops open fire.
Anakin wastes no time, leaping forward and slicing one Geonosian in two, decapitating another, swimming in the Force to stay out of the troopers’ blaster fire— always necessary when Cody’s around. Most of the fire goes wide, short, long, anywhere but on target, until Gearshift manages to land a shot dead-center of a Geonosians forehead… who continues its advance without flinching, a bland screech the only sign it just ate a hot bolt of blaster.
“We can’t stop them,” Commander Cody says.
Anakin curls his lip uneasily. This isn’t right. He remembers the first battle of Geonosis— like he could forget— and the Geonosians were just as vulnerable to blaster fire as any of the Jedi that died in the arena that day. He lunges forward towards Gearshift’s still-living target, removing its arm and head for good measure. Let’s see it walk through that.
The body falls with the faint sound of sizzling flesh. Then, it starts to crawl. Within the Force, the unnatural light guiding these creatures does not flicker, let alone fade. Trooper screams underscore Anakin’s horror and by the time he glances to check on Obi-Wan, he sees that their squad is down by at least two. The Geonosians continue to advance.
“Back, everyone, back!” Obi-Wan commands. “Take out the tunnel supports, it’s the only way.”
Well, it’s not the only way, but it’s probably the way with the fewest casualties and Obi-Wan’s rather fond of this trooper squad.
The Force tugs at him insistently, drawing Anakin into Her current with the promise of an escape route ahead. It’s something they need, so Anakin obeys, scouting ahead while the troopers collapse the tunnel. They’re swift to follow, and they all dive into the corridor Anakin’s found, filling it with heavy breathing, the distant rumbles of collapsing stone, and the groans of Geonosian warriors.
“What were those things?” Anakin asks breathlessly. “We couldn’t kill them.”
Obi-Wan’s expression turns thoughtful. “I’ve heard stories of a Geonosian hive mind so powerful, so strong, that it can maintain its connection with its warriors even after they have died.”
“You think that’s why we couldn’t kill them,” Anakin says grimly, “because they’re—”
“Already dead, yes.”
Anakin sighs. Of course it’s zombies. Where’d Obi-Wan pick up this story? A spaceport layover? A cantina? The plural of ‘anecdotes’ is not ‘data’.
…Yet what else could those sickly lights have been, other than the hive mind puppeting each shambling corpse? He shudders.
“ That can’t be true,” Anakin denies. “That’s impossible.”
“Impossible or not,” Obi-Wan says, sounding distinctly and inappropriately excited, “these creatures keep moving after we cut them up or shoot them down.”
Hive mind he can buy, but a hive mind of corpses? Stars, where did Obi-Wan even hear such a thing? And does he really need to look so excited about it? Anakin’s not sure if he loves or hates him for it. Thinking through the implications of Obi-Wan’s rumor, he decides… both. Definitely both.
Obi-Wan’s upbeat aura in the Force dims abruptly and Anakin looks up in alarm, but his Master is only looking back down the tunnels. Oh, did he just remember they’re in mortal danger and not on a scholarly jaunt? Or… maybe he’s mourning his fallen troopers.
Decided, Obi-Wan nods to himself. “Call for reinforcements.”
Anakin reflexively obeys, raising his arm and tapping the comm link without critical thought. It’s only once the connection light blinks red that he realizes the futility of the action. He huffs at his own idiocy. “There’s no signal.”
“We must be too deep underground.”
…For someone who lives under a technological rock, it’s amazing Obi-Wan isn’t more familiar with what miles of dirt over your head can do to a signal. Maybe that’s why his commander is covered in antenna, Commander Cody just got too damn tired of explaining the concept of signal relays.
“You two,” Obi-Wan points out two troopers. “Head back to the surface and contact General Mundi. Tell him we need reinforcements.”
“Yes, sir.” The troopers salute before ducking back out into the main passage. One of them is Gearshift, Anakin realizes with a sinking feeling. There goes their only trooper with decent aim.
The Force is disinterested when he appeals for Her protection on the troopers’ behalf and he has no choice but to endure the wait in silence. The wait isn’t long. Barely five minutes pass before screams— human screams— echo through the tunnels. Anakin shares a glance with Obi-Wan and they both rush toward the troopers.
They arrive to corpses.
Rage boils under his skin. Zombies or hive mind or horror unknown, what right do these creatures have to take his troopers’ lives? To take Obi-Wan’s troopers?
“ Obviously,” Anakin seethes, “this thing is a lot more powerful than we assumed. I’m going to the surface to alert General Mundi myself.” Let the hive mind send its warriors after him. Let it crave the death it won’t grant its legions.
“I think that would be a foolhardy move, Anakin.”
Anakin blinks at the wary expression on Obi-Wan’s face and consciously reels himself back from the darker depths of the Force, returning to shallower waters. She keens sadly at his retreat, but he can’t indulge Her at the cost of his Master.
“ We can’t divide our troops again,” Obi-Wan muses to himself. Then he tches, frustrated. “We don’t have time to double back to the surface. Every moment we waste puts Luminara in greater danger.”
“Forward, then?” Anakin asks.
His Master nods solemnly. “Forward.”
His sense of time is becoming elastic in this dark underground. Anakin’s not sure if they’ve been traveling for hours or days at this point, but he does know that the deeper they descend into this network of tunnels, the further he sinks into the Force. She’s strong here, strong and ancient, a chasm of power so deep that the sunlight can no longer reach him.
“The air is warmer here,” Obi-Wan murmurs almost directly in his ear, startling Anakin out of his wandering thoughts. “We must be getting close.”
“Forget the heat,” Anakin says, nearly gagging on a lungful of air as he actually registers his mundane sense for the first time in… well, for the first time in a while. “It smells down here.”
“Keep your voice down!” Obi-Wan scolds.
“I’m just saying, this planet is rotten from the inside out.”
And as he says it, the tunnel they’ve been crouching through abruptly opens into a dimly-lit cavern, though compared to the total darkness of the tunnels it might as well be Coruscant itself. A handful of Geonosian warriors mill about in the open area, milky eyes and slow movements signifying their undead nature. On the far side of the chamber, an immense creature rests on a throne-like bowl. Its torso is somewhat similar to the warriors but for the fact it’s attached to an elongated body roughly the size and shape of a particularly corpulent Hutt. The abdomen is segmented though, not at all slug-like.
In the Force though… massive doesn’t even begin to cover it. Her presence is almost incomprehensible in its size, gliding through the waters at a pace unhurried and unthreatened, sustained not by violence or power but by the tributes of her many, many children. The Force supports her gently, like a precious thing, proud even of this creature despite Her distaste for its undead servants. Nonetheless… Anakin can also feel the undercurrent of challenge beneath Her pride, can feel Her curiosity at which of Her Force-favored would triumph against the other.
Anakin would bet anything that this is a— maybe even the— Geonosian Queen. And if this is the queen, then this is likely her birthing chamber. And if Geonosians are anything like typical hives, this is the most vulnerable and highly defended part of their whole society.
And the Force wants him to confront her. Insistently. He’s almost dizzy with the intensity of Her demand. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” he mutters.
Obi-Wan appears at his shoulder and the haziness lifts, his Master a natural breakwater against the Force’s call. “It must be… the queen.”
Anakin twists— in the water? no, in air still, present, he must be present— and nods at Commander Cody. “Any sign of Luminara?”
The trooper raises a hand to his visor and flips through a few settings before grunting in confirmation. “I see her. She’s suspended near the throne.”
“Perfect,” Anakin says. That’s one mission objective. “What about Poggle?”
“He’s—” another touch of dials— “speaking with the queen.” And that’s the other, the one that set off this whole wretched excursion. They need that warlord’s intel.
“Good.” It’s taking all his focus to think through the persistent gale of the Force. She doesn’t care about his mission or his war. She wants one thing alone. Submission. He looks to Obi-Wan. “You take the soldiers, I’ll take the queen.”
“Must you always rush into things?”
Anakin groans in time with the Force. “Oh, no, you don’t actually want to talk to it, do you?”
“Matter of fact, I do,” Obi-Wan replies much too cheerfully. “Anakin, don’t you wonder why they took Luminara captive? Why not just kill her?”
“She’s leverage,” Anakin answers the obvious question with the obvious answer. “She’s a hostage.”
“Leverage for what?”
Anakin opens his mouth—
“No,” Obi-Wan dismisses. “There’s something else going on here, and these zombies are connected to it.”
There’s no reasoning when he’s like this and Anakin can’t bear resisting two implacable wills. “Fine. We’ll try it your way.” He can delay fulfilling Her wish until he fulfills Obi-Wan’s. Reluctantly, the Force settles in for the wait.
“So glad you agree,” Obi-Wan says drily, though there’s a hint of genuine giddiness. Anakin’s only half-listening as Obi-Wan outlines their plan, keeping his eyes on the not-so-distant queen. “Cody, set your men up around the perimeter. These creatures live in darkness. The light from your helmet should blind them temporarily. Turn your lamps on at my signal, they should create enough confusion for us to get Luminara out of here.”
“But what happens when the bugs pursue?” Cody points out in a tone that would get Anakin lectured but Obi-Wan only ever praises as ‘insightful’ from Cody. “You’ve seen them fight. We can’t kill them.”
“We’ll have to bury them,” Anakin answers, thinking back to the fight in the corridors. “It’ll at least slow them down. Shoot out the support pillars and this whole place will collapse.”
“Let’s go,” Obi-Wan says, walking ahead and— right into the throne room.
Okay. Not sure where 'walk directly up to the Mean Mama and ask for the time of day' figured into this, he assumed they were just going to eavesdrop, but sure. Why not. It’s turning out to be that kind of day. Even the Force is piqued at this turn of events, the tide of her favor turning once more.
Anakin trots out of their hiding nook to catch up to his Master, side-eyeing the zombies grunting at them gormlessly. “How did you know they wouldn’t just attack us?” he whispers to Obi-Wan.
“Because I make observations while you think with your lightsaber.”
Ugh. Cody would’ve gotten a straight answer.
“Well, that quick thinking of mine is usually needed when your observations get us into trouble.”
“Anakin, the queen took Luminara hostage. She wanted a Jedi and now she has two more. I want to know what she’s after.”
“Well, when this doesn’t go as planned, which it won’t, I’ll be ready.”
“That is so reassuring,” Obi-Wan says sarcastically.
From the foot of the queen’s throne, a bound Master Unduli frowns at their approach. “I thought I told you not to follow me, Master Kenobi.” Before her, Poggle startles, looking between the Jedi and his Queen.
“Yes, well,” Obi-Wan clears his throat. “I took a lesson from Anakin and decided not to follow orders.”
“ Hey!” Again, if it were Cody, Obi-Wan would be complimenting his initiative, not—
“You!” The queen interrupts with all the regality of splintered wood. As though awakened by the queen’s own call, the Force crashes over Anakin once more in a deluge of demand. “You are the creatures that attacked Geonosia! Why have you come before me?”
To conquer, to crush, to kill to kill to kill--
“Your Majesty,” Obi-Wan begins, “it is a pleasure to finally meet you. I am Obi-Wan Kenobi and this is Anakin Skywalker. It is our sad duty to inform you that your rule is at an end.”
The queen takes this about as well as could be expected, sending a thrum of displeasure through the Force. “You not dictate to me, Jedi. My empire is forever.”
Obi-Wan hums apologetically. “I’m afraid it does not appear that way, your Grace. You shall release the Jedi Luminara and submit to Republic law.”
A harsh, echoing screech of rage reverberates in the chamber, amplified by the cathedral-like architecture. “I no submit to you!”
The warriors take a synchronized step towards them and Anakin automatically lights his saber, mentally calculating the most efficient way to clear their path to the tunnels— can he destroy the queen en route?— only to have his Master’s hand push his saber down.
“No, patience, Anakin. Wait.”
He sourly glares at Obi-Wan while the zombie warriors take their lightsabers. That’ll add ten seconds to their exit.
“Majesty, destroying us shall only make the Republic’s judgment of you harsher.”
“No, Jedi, no! I no destroy you. I devour you. I control you. I had but one Jedi before young Poggle bring me, but now? I have three.” She gestures grandly and at Poggle’s direction, a zombie warrior approaches from the side, bearing a small orb. “Now, watch as my child enters your Jedi friend.” The orb cracks, no, hatches and a thin, green worm emerges from its egg. Anakin can only watch, some mix of horrified, entranced, and intrigued.
“And, once inside,” the queen continues, “her mind becomes my mind.” The zombie raises the long worm before Master Unduli. “Her thoughts, my thoughts.”
“It’s a sort of mind control,” Obi-Wan marvels with understanding. “A hive mind. She thinks she can possess us.”
“Great,” Anakin grunts. The Force’s patience is wearing unbearably thin. “Find out everything you wanted to know yet?”
“No, wait, I want to see how it works.”
“I don’t think Luminara wants to see how it works.”
“No, I don’t,” the Master agrees in an unusually high pitch.
“I’m curious,” Obi-Wan objects. “The more we know, the better!”
The zombie warrior approaches ever closer, lifting the brain-worm towards Master Unduli’s face.
“I disagree!” she calls out.
“So do I,” Anakin says pointedly.
“Come now,” Obi-Wan says admonishingly. “The nose or the ear, which do you think it will enter?”
Anakin sighs. “I think the nose.”
The brain-worm is now on Master Unduli, caressing her face as the blind creature seeks its opening.
“I hope this is part of the plan,” she says nervously.
“Isn’t it always?” Obi-Wan asks teasingly. “Cody, now!”
The troopers of the 212th burst from their hiding places, lamps ablaze and pointed directly in the eyes of the Geonsoians. A cacophony of screeches and screams makes Anakin want to cover his ears, but he settles for Force-pulling his and Luminara’s sabers to his hands. They won’t be able to scream without throats.
The Force is practically roaring with delight, swirling around him and eagerly responding to his every whim, guiding his sabers through the zombie-Geonosians with violent precision. Not even his detour to free Luminara dulls the Force’s frenzy, especially once he returns her green-bladed saber; The Master promptly points it at the original target of this whole messy mission: the Geonosian general.
“You’re coming with us, Poggle.” Anakin declares over the enraged screams of the queen, slapping a set of bindings on Poggle before rejoining the fray.
Again the Force rejoices as he leaps into the conflict, relishing his every strike, his every pull from Her reserves. It’s not too complicated a fight, as the zombie warriors are simple in thought, but it is annoying because they simply won’t. Die. He fells one warrior after another, and then the same warriors again and again and again. All the while, an element of delight surrounds him, distinctly not his but strangely not entirely the Force’s either. Where’s Obi-Wan?
Anakin turns, only for his heart to nearly stop when he sees one of the brain-worms wrapped tightly around his Master’s arm.
“Obi-Wan, look out!” He practically flies to the other side of the chamber, slicing a hapless Geonosian in two in his haste, and slaps the worm to the ground.
“Wha— Anakin, no!”
But it’s too late for whatever nonsense Obi-Wan is about to protest with. Anakin’s already stomped the worm into the dirt until its innards smear the rocky floor. “Got it,” he says with brutal satisfaction.
“What are you doing? I was going to study that!”
Of course he was. “Study the bottom of my boot, come on, let’s get out of here!”
Let it be a sign of how brutal their initial assault was that the Force lets him withdraw while the queen still breathes. Neither does She resist when he calls on Her to direct the troopers’ bolts, every single one hitting their target on the cavern’s stone supports. She is disappointed when they don’t linger to see the result. As they sprint through the catacombs, dodging crumbling ceilings and walls as they go, She still asks him to return, to witness the end of the queen. Or… to ensure it.
But Obi-Wan is racing away and so shall Anakin.
When Anakin accompanies Obi-Wan in reporting the mission to the Council, he watches his Master wax poetic on the possible biological mechanisms the hive mind might have relied on and wonders what the limits of his admiration are. If he can cherish a creature that nearly killed Luminara, nearly possessed him, what else can he treasure over its sins? Could he adore something that could harm hundreds? What about someone? What if they could kill dozens without flinching?
And what if they already have?