Chapter 4

Consciousness returns slowly. His mind comes to long before his body and it is blurred, muddied and the seasoned Jedi knows that it's not just his worsening concussion. The force is suffocatingly humid and unclear. From the time Obi wan was born the force has always been pristine and keen within him. He is it's vessel and it flows freely through him as through all Jedi, and in the absence of its freedom is certain knowledge of treachery. The drugs, he thinks somewhat regretfully, have done nothing for the pain which hits him like solid duracrete, unforgiving. The shoulder in particularly vibrates with an unbearable agony and when awareness of his physical position returns he learns why.

Maul has chosen to chain him up by his wrists with his back against some sort of wall. The more aware he becomes, the more he wants to slip away as more pain presents itself. While unconscious his arms support his entire weight from their point of contact high up the cold surface and the moment he realizes it he snaps his feet to the ground in an effort to relieve some of the pressure. His

He is alone for the moment and makes it a point to enjoy it. Obi wan is certain that when the animals find him to be conscious again, he will be want for some privacy. The room is also for the moment, dark. He doesn't recognize the area but there are many places on Mandalore he doesn't know and he can only hope that they are indeed still on the planet. Tracking him through space will at the very least leave him in the hands of the enemy for an extended period of time and at the worst… NO Anakin will find him. The room is not exceptionally large and from what little he can see it lacks the architectural elegance typically found in his loves palace.

This probably isn't Mandalore.

His thoughts are confirmed by the sudden flickering of lights to life. How in the force could he have not sensed it? He is on a ship, presumably in hyperspace, Maul must have had a special cocktail made just for him in order to keep him so dead to the world. The door snaps open and Pre Vizsla marches in with an escort of 2 soldiers.

"We meet yet again, Kenobi" The governor moves beside the Jedi and slams his fist into his stomach. Obi wan gasps and grasps for light that isn't there, the pain is different and poignant without the force to filter it.

"I suspect you're precious duchess won't be here to save you this time Jedi" Vizsla sneers in his captives ear and snaps the back of his armored hand across Obi wans face immediately drawing blood.

"I suspect your still sore over that? Being beaten unconscious by a pacifistic princess? How embarrassing" Obi wan drawls affluently and prepares himself for retaliation but Vizsla is strangely, smugly calm.

An iron grip forms on Obi wans jaw and forces him to look up.

"It's a shame" He whispers darkly "That Maul has insisted on being the one to break you and finally kill you, but in the meantime…" Vizsla grinds his elbow into Obi wans already stressed joint until he hears the satisfying cry of pain

"You're all mine" With a primal snarl Vizsla expertly kicks the Jedi in the back of the knees, taking him off his feet and putting his full weight once again on his injury. Obi wan can't hold back his shout at his body's rebellion and the agony is staunchly real. He struggles to get back on his feet but the governor won't have it and he is shoved roughly back towards the ground and left reeling with the waves of pain that result.

"Nothing more to say?" A look of utter scorn but Obi wan is somewhere else entirely. The familiar phrase sends him back to an old scar.

Maul. Savage. Pain. The memory of his beatings recur and what they lacked in creativity was more than made up for in the relentlessly, brutal consistency. Bones had been broken from the sheer power of his captors. Maul had personally seen to He will be there again and soon. The acrid taste of fear rises in lieu of the calm of the light.

Another degrading backhand brings him back to the present, painfully.

"Well don't go quiet on me now" The leader of the death watch smirks and leans his weight slowly and deliberately on the struggling Jedi.

Obi wans breath comes in sputtering gasps, his body arcs with the wax and wane of agony and his mind joins in the trepidation, there is a dam and the precious few drops of the force that leak through are barely enough for him to draw breath. There is nowhere for the suffering to go and so it burns on to reveal a strange clarity. This is not Maul, nor Ventress, nor Dooku; these are simple terrorists from simple times. The kind of enemies he has not faced since before the war began, the most basic form of scum and villainy, power hungry fools.

"Maul goes on and on about his revenge…" Vizsla snorts then motions his escort soldiers to his side.

"But it is that of mine and my men that you should be more worried about" Suddenly and without warning obi wan is released and he falls to the rusted floor with a mix of relief and muted hurt. His captors have not yet noticed his change in demeanor.

"You see Maul intends to grant you the mercy of death at some point" The Governor leans down over him, a threat, an insinuation, an assurance of pain.

"I'm not inclined to grant you any mercy at all, Jedi" Obi wan is working his way upright, at least to his knees because he's not about to be a compliant punching bag.

"Well, you're certainly not granting my ears any mercy" Obi wan's barb is delivered with nothing but the most courteous tone, despite its derisive implication. Even through pained gasps, the negotiator is baiting him and it works.

In a blind moment of fury Vizsla pulls back with every intention of throwing his elbow down into an oft abused injury but before his escort can even react the leader finds himself flat on his back and relieved of breath. Kenobi looks on in what appears to be genuine confusion and in an uncharacteristically haughty gesture, brushes some of the dirt off of the shoulder of his tunic as he stands up, slower than he had originally intended.

"Do remember, you did ask me to speak" The Jedi informs him the way he would correct a 10 year old Anakin.

The other guards remain frozen, not sure if they should chance it with the now unrestrained General. Obi wan knows he can't take them all, truthfully he's marginally surprised that he could even perform that shoulder throw without the aid of the force, especially in his current condition but he'll be damned to the nine hells before he'll take this sitting down.

"Don't just stand there, I want him on his knees" Vizsla demands aggressively but Obi wan can't help but smile at the careful distance he now keeps from his prisoner.

The three of them come at him at the same time with Vizsla bringing up the rear, laughable. His first assailant learns quickly that obi wan obi wan is as strong as he is fast. The armored attacker throws a baton equipped punch but the target has moved. Obi wan is now right in front of the soldier with his back to him. The brief confusion passes when the guard realizes all too late why the Jedi would expose his flank, in a brilliantly powerful strike obi wan uses the entirety of his weight to spin and throw his palm into the diaphragm of a now hemorrhaging man. The force of the blow sends him sprawling back into his would be second attacker and exposes the governor.

Obi wan can see the instantaneous flash of fear in his eyes. In this force deprived state he can't help but feel satisfaction in it, and in this moment he hesitates.

I am a Jedi, I do not feed on fear, nor fight with anger. The force rebels against its prison and Kenobi can feel the strangest itch as the wall begins to slip away. First it's a piercing pain, like his head is splitting in two and the deathwatch is more than inclined to prey on his sudden collapse. Blows rain down on him and boots leave bruised marks on his back and ribs but his mind isn't aware. Then the force returns despite the drugs, which should keep it from his reach but it's too late. His consciousness is stolen by the hilt of Pre Vizsla's similarly acquired lightsaber.

"Should have known better boss, Kanden's not getting back up any time soon" The Soldier suggests and it takes all of Vizsla's self-control to keep from separating the guards head from his shoulders for stating the painfully obvious.

"I want him back in chains, shoot him up with more of those drugs and I want the chains raised, keep him off his feet." The governor smiles, that should keep the Jedi entertained." Dothomir is close and Maul is to be meeting them there to take the prisoner, not a whole lot of time left.

"Let me know the moment he's conscious, I'm not done with him yet."

STARWARSTHECLONEWARS

So its short, It was either that or wait another couple weeks :) So check out back to the inferno by smile or else, I'm co writing it! It was my goal in this chapter to contrast with other fic, the way obi wan behaves as a captive alone is a lot different from the way he behaves when the lives of others depend on him, BTW check out my other stuff you might like it…..I hope :)

Also question of the update, does Anakin kill pre Vizsla? Tell me what you want and I will do my best to give it to you?

Thanks for reading,

Soseru