a/n: Hey, there! This is the first part of a new series of oneshots that are based around moments before pivotal events in the galaxy - the moment before Order 66; the day before Naboo; one last binary sunset on Tatooine, and so on. The moment before the shatterpoint is often as important as the shatterpoint itself.

This was originally posted on my tumblr at eirianerisdar tumblr com (replace spaces with dots) but I thought I'd make a series of it, since there's so much opportunity for angst.

For my regular readers, an update: I'll post the second chapter very quickly after this, get on with finishing the next chapter of Silent Measures, and then get cracking on The Silent Song.

Before the Shatterpoint

Eirian Erisdar

Chapter 1: Obi-Wan, sixty seconds before Order 66

Grievous is dead.

Technically, Obi-Wan knows he should not feel pleasure at the death of another sentient, even one as vile as General Grievous; but this victory is one too hard-won and long-awaited for him to feel anything other than relief.

Dooku is gone, and now Grievous, too. The twin heads of the Separatists have been unseated, and the end of this war is now finally in sight.

Oh, to no longer be a General - to be a Master and teacher first and foremost, to take another padawan (well, that one perhaps later, after a well-deserved period of rest) and to pass on Qui-Gon's teachings to the next generation of Jedi, a generation who will rise in a tranquil new era of peace…

Boga's shrill war-cry as the varactyl hurls herself back into the battle proper breaks Obi-Wan out of his stupor. He tugs at the reins and weaves them across the chaos, aiding his men wherever he can, though the lack of a lightsaber does not help things in the slightest.

Ah. There, Cody. With a very familiar-looking cylinder hanging from his belt.

Obi-Wan smiles. Always there, his indispensable second.

The clones will need relocating after the war, naturally - and here Obi-Wan pauses to thank Cody for his lightsaber - but where to? The Senate will cry for their decommissioning, of course, but that will not happen. Not if Obi-Wan has anything so say about it.

He makes a note to speak to Ahsoka as soon as he has the opportunity to put a comm-call through to the siege of Mandalore. She will have ideas to share, no doubt, and with some nifty negotiating the Senate might at least let her keep her share of the 501st, with Rex under her direct command as he is presently.

As Boga begins to climb the circular cliff walls in stomach-churning jumps, Obi-Wan spares a thought between activating his lightsaber and planning his next course of action to think about what to say to Anakin about Grievous.

It wouldn't do at all to tell Anakin about the blaster. Obi-Wan wouldn't hear the end of it for weeks. It will take some clever wording, once he has returned with news of peace for their galaxy, at last-

Boga screams.

Obi-Wan feels the cannon shot flare in the Force as plasma melts the rock in front of them, a bare metre away; a second after the shock of this comes an acute sense of empty loss, like a parent whose children have rejected him.

For the first time in almost four years, the minds of his men are closed to him.

Boga shields him from the flames, and perishes even as she slips off the cliffside. He is alone.

He falls.

And as he hits the water, he thinks, Anakin-

Next up: Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, one day before the mission to Naboo

Leave a review if you like! These are all snapshots so I'll be done with the next in a jiffy.